🔍 Why You May Have Been Charged Unexpectedly
Unexpected charges on your Search Atlas account can happen for a few reasons. Understanding the cause helps us resolve it faster for you:
- Duplicate account creation: If you signed up more than once (for example, to resolve a purchase issue), a second subscription may have been activated unintentionally.
- Duplicate billing events: In rare cases, a billing system error can trigger the same charge more than once during a subscription cycle or plan change.
- Top-up stacking: Add-on credits or top-ups are sometimes bundled incorrectly with your base subscription, resulting in a higher charge than expected.
- Proration errors: When upgrading or changing your plan, a proration calculation error can produce an extra charge alongside your normal invoice.
All of these scenarios are recognized issues our engineering team actively works to prevent. If any of them apply to you, you are entitled to a review and, where confirmed, a full refund of the erroneous amount.
✅ What to Do Before Contacting Support
Gathering a few details in advance speeds up your refund request significantly. Please check the following:
- Locate the charge amount and date — find this in your email inbox (look for a receipt from Stripe or Search Atlas) or inside the platform under Top-right avatar > Billing (Billing).
- Note your account email address — if you created a second account by mistake, have both email addresses ready.
- Identify the subscription or plan name — for example, a specific tier name or an OTTO site add-on.
- Confirm whether you want a refund only, or a refund plus full cancellation — knowing this in advance helps our team act immediately.
💡 How the Refund Process Works
Once you contact our support team, here is what happens:
- A teammate reviews your billing history and verifies the duplicate or erroneous charge.
- If confirmed, the refund is initiated through Stripe, our payment processor.
- Refunds typically appear on your original payment method within 5–10 business days, depending on your bank or card issuer.
- If a duplicate account or unintended subscription is involved, our team cancels it at the same time so no further charges occur.
You will receive confirmation once the refund has been processed. No action is required on your end after the request is submitted.
🛠️ How to Submit Your Refund Request
To get your issue resolved as quickly as possible, follow these steps:
- Log in to your Search Atlas account.
- Click the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform.
- Type human teammate to be connected with a member of our support team.
- Share the charge amount, date, and your account email. Let the teammate know whether you also need the subscription cancelled.
Our team can access your billing records directly and will handle the refund and any cancellation in the same conversation.
⚠️ Important: Avoid Creating Additional Accounts
If you experienced a problem purchasing a plan or accessing a feature, please contact support before creating a new account. A second account often triggers a second subscription charge automatically. Our team can fix access or purchase issues on your existing account without the need for a new sign-up.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
- Will I lose my data if my duplicate account is cancelled? No. Only the unintended duplicate account is closed. Your primary account and all its data remain fully intact.
- Can I get a refund if several weeks have passed? Yes. While we encourage you to report unexpected charges promptly, our team reviews each case individually. Contact support and provide the charge details regardless of when it occurred.
- What if I was charged for a summit or one-time purchase, not a subscription? The same process applies. Share the charge details with our team and we will investigate the billing record.
- How do I know the cancellation was completed? Our teammate will confirm cancellation in the chat. You will also stop receiving subscription invoices for that account.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.
Additional Notes
Do not cancel your primary plan yourself — cancelling could affect your active plan features. Also covers charges across multiple payment methods (e.g. Shopify + credit card simultaneously) and re-checkout after past-due status creating a second subscription instead of reactivating.