Patreon charged me unfairly. Help

[booklove]

So I pledge to a creator that I really like. I paid $20 on August 25th. But I have to pay $20 on September 1st. I don't think that this is fair. What can I do about this problem?

[Jenny-Toons]

Do you know if the creator has "Charge Upfront" locked on? Because that's an option for creators. When you pledge to a creator, you are instantly charged right then and there, and THEN you will continue to pay the first of each month after that.

A lot of creators have done that because they might get people who pledge, look at the content, and then leave without paying. It's to ensure that people aren't trying to get content for free when they should be paying for it. Moreover, was this just supposed to be a one-time pledge or did you pick one of their monthly pledges?

[booklove]

fork! I didn't know that. That kinda sucks

[Jenny-Toons]

I kinda don't know if there's a way for people to be notified outside of a creator explicitly stating "this is a charge up front page". If there is, someone else can chime in.

But outside of that, are you looking to continue being a patreon to this person? If so, that's really the only time that charge will happen. After that, it's only the $20 at the first of each month.

But if this was supposed to be a one-time payment/donation, you might need to contact the creator or the staff and explain what happened.

[byelacey]

When you pay, you're told you will be charged again on the first of the following month--that goes for if you're pledging on the 1st or the 31st. So yes, if you pledge at the end of a cycle you'll get charged twice in succession.

But!

Most creators have an archive of content behind that paywall you were just granted access to, and many even organize the content by tags. So your first payment is like being granted access to that archive. If you weren't charged until the following month, still got the archive of content you were pledging to pay for in the future, and skipped out before the first of the month--that creator gets nothing, and you still got access to their content.

Source: I've had a patreon for nearing 3 years, most of it under a pay upfront system. Have had zero surprised patrons regardless of when they pledge.

[SleepingPoppy]

The charge up front prevents people from pledging before the 1st, seeing paid content, then unpledging without getting charged. I understand the frustration, but it does prevent a really significant problem for creators.

I recommend contacting the creator to refund one of the charges. I have offered refunds specifically because of this before. It's not hard to fix.

[MiniSheepPencil]

When you get charged upfront you get charged for the month you sign up in (like everyone else before you) and also pay to unlock all previous content.

Aside from this if you were to just apply for the patron status and gain access without paying you to have the rest of the month to just rip out all content hidden and then you can just cancel out your pledge before paying, so no, I don't see how you are treated unfairly at any given point.

What it does is simply prevent you from being a leech/thief that takes out a freebie when others wait patiently for new content and keep pledging regularly.