If you’re like me, you’ve come across a lifetime deal for cloud backup that’s too good to pass up. In my case, I purchased the Degoo Premium: Lifetime 3TB Backup Plan from StackSocial in September of 2017. I was looking to backup files on my PC, and they offered an automated solution. Simply install their Degoo.exe client, open the GUI to set what files and folders to backup, and it monitors your system for new/updated files to automatically add to the cloud.
Or so, that’s how it was when I purchased it.
- Degoo removed their PC/Windows APP without warning
- Degoo deletes “lifetime” accounts without cause
- Your backed up data is being looked at by Degoo
- Your account login isn’t secure
- Degoo doesn’t have an online support system, and fails to respond to emails
Degoo removed their PC/Windows APP
Degoo pulled an illegal bait-and-switch by removing the PC App and went solely mobile. Sure, you can log into their website and upload files manually on a PC through a web browser, but that’s not what I purchased. I don’t have time to waste by going through all my folders to figure out what’s new and then have to open a browser to upload everything one at a time. The saddest part is I found this out the hard way when the app/software wouldn’t open on my file server. A Degoo 1.0.3057 (32 bit) process would run, but it didn’t do anything and the GUI client controls were gone. There was no communication or warning to customers that this service was going away. It just stopped working.
As a former IT Administrator, I first thought the app became corrupted and needed to be uninstalled and reinstalled. But when I went to https://degoo.com/download, I found the Windows version was completely removed. (NOTE: there is an unofficial third-party website that has an older copy of it (1.0.1537), but that is NOT provided by Degoo. It is no longer supported by them and so you use it at your own risk.)
Degoo ignores support questions
It gets better. I contacted Degoo asking about the Windows app, and they never responded. What happened instead? They sent me several confusing automated messages. The first:
Notice how it says “. . . you’re using 1.1 TB of your 100 GB!” And then tells me to upgrade my account. If you remember from above, I paid for a 3TB lifetime plan. Why does it say I only have 100GB? I wrote them a support ticket about this, but never heard back.
Four days later, I received another automated message, which said, “Detected copyright infringement.”
I have quite a bit to say about this:
1) Notice how it says “Reminder” at the top. Yet, this is my first time getting the message. They never sent me anything about this before now. (And yes, I went back and thoroughly checked my SPAM/Junk folder just to make sure there wasn’t anything from Degoo caught in there previously. There wasn’t.)
2) The files they claim are copyrighted are not. They are in fact, legal ISO backups of software I own (and ones I am legally allowed to back up). There is no cracked content and I purchased and own all the serial numbers that activates the software.
3) OMG — Degoo is digging through and looking at my files!! This is my private, personal data that I’m backing up to a supposedly secure and safe environment. Degoo has no right to go looking at it, even if it’s as they claim, done so by a “bot.”
4) They claim you can submit an appeal by clicking the button in the email.
When I click the button, I found they changed my password so I couldn’t log in. I know 100% I had the correct password. Not only was it saved in my Google Passwords, but it’s one I’ve committed to memory and manually typed many times before.
But whatever, just more hassle I was able to get around. Clicking on the “Forgot Password?” link I was able reset it to get in. Unfortunately, what welcomed me was this message, “Deadline for submitting appeal has passed.”
How could the deadline be passed when this was my first time getting the notification? This is clearly a fraudulent business practice.
Is Degoo Safe and secure?
Degoo claims there is 256-bit AES encryption for your files. But, what they don’t tell you is that your files aren’t safe from THEM! As said above, they are digging and looking through your data.
But that’s not the only concern when it comes to safety and security.
With the introduction of their web app at https://app.degoo.com where you can browse, view, and download files through a web browser, there is less security. All it takes is someone hacking into your account by guessing your password, or getting into Degoo’s database. Degoo does not offer Two-step verification or two–step authentication, which means you can’t use your mobile device or other secondary method to approve logins. They don’t even send you an email notification when your account is logged into from a new browser or location. This is piss poor protection of your sensitive information and data. Come on Degoo, welcome to the year 2020.
So what is the Degoo Scam?
- The bait-and-switch by removal of integral services.
- The failure to notify customers of the removal of integral services.
- The failure to answer support questions.
- The false accusations claiming you have copyrighted files.
- The closing of your account due to the false accusations.
- The inability to appeal the false accusations.
- The intrusion on your privacy and personal files / data.
- The failure to secure your files with proper login protection.
Is it a coincidence that exactly 3 years after purchasing this supposed “Lifetime” plan that these issues occurred? I don’t think so. I purchased this account on September, and then this started happening on September. Must have triggered their [time to terminate this lifetime account] protocol. Degoo is clearly using unethical practices to get out of lifetime plans.
How did StackSocial help?
After all, StackSocial / StackCommerce is the one who took my money. But after contacting them, it’s clear they don’t hold their vendors accountable for the offers they make on their website.
When I pushed back, they didn’t offer anything helpful. Just sent a message to Degoo on my behalf. What good does that do? I already sent messages to Degoo which were ignored. This one from StackSocial was ignored, too. Don’t trust StackSocial. If you buy a bad product from them, they simply push you off to the vendor rather than offer a refund or some other type of compensation. I won’t be purchasing from StackSocial again, and I recommend you proceed with caution as well.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at what other people have said about Degoo.
Degoo is currently rated 1.2 Stars on Trustpilot out of 182 reviews.
You might as well light your cash on fire. I had 36 terabytes of lifetime storage, paid for on stacksocial. Degoo, who states your files are secure and inviolate, shut me down because of alleged copyright violation… On files they said they or nobody else would ever see! I wasted hundreds of dollars and a quick look around tells me I’m definitely not alone. It would be smarter to jump out of an aircraft without a parachute than to ever give these blatant thieves your money. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!
Brent Wall
Here’s a review on Better Business Bureau®:
This company has sold lifetime subscriptions to people and to get out of their contract, they falsely flag your files for copyright infringement, and close your account. They are stealing peoples money and lying in the process. Stay away from this company, and their claims of fully safe and encrypted files is a joke… How would they even be able to flag my flies if they are supposed to be encrypted? This means that they are crawling through all of your flies, so I hope no one put sensitive files in their cloud… Your data is not safe…
Jay O
And yet another from Reddit:
Stay away from Degoo. I got a lifetime 10TB (excellent deal at the time). Now they are terminating my membership in the slightest infraction. I literally had 3 videos uploaded that they claimed had copy write issues, and they terminated my account. No discussion, no second chance. nothing.
Posted by innov8iveguy
And if that isn’t enough, check out Tom’s Guide.
… this company is basically doing a bait and switch. We’ll take all your money for a lifetime, but we won’t do lifetime because our bot does a “gotcha” on copyright. Who doesn’t want to backup their memories? Well, if you have a video of you dancing to your fav tune, guess what, the bot finds you guilty of copyright. And who the heck shares stuff out of a storage solution? This is just wrong. This company is run by a bunch of LIARS. Don’t buy this storage backup. They are just interested in your money and not giving you a storage backup.
djmimi
Still insist on using Degoo?
Then I highly suggest you encrypt all your files using your own methods BEFORE uploading them to Degoo’s server. And don’t be surprised if Degoo pulls a false claim against you to delete your account, which you have no power to overturn. Or removes an integral feature or service or ability that is the reason you paid for an account to begin with. Degoo doesn’t want you to have a lifetime account. They want a chunk of your money, then to shut the account down after a time.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
How about you? Did Degoo screw you over? Post in the comments below. Hopefully we’ll be part of lawsuit settlement against Degoo in the near future. Be sure to keep your lifetime plan receipts!
Consumer Outlook 
Biggest scam ever, they take your money and close your account after 12 months for some reason.
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Thanks for posting! I knew it was too good to be true, but also figured they would face severe legal repercussions if they were not legitimate. If this post were true, Degoo would face numerous penalties under EU consumer law, and privacy laws such as the GDPR. Please advise if you have raised a dispute with EU consumer protections agencies (and if not, why?).
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I’m in the US, so EU consumer laws don’t apply to my situation, I believe. I’m not really knowledgeable about the legal process. My post is more to warn others to not make the same mistake that I did. I had another “lifetime” cloud plan with Zoolz that got terminated not long after I wrote this article. At this point, if it’s cloud backup and claims to be a lifetime plan, I’m pretty much throwing it out as bogus. Not falling for it a 3rd time.
