My Yandex Pