A pdf.net charge on your card almost always comes from an auto-renewing subscription to the online PDF editing and conversion service at pdf.net. The company’s terms confirm that purchases appear on bank statements under the descriptor “pdf.net.”1pdf.net. Terms and Conditions If you used an online tool recently to convert, sign, or edit a PDF and entered a card number for a free or low-cost trial, that trial has rolled over into a paid monthly subscription. The charge is legitimate in the sense that you signed up, but you can cancel it and, in many cases, get the recent charges refunded.
How the Trial Became a Subscription
The pattern is familiar. You needed to edit or convert a PDF, found a site offering a free trial, entered card details for a small verification amount, and didn’t cancel before the trial window closed. Once it closes, the service bills your card at the full subscription rate. Monthly fees for PDF tools in this category generally fall between $30 and $50 depending on the plan.
Check your email for a signup confirmation from pdf.net. It will show the date you created the account, the plan you chose, and the billing terms. That confirmation is useful for cancelling and essential if you need to dispute the charge later.
Cancel the Subscription First
Log into your pdf.net account, go to the account or subscription settings, and cancel. Click all the way through to the final confirmation screen and wait for the cancellation email to arrive. Save it. That email is your proof the subscription ended on a specific date, and you’ll need it if a charge appears next month anyway.
If you can’t access the account or the site makes cancellation difficult, you have a separate right to stop the charges through your bank. Federal law lets you halt a preauthorized recurring electronic transfer by notifying your bank at least three business days before the next scheduled payment.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693e – Preauthorized Transfers Call your bank, place a stop-payment on future charges from pdf.net, and send written confirmation within 14 days if the bank requests it. Without that written follow-up, the stop-payment order can expire.
Ask pdf.net for a Refund
Before going to your bank, contact pdf.net support and ask for a refund of the charges billed after the trial. Many subscription services will refund a recent charge, particularly when you haven’t used the service since the trial ended.
Have this information ready when you contact them:
- The transaction date and exact amount from your statement.
- The email address you used to sign up.
- The original confirmation email, which contains your account or membership ID.
Be specific: tell them you want to cancel and receive a refund for the charges billed after the trial. If they agree, get the refund confirmation in writing. If they refuse or go quiet for a few business days, move to a bank or card dispute.
Disputing a Credit Card Charge
If you paid with a credit card, the Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the date the issuer sent the statement containing the charge to dispute it in writing.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors Send the dispute to the address your issuer lists for billing inquiries, not the regular payment address. Most issuers also accept disputes by phone or online, but the FTC recommends following up with a written letter to preserve your full legal rights.4Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if You’re Billed for Things You Never Got, or You Get Unordered Products
Once the issuer receives your dispute, it must acknowledge the dispute in writing within 30 days and finish the investigation within two billing cycles, with a 90-day outer limit.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors During the investigation, you don’t have to pay the disputed amount or finance charges on it, though you still owe the rest of your balance.4Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if You’re Billed for Things You Never Got, or You Get Unordered Products
Disputing a Debit Card Charge
Debit card rules are different and the deadlines are tighter. Under Regulation E, your maximum liability for an unauthorized debit transaction depends on how quickly you report it:5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
- Report within 2 business days: liability capped at $50.
- Report after 2 business days but within 60 days of the statement: liability capped at $500.
- Report after 60 days from the statement: you can be liable for the full amount of unauthorized transfers that occur after that 60-day window.
Report debit issues the day you spot them. After you file, the bank has 10 business days to investigate. It can extend the investigation to 45 days, but only if it provisionally credits your account within those first 10 business days so you have access to the funds while the review continues.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
Where the Law Stands on Trial Rollovers
Federal law requires that any online seller using an auto-renewing subscription clearly disclose all material terms before collecting your payment information, obtain your informed consent, and give you a simple way to cancel.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8403 – Negative Option Marketing on the Internet If the trial-to-paid transition wasn’t clearly disclosed, or cancellation was made unreasonably difficult, that strengthens any dispute you file. You can also report the company at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Reporting won’t get your money back on its own, but it helps the FTC track patterns of deceptive billing.
Avoiding the Next One
Treat every free trial that asks for a card number as a subscription you’re agreeing to pay for. Set a calendar reminder for the day before the trial ends and cancel then if you don’t want the service.
If your bank or card issuer offers virtual card numbers, use one for online trials. The trial charge goes through, but recurring billing fails once the virtual number is cancelled or a prepaid balance runs out. That isn’t a substitute for cancelling, but it keeps a forgotten trial from running for months before you notice.
Scan your statements every month. A $39 monthly charge is easy to miss, and by the time you catch one that’s been running for six months, you’re past the dispute window for the earlier payments. Catching a charge in the first billing cycle gives you every option: cancel, refund request, card dispute, bank stop-payment. Catching it late narrows those options fast.