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Thanks for the reply James. The GDPR definitely applies to all organizations that operate and store data in the EU, regardless of citizenship. I’m also quite certain that EU consumer law applies to all EU based organizations, again, regardless of citizenship. As Degoo is headquartered in Sweden, I’d suggest emailing the Swedish Consumers’ Association (https://www.sverigeskonsumenter.se/in-english/), linking this post, and querying your rights under the GDPR and Swedish/EU consumer law regarding their cancellation of your consumer contract, as well as scanning of files. They should be able to advise you immediately on whether or not you can take further action, and how you would go about doing that. I’d also suggest possibly amending this post with how to make that complain, so anyone who faces the same issue can do the same.
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OMG! I have a FREE Degoo drive and I noticed that the Windows App stopped uploading and syncing my files several years ago. Even though I have a free Degoo account, I watched about a billion ads on my phone in the Degoo Android app and brought my storage space up from 100GB to 750GB. And I too received that Copyright Infringement Bot email that detected a “problem” with some of my files. The problem allegedly had to do with digital content that I PURCHASED legally and backed up to … you got it.. my Degoo Backup Drive.
But Degoo is not alone in the “Lifetime License Storage Plan”. I purchased a “lifetime license” from Stacksocial.com for Zoolz Backup for 1TB cold storage and 1TB “vault” storage, which included future updates, sharing, etc. After just ONE year into my “lifetime license” I get an email saying that my account is being downgraded because my “maintenance plan” expired. Since it was only $4.95, I just paid it, thinking that, yes, I had gotten a good deal on the initial plan and that, sure, I’m willing to pay this small fee if it keeps the service working. But now this year, the “maintenance plan” on my “lifetime license” that “includes all updates, sharing, etc” shot up from $4.95 to $17.99 a year. Not only that, but I didn’t even receive a notice or invoice from Zoolz that my maintenance plan had expired–I just saw it when I logged in to my account and then Google “Zoolz maintenance plan cost” and if you go to the following link, they give you some mumbo-jumbo about what the “Premium Support and Maintenance Plan” actually does: https://wiki.zoolz.com/maintenance-and-premium-support-services/#:~:text=An%20active%20Zoolz%20maintenance%20and%20premium%20support%20plan%20ensures%20that,response%2C%20and%20remote%20assistance%20sessions.. Since I can’t afford the $17.95 this year (blame COVID), I can’t share any of my files. Fortunately, I am very anal about saving and documenting everything, and I have just completed a letter to my states Division of Consumer Affairs documenting what was included in my “Lifetime Plan” and what I paid and what I am now being asked to pay. I would have gladly paid another $4.95 for the maintenance again, but as far as the $17.99 a year, that is ridiculous, especially since I can purchase a 2TB Internal Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 with 64MB cache running at 7200RPM for $37 and can even get factory-refurbished drives with warranties for less than that!! https://www.newegg.com/hgst-ultrastar-7k3000-hus723020als640-2tb/p/N82E16822145719?item=9SIA9AXCVA0893&ds_url_v=2&gclsrc=ds&cm_mmc=knc-googlemkp-pc-_-pla-splus+technologies-_-hard+drives-_-9SIA9AXCVA0893&nm_mc=knc-googlemkp-pc&source=region
As bad as Degoo and Zoolz might be, ThunderDrive.io TAKES THE FREAKING CAKE!! I purchased that too from StackSocial.com and it it was such a nightmare from start to finish and I complained so much that I finalled disputed the charge with PayPal Credit and got my money back. But if you go to TrustPilot and search for ThunderDrive.io, you will see that they just don’t only have non-existent customer service, but are a true FRAUD in every sense of the word. I (and many others beside me) left scathing reviews of ThunderDrive.io on TrustPilot.com. ThunderDrive.io flagged EVERY “bad” review for “violating TrustPilots terms” and accused every negative review of “not having a genuine buying experience”!! I had to fight with TrustPilot for months to get my review of ThunderDrive.io reinstated, because every time it was reposted, ThunderDrive flagged the review. But I finally sent TrustPilot EVERYTHING I had–credit card statement, emails, receipts, etc. and my review is still there to this day.
