Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/27/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 2/19/2023 philo charged my wrong card for my account. Also while the wrong card was charged, that card was locked and the company was not supposed to let anyone access to my account at that moment. I contacted the bank and they gave me my money back and I contacted the merchant philo to give new payment and they locked my account. Once talked to representative, she told me that I had to have my bank reverse the transaction. Talked to my bank they said they could not I would just make a new payment. I contacted philo again and they explained because I have to pay a charge back fee they lock customers accounts in retaliation until its reversed. I have read every fine print and thats not noted. I also again never reported as fraud as the representative said she could see and that my bank dropped the ball. This is wrong and should not be doing business like this with loyal customers.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/29/2024

  Hello,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer *********************** who mentioned reaching out to support in regards to a chargeback.
  
  We have reached out to our customer to inform them of the resolution for this case. We were able to review and unlock the account and provide the next steps for the customer.  We look forward to hearing back from the customer and as always, support is available 24/7 to help answer any questions our customers may have.
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

  Business Response

  Date: 02/29/2024

  Hello,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer *********************** who mentioned reaching out to support in regards to a chargeback.
  
  We have reached out to our customer to inform them of the resolution for this case. We were able to review and unlock the account and provide the next steps for the customer.  We look forward to hearing back from the customer and as always, support is available 24/7 to help answer any questions our customers may have.
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

  Business Response

  Date: 02/29/2024

  Hello,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer *********************** who mentioned reaching out to support in regards to a chargeback.
  
  We have reached out to our customer to inform them of the resolution for this case. We were able to review and unlock the account and provide the next steps for the customer.  We look forward to hearing back from the customer and as always, support is available 24/7 to help answer any questions our customers may have.
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

  Business Response

  Date: 02/29/2024

  Hello,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer *********************** who mentioned reaching out to support in regards to a chargeback.
  
  We have reached out to our customer to inform them of the resolution for this case. We were able to review and unlock the account and provide the next steps for the customer.  We look forward to hearing back from the customer and as always, support is available 24/7 to help answer any questions our customers may have.
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

  Business Response

  Date: 02/29/2024

  Hello,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer *********************** who mentioned reaching out to support in regards to a chargeback.
  
  We have reached out to our customer to inform them of the resolution for this case. We were able to review and unlock the account and provide the next steps for the customer.  We look forward to hearing back from the customer and as always, support is available 24/7 to help answer any questions our customers may have.
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/12/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I did trail with this company and actually subscribed to their channel. They ended up charging the card I authorized the transaction on and another card. When I contacted them and stated to them I am already getting the service and needed one of my payment refunded they told me the refund reason wasn't a valid reason and they would not refund my money. Why would I pay twice for something I am already getting and they can see that information in their system. I need my money returned.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/15/2024

  Good afternoon,
  
  We are following up on a complaint from our customer *********************** who mentions being charged on more than one card. The customer states they have reached out to support and a refund was denied.
  
  We have searched our system and cannot find an interaction with one of our agents regarding the refund. We tried searching by name, email address, and phone number and have not been able to locate any conversation. We were able to locate an account linked to the mobile number and it is currently billed directly by ******* In addition, we were unable to locate any duplicate charges under the information provided.
  
  If the customer has any other mobile number or email that we can search for, we would be more than happy to look into the charges. They are also more than welcome to reach out to our customer support line at ************. If they customer does reach out, let the support agent know that they are following up on a BBB complaint. We hope to hear from the customer soon.
  
  Thanks,
  HF

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/02/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On September 29th at 8:08 am I called Philo to get refunded. (Email: ****************************** phone number ************) I was told they could not refund a particualr month but could offer one month free. I specifically asked the female customer service rep, after the free month will you continue to bill me. She said no. I looked at my bank statement on 2/2/2024 and saw 4 months of charges occuring after the 29th. I called Philo, they said there was no record of a phone call on the 29th. I am attaching record of phone call from my phone showing I did speak to person on that day. I never used Philo after free month and assumed I would not be charged as promised by the company, the customer service rep I spoke to on 2/2 reimbursed for two months, not 4. I am asking to be reimbursed for the remaining two. I never used service after the free month because I was told by the customer service rep i was done after the free month.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/06/2024

  Good afternoon,
  
  We are following up on a complaint from our customer ************** who mentioned repeated transactions on their card from Philo. We wanted to share that we were able to speak with our customer directly and were able to come to a favorable resolution. We identified an issue on our end and were able to correct it. We are glad that we were able to investigate and provide the customer with a resolution. Support is always available 24/7 to help answer any questions our customers may have.
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/06/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  

  The business did call me and refund my money after you notified them of my complaint. Thank you for a prompt response, from BBB and philo. 
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/02/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 6/23/23 I cancelled Philo TV. They use you account either by email OR phone number. They said I canceled my phone account but not my email account. VERY SHADY. I don't look at my bank statements line for line every month. Imagine my surprise when I see today that I've been billed every single month. They owe me 200 dollars and won't refund it.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/07/2024

  Hello,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer *********************** who mentioned repeated transactions on their card from Philo after canceling.
  
