## 🔍 Why Did This Charge Appear?

If you see an unexpected charge from Search Atlas — especially on a card you don't recognise as being on file — it can be caused by a **duplicate account** created unintentionally during sign-up, or by a **duplicate checkout** where the same purchase was submitted twice (for example, clicking Pay again while checkout was processing, a browser timeout, or a retry after a network error). Search Atlas now guards against duplicate checkouts with duplicate-checkout protection.

This commonly happens when you sign in with Google and your email address contains a typo (for example, **@gamil.com** instead of **@gmail.com**). Google may still authenticate the login, creating a brand-new Search Atlas account under the misspelled address. If a subscription is started on that duplicate account, your saved payment method can be charged even though your main account shows no active plan.

## ⚠️ Signs This May Apply to You

- A charge appears on your card from Search Atlas that you did not intentionally authorise.
- Your primary Search Atlas account shows no active subscription or payment method.
- You previously used **Sign in with Google** and may have had an email typo at the time.
- You do not recognise the account email associated with the charge.

## 🛠️ What Our Team Does to Resolve This

When a customer contacts support with this issue, our agents follow these steps — understanding them helps you know exactly what to expect:

1. **Identify the duplicate account:** The agent searches for all accounts linked to your payment method and locates the account created with the misspelled or unintended email address.
2. **Confirm the unintended subscription:** The agent verifies that the subscription on the duplicate account was never actively used and that no services were consumed.
3. **Cancel the subscription:** The plan on the duplicate account is cancelled immediately in the payment processor so no further charges occur.
4. **Process the refund:** A full refund is issued to the original payment method. Refunds typically take **5 to 10 business days** to appear on your statement, depending on your card issuer.
5. **Escalate a technical report:** A ticket is filed with our engineering team to investigate and prevent duplicate account billing from recurring.

## 📋 Information to Have Ready When You Contact Us

To help our team resolve your case as quickly as possible, please have the following information ready before reaching out:

- The **last four digits** of the card that was charged.
- The **charge amount** and the **date** it appeared on your statement.
- The **email address** you normally use to log in to Search Atlas.
- Any **alternative email addresses** you may have used, including possible typos.

## 💡 How to Prevent This in the Future

- When signing in with Google, always verify that the correct email address is selected before completing sign-in.
- After signing up, check that the email shown in your Search Atlas account settings matches your intended address exactly.
- If you ever see an account confirmation email for an address you do not recognise, contact support immediately to have it removed.

## 💬 Still Need Help?

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**

Have ready: email of active account, email of duplicate account, charge amount and date, and last four digits of the charged card. Also covers SSO/password mismatch and browser autofill as duplicate-account triggers.