But to add even more salt to the wound, I was just on Stacksocial.com’s website two days ago and guess what I came across?? Yep, you guessed it. THUNDERDRIVE.IO https://stacksocial.com/sales/thunderdrive-pro-1tb-lifetime-subscription
And that is precisely why I will NEVER EVER AGAIN buy ANYTHING from StackSocial.com! I used to love trying out new software and I used to love buying gadgets from StackSocial.com. But from now on, I will stay away from them, and from all those other websites that use the same “store” format as Stacksocial.com. If the author of this article and commenters like me can prevent even just one person from going through the NONSENSE and FRUSTRATION we went through, then it will have been well worth the time it took for us to write down our experiences!!
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Hey Harold, thanks for sharing your experience. I also did the Zoolz thing on Stack Social only to be burned when they terminated their “lifetime” accounts. Like Degoo, they pulled a bait and switch, terminating what they call “Home” accounts and moving to what they call “Business” accounts. Which is the exact same service, only, it’s their way of saying: “We terminated your lifetime home account, so you need to buy our business one instead.” (Paraphrasing.) At this point, it’s difficult to trust any cloud storage that claims to be lifetime.
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I am still waiting for a reply from DEGOO as well. Sadly I, am one of the idiots that used the platform to backup ALL my files. They refuse to grant me access to my account or files and terminated my account after one year exactly after purchase. Not only did I lose my private data but unencrypted raw academic data in a PhD study, for which I am being sued. My legal representative is still struggling to find answers from anybody at DEGOO, not even their head office is responding.
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Yikes! Sorry to hear that, Sarel. If you purchased your account on StackSocial, I recommend contacting them to see if they can put you into contact with someone at Degoo that will actually return your messages. I was finally able to get through after months of trying (after I wrote this article). And be sure to check your SPAM folder because–for some reason–Degoo messages often end up there. Even when coming from a person rather than a bot.
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I Purchased the “Degoo Ultimate Stackcommerce offer 50 TB” at XDA-Developers Depot using my Paypal (Creditcard) account. The upload to Degoo is very slow, upIoads get canceled or stuck at various intervals and there is a daily download limit that is not in there Terms of Use. I have been trying to upload files for weeks now.
Any advise on the best approach how to get my money back? I found some email addresses online that possibly can be of use to anyone: carl@degoo.com (CEO), mattias@degoo.com (CTO), support@degoo.com, webmaster@degoo.com
Both Stackcommerce and Degoo are Europe based if I’m not mistaken.
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Contact StackCommerce and try to get a refund with them. Log into your account and submit a contact request online. Select “My Order” as the topic and then enter your Order Number. When they get back to you, keep pushing if they blow you off initially. It takes several back and forth to get anywhere. If they say it’s been too long, then demand they put you into contact with someone at Degoo. That’s what I did. They will contact them on your behalf. It took some time and constant nagging, but eventually, someone at Degoo reached out to me. Check your spam folder constantly. For some reason, direct messages from Degoo went into the junk folder. (Oddly their automated ones didn’t.) Degoo’s company is a mess. Anyone else reading this, avoid them completely if you can!!
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STAY AWAY! I had problem to activate my pro acount. Support did not answer my ticket. I have applied for charge back from bank and got my money bank after 3 months of waiting. They are pure scam. Even if you have happily lived with them about first months, be sure that they will invent some problems against their policy and you’ll lose your account! So don’t waste your money with this fraudulent company.
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Degoo Scam is the scam of new era. Lost $199 and hard to any reply. Never ever use them. Free 100GB is designed to upload data without your permission. You can stop uploading but they take your pic and video without asking first!!! and there is this TB data storage.
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My degoo account has a problem due to excessive storage above 20gb, until the account is terminated. Can you help my files to return? or i have to pay for the service in degoo
Please help me..