  After investigating the customer's case, we found 2 separate accounts that were created. The first was created with an email which started on 11-7-2021 and was billed directly by Philo. This happens by manually entering a payment method at the time of creating the account. The second account was created with a mobile number on 12-19-2021 and was billed directly by Apple. The mobile number account was cancelled 6/28/2023 but the email account remained active. Although Philo has a no refund policy, we were able to refund some of the charges and come to a resolution. We did reach out to the customer both via phone and email to let them know about the resolution. 
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/09/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/22/2024

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Philo show too many commercial. I pay to watch the movies not the commercial. This company shows about **** commercials every time a commercial comes on. With all these commercial, a person don't really watch much of the movies. This company charging customers ***** for commercial and they need to stop.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/23/2024

  Good afternoon,
  
  We are following up on a complaint from our customer *********************** who shared some feedback about ads on Philo.
  
  We are a live streaming service and just wanted to let our customers know that Philo has the same ad load as any live TV provider. We do not insert additional advertising beyond what's predefined by the networks.
  
  We recommend our customers Save (+) anything they are interested in watching to their unlimited *** so they can fast-forward through commercials. Our support team is available 24/7 and would be more than happy to walk the customer through the *** process.
  
  We hope this brings clarity to the Ads on Philo! If theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/10/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I subscribed to Philo using Apple. I had issues with Philo a few days in. I messaged customer service and had a terrible experience. Supervisor *** (convo id ******** was rude, unhelpful, gave the silent treatment instead of answering direct questions and said he is the end of the line for complaints when I asked to talk to his boss regarding his rudeness and lack of help. They said they would refund me but they cannot due to paying with Apple. Apple is not refunding. They say I can dispute with my card but my card company doesnt do disputes for this reason. *** had no resolution for me. All I have asked for is a same day cancel and a prorated refund beginning 1/7.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/12/2024

  Good afternoon,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer ********************* who was charged for Philo and is requesting a refund. 
  After reviewing the account, we can confirm that the subscription is managed and billed by Apple. The account is now cancelled and no further charges will occur moving forward but unfortunately we do not have access to Apple's billing system to process a refund. The best course of action would be to reach out to Apple support for additional assistance with this request. 
  
  If theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/25/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I subscribed to the steaming service called "Philo", yesterday (11/24/23). They were offering a seven day free trial, which generally means that you will not pay anything if you don't want to continue with the subscription, as long as you've canceled before 12AM on the 8th day. Generally, services don't take the money from your card until that 8th day has arrived and you haven't canceled the subscription. Not only did Philo take my money immediately after signing up for the ****** they told me they don't offer refunds. It's partially my fault for not proof reading the terms of service, but when a site says clearly that you're signing up for a 7 day free ****** that generally means it's free for seven days until the trial is through. I contacted them and received a message stating that I'd get a refund as a one time courtesy, and it will process in **** business days. I will see if that actually happens, I have a feeling that it won't. I am simply making you aware of this website and that they clearly are not entirely truthful. Before subscribing, a message above states that you will be subscribing to get a 7-day free trial and you can cancel at any time and finish the 7 days even if you cancel early. They not only took my money but as soon as I wanted a refund they deactivated my account so now I cannot use the service for the remainder of my 7-day trial. Which is also very shady to me. they said a 7 day free TRIAL because most people are more attracted to that so they can observe whether they would like to continue using the service. I think they do this intentionally. It is not classy to confuse people by telling them it is a 7-day free trial when they immediately take your money as soon as you subscribe to said trial and then write the no refund policy in the terms of service knowing people aren't going to read it. Which that is our fault for not reading it. But I do think they're partly to blame for saying that it is a trial when it clearly is not.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/27/2023

  Good afternoon,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer ******************* who mentioned being billed by Philo after signing up for a free trial. 
  
  After further investigation, we'd be happy to shed some light on what happened. Our records show that on 5/14/22 a free trial was created and was cancelled within the 7 day trial period. On 11/25/23, our records show that the customer signed back into the account that was created on 5/14/22, updated their payment information, and activated their Philo monthly subscription. 
  
  We understand there was some customer confusion, however, we do our best to display a message letting the customer know how much is due before purchasing the subscription. The customer was able to get in contact with our support and although we do not have a refund policy per our terms, we were able to honor a one-time courtesy refund for the customer. Please note that it is a standard process to fully deactivate the service once a refund for our product is initiated.  
  
