Langwill App

Shopify Discussion
1

Guys who deal with such of situation?

I installed the Langwill Translate app on my Shopify store. During the installation, the app offered a promotion:
“Pay $1 now to unlock a 1-month free trial.”
It clearly stated that I would get 1 free month of usage after this symbolic $1 charge.

I accepted and paid $1 — but within just 30 minutes, my bank card was hit with a charge of around $40, and then shortly after, a pending charge of $72.77 appeared. These were completely unauthorised. I never saw any pricing page, nor did I approve these charges.

I immediately contacted Shopify Support, provided full details and screenshots, and asked to cancel the transactions. I also uninstalled the app within the first hour to prevent further billing issues.

Since then, another unauthorised charge attempt of $49.50 has also appeared. These transactions are still pending in my Shopify billing profile, and Shopify continues trying to charge my card every day. My bank is rejecting the charges, but they remain open and unresolved, which also affects other billing functions on my Shopify account.

I’ve been told by Shopify that the app developer (Langwill) must stop these transactions. But Langwill support replies that they did not receive the money and it’s Shopify’s responsibility. I’m now trapped between the two, and nobody is taking responsibility, despite clear evidence and timely action on my side.

2

Based on their website, it seems that if you reach the translation limit and the overage option is enabled, you will incur additional charges depending on your usage. I found the following on their website:

For the Premium plan, once the 300,000 credit limit is reached and if overcharge is enabled, translations will continue at $9.90 per 30,000 words, up to 3,000,000 words per month. If overcharge is disabled, translations will stop.

I’m not sure what happened in your case. You might want to contact the app’s support team, review the settings, or try uninstalling the app.

3

Hi justsanjit,

Thank you for your reply. I’d like to clarify some serious issues I’ve faced with the Langwill app, which haven’t been addressed so far:

  1. Misleading Trial Offer: When I installed the Langwill app, it clearly advertised a $1 trial for one month. I confirmed this trial twice, expecting that no additional charges would apply during this period.

  2. Immediate Charges Despite Trial: Despite accepting the $1 trial, my card was charged around $40 within minutes of installing the app — even before I saw any translation results or interface.

  3. Ongoing Unauthorized Billing Attempts: After I saw this unexpected charge, I immediately uninstalled the app and contacted both the app developer and Shopify support — within less than 90 minutes of installing it. However, billing attempts have not stopped:

    • A second billing attempt for $72 is still being repeated every few days.

    • In my BillingCycle, there is also a pending charge of approximately $49.50.

  4. App Deleted, Charges Continue: It’s been over a week since I deleted the app and requested cancellation, yet the billing attempts continue. I’ve written multiple times with no resolution.

  5. Unclear Billing and Dark Patterns: At no point during setup was I given any clear option to disable overcharges. It was also never shown how many words were being counted or translated. I had barely tested the app interface when I was immediately charged.

Multiple other users have reported similar experiences — being charged during a so-called “free trial” and having to fight for refunds. I find it very concerning that an app like this is still allowed to operate on the Shopify App Store.

Natallia (SparkleSkin)