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Unfortunately, I’m just another user who got burned by Degoo, so I don’t have any access or power to help you. I wrote this article to warn people to stay away from this company. I also got burned by Zoolz, so best to stay away from them, too. I have had a good experience with Koofr so far. But who knows if that’ll change. Dropbox is always an option for you, too, but they don’t have lifetime plans. Perhaps that’s why they’re still around.
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I too just got burned my Degoo… I purchased 10TB lifetime storage in March 2022 for $99.99. This was a great price. But I got the copyright violation message when they scanned my files and found 20 MP3 files thay may be inviolation of copyright. These were file made from CDs I owned… doesn’t matter, my appeal was declined. I’m asking for my $100 back but I doubt I will see it. Grrr…
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Sorry to hear that, but I do hope you get some sort of refund. This is a storage backup, not a file-sharing server. I don’t see how keeping a backup of your own purchases violates copyright law since it is not being shared. But that’s what Degoo is doing in order to terminate accounts they no longer make a profit from. 😦
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Hi! I’m another victim of degoo. Got a notification about my account termination lately, my appeal was rejected. I did’t upload there anything ‘life strategic’, mainly pictures and videos of a great sentimental value. I still have access to my files but the download is impeded (only a file-by-file download is possible) and I have 400 GB of data in total. I care about it more than the money refund actually.
Does anyone know a trick to ‘hack’ degoo’s download blocking mechanisms to get all the data stored before it’s erased?
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Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any way other than trying to contact them. Which I realize they make rather difficult. I always kept the files I backed up on my own personal drives, using Degoo only as redundancy, so it wasn’t a situation I had to deal with personally.
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I know the answer. It’s JDownloader. It seems a safe software and it definitely helps — or enables at all — scheduled content download in case of manual download being blocked/impeded.
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I only saw five complaints against Degoo all sharing the same horror story on the BBB website. If enough people complain, maybe they can shut them down.
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Just got burned as well.
I had a 10TB storage account with Degoo for the first 2 years, no problems.
I renewed in Dec 2022 for another 2 years.
I get a notice from their “bot” claiming I had a copyright violation after scanning my files!.
Their “appeal” process is a joke, it’s a text box with no way to include attachments or anything else.
The files they claim had the copyright violations were in fact encrypted file volumes containing the results of some data processing I had done for a thesis.
There is no way they could’ve detected any such violation.
There is no way to contact anyone directly, I did an internet search and there are many other people stating the same thing happening to them, a copyright violation followed by a fake appeal and then they terminate you and take your money.
I have to look into seeing if a credit card chargeback will work, was only into the 2nd month of the new sub when they pulled this crap.
Went and searched the web and it looks like many others are now experiencing the same thing.
I was lucky in that I don’t trust ANY cloud service and always encrypt my own file volumes using VeraCrypt so unless they can crack double layer encryption they’re not getting anything useful.
I suspect they’re scanning personal files for an info they might be able to capitalize on.
Funny thing, this worked for 2 years and now they pull this stunt.
I feel like an idiot.
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Sorry to hear you are another victim. I have to say, I’m surprised they pulled this on encrypted files. How can they claim copyright infringement on something they can’t even open? Perhaps the naming of the file itself triggered something? Have to say that’s really odd either way.
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Yes it’s a very dangerous file named: dip_analysis_vol2.7z.003
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That’s ridiculous. I was thinking encrypted files with generic naming were safe from the copyright part of this scam, but apparently not.
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There is something extremely strange going on.
I sent the following message to support@Degoo
“I am terminating my account due to a false accusation of copyright infringement.
Your Bot has declined my appeal without asking for any evidence or proof of file ownership.
I have therefore deleted my files from your site.
I renewed my account in Dec 2022 and have 625 days left, I wish a refund on the used portion of the amount charged at $99.99USD.
If I do not hear from you within 7 days of this email message I will contact my credit card company to have this rectified.”
I deleted all my files on the site yesterday, even went into their trash bin and permadeleted the files.
Today I log back in and everything is back, even old deleted files from more than two months ago.
This means they have some sort of unofficial retention policy which doesn’t allow you to remove your material when you want.
I worked as an IT admin for 18 years and I’ve never seen such a setup where when you want files permanently removed they’re NOT!
I’m getting some unsettling vibes from this company and it’s data handling policies.