  We hope this information was helpful! If theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/18/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  There is so many advertisements I get maybe 2 minutes of the show and then 3 minutes of advertisements!!!!!!!! Its absolutely ridiculous to be paying that much money and it takes almost 2 hours to watch a show that should be around 30 minutes!!!!!!

  Business Response

  Date: 11/20/2023

  We just wanted to take a minute and respond to our customer's complaint about the ads. We understand ads aren't for everyone but we did want to mention that our commercial breaks are predetermined by the network's schedule just like any other live TV provider. However, with Philo, you can fast-forward anything you Save (+) to your unlimited DVR and fast forward through any unwanted ads! 
  
  We sure hope this helps and if our customer needs any help with saving shows, we'll be happy to help. 
  
  Sincerely,
  AR

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/02/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I just discovered I have been doubled billed for Philo on Roku. I signed up for a ******** promotion for philo for ten dollars a month. I am now finding out I have been charged by both Philo and **** monthly for the same service. **** has also been charging me $19.99 a month for the same service. The **** charges amount to around $500. Their customer service was not very helpful. They only agreed to compensate me for only one month. This does not make sense Philo and **** had the same account information, I did not even realize that **** billed for services. **** customer service even hang up on me when I complained about the double billing. There needs to be better communication between **** and the streaming applications their selling on their platforms.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/03/2023

  Good afternoon,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer *********************** who mentioned being double billed by Philo. We are currently only able to locate 1 account that is billed directly from Philo. The customer did mentioned having charges from Roku and unfortunately we are unable to locate that account with the information provided to us.  We have reached out to the customer in order to gather more information. We'd love to get to the bottom of this and work with the customer and are waiting for their response. 
  
  Sincerely,
  HF

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/03/2023

   
  Complaint: 20814233
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  My complaint is with **** who charged me for Philo while I was already paying Philo for streaming.  The confusion for the consumer is we are unaware that when we use the streaming application on **** we assume that we are dealing directly with Philo.  However there is no indication that **** separately bills for the Philo service with no communication with Philo the provider of the streaming service.  As a result we are unaware that their Philo service is separate from signing up directly with Philo.  As a result this is very confusing for the consumer. All I know was I thought that buying the streaming service from Philo was the proper why to get the service. It is not clear the **** is a second party ****** for the service.  This is very unfortunate, because they complicated purchasing a streaming service. **** does not seemed to be concerned about charging me almost $500 for a service I was thought I was paying Philo directly for.
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 11/08/2023

  Good afternoon,
  
  We are following up on the complaint from our customer *********************** who mentioned being double billed by Philo and Roku. Since our last response, the customer was able to get in contact with our support and provide alternative credentials in order to locate the account. Fortunately, we were able to locate the second account billed by **** and cancel it.  After further investigation, it appears that the account under the email address was created on the Philo website in order to take advantage of the **** promotion. Shortly after this account was created, a new account was created when accessing a Roku device. The customer used a mobile number instead of logging in with the email address. Roku Pay was then enabled on this second account.
  
  We did attempt to reach out to the customer again over the phone. We believe that we have come to a fair resolution to the customers situation and have sent out email communication to them directly.
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  
  Sincerely,
  HF

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/08/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/22/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up for the seven day free trial on May 9. I canceled within seven days and on my phone. I have a cancel subscription under my list of subscriptions on May 16. I noticed that Philo has been charging me $25 a month since May. I called today and was told that I signed up both under my phone number and my email address and have two accounts and I only canceled the phone number account on ********************* website. They show the last time I used theres streaming and I only use it on the day. I signed up on May 9. Why would I sign up for two accounts? They charge me for six months and I want them all refunded. They offered to refund two months. Its a very shady business practice that signed you up under your phone number and email address and treats them as separate accounts just so that they can charge you even though you thought you canceled it. My email address is ********************* and my phone number is ************.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/25/2023

  Good afternoon,
  
  We are following up on a complaint from our customer ******************* who mentioned repeated transactions on their card from Philo after they cancelled. 
  
  We wanted to share that we were able to speak with our customer directly after we found out that they had inadvertently created two accounts using both their email address and mobile number. One account was billed directly by Philo and the other account was billed by Apple. 
  
  Our investigation shows that the account billed by Apple was cancelled on 05-09-23. However, the email account was never cancelled and did continue to charge until they reached out to support. Although we have a no refund policy and pay for content access whether the account gets used or not, we did process a one-time courtesy refund for two of the charges. Our customer did let us know that they disputed the other charges, which is now out of our hands and will be handled by their financial institution.
  
  We hope this information was helpful and if theres anything else we can help with or provide, just let us know.
  Sincerely,
  HF