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I noticed something like that in the past, too. That my files still showed up on their servers under my login. But when I clicked on a file nothing happened. And if memory serves, each one showed up as “0KB”. I’m wondering if only the file names were stored, not the file data itself. When I log in now, it displays the message “No files to show.” So everything has been removed, at least on the client-facing side. Who knows what they keep internally? Perhaps there’s a database that stores the file names, but not the data, and it takes some time to update?
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I clicked on the files, they still show full size and they’re like the walking dead, I delete the file and it keeps coming back.
That’s what I’m concerned about, luckily except for a few meaningless text files everything is encrypted so I’m not worried about snooping but to hang onto files long after you wanted them deleted is another matter.
The more I see how this company operates the more I really wondering what it’s physical data center is like.
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I’m sure it isn’t good 😦
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Final addendum: The files are now deleted…and so is my account, can’t even login now. They haven’t responded to my email to their support email account.
So I decided to leave a nice little “review” of their service here.
https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/63f3d3349b64b1bdaf5d7b4b
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Thanks for following up. I marked your Trustpilot review as “Useful.” Hopefully it’ll help people be wary of this company.
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Today all my files disappeared. No notice nothing. Have been using degoo for 2 years. 10 tb lifetime subscription. Any updates about this scam????? This is horrible.
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Not that I’ve heard, unfortunately. Still getting messages from people like you who have had the same negative experience. 😦
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On the Trustpilot site I linked in a comment above it looks like the frequency of these incidents are increasing. I suspect they might be unable to provide enough storage capacity or have enough resources available to provide their services and are pruning any users over a certain amount of storage.
Nobody has the time to bother with reporting them to the Swedish and EU consumer protection authorities over a “small” amount of funds lost, though the data loss might be very much more expensive.
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Final Note: In the interest of full disclosure today I received notice of a full refund from Degoo and I’m waiting to see if indeed it has cleared on my credit card.
I had taken it on myself to voluntarily remove my files after their treatment of me.
I will stand by my story but wanted to inform readers that you might possibly get your money back. I had told them I was going to contract my credit card company to do a chargeback and I guess that might have woken them up.
Nevertheless this whole fiasco was completely unnecessary and I really wonder what the management of that company is thinking pulling off these stunts.
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Thanks for the update, Glen! Glad to hear you got this resolved. Shady companies rely on making people jump through hoops to get any resolution. Their hope is that you’ll just give up and let it go. The moral here is to stand firm and keep fighting until you get compensated.
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Congrats! You were one of the lucky ones. I have send multiple emails to the dirt bags but have heard nothing back.
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Did you hear anything back on BBB? From experience, I find it can take a while to get a response there, but one usually comes eventually.
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I am just another victim of Degoo’s SCAM with the same story, Their modus operandum repeats itself. Some bot sends me an email saying I violated their policy. I send them evidence proving that I own the software that I uploaded… next thing, my entire account deleted. I filed a complaint to the BBB. I advise others to do the same.
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Agreed about filing complaints. If only to warn others.
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Be Very Cautious of Degoo
I purchased the Degoo Premium Mega Backup Plan: Lifetime Subscription (50TB) through Stacksocial and I did read reviews from people suggesting to stay clear of Degoo because they look into customers cloud accounts and find an excuse of using a copyright infringement to ban and close customer accounts who have paid one time lifetime fees and keep your money.
Because I was purchasing a lifetime account through Stacksocial I felt confident and secure that this would not happen to me and that Stacksocial would not affiliate yourselves with companies with dubious behaviour.
I uploaded Marketing & Media buying training courses so that I could study the material on the go and received a copyright infringement from Deegoo and had my account closed.
They are a Swedish Based company owned by Carl Hasselskog, CEO and Co-founder at Degoo.
Complaints regarding any Swedish company can also be made to the Swedish National Board for Consumer Complaints or a general court of law. There is power in numbers
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Agreed about Degoo. About Stacksocial: I used to trust them, but way too many “lifetime” purchases I made ended up scamming me. While not all of them, it has been way too many for me to feel like they’re a legit company. I’ve been thinking about writing an article to cover which purchases were good and which were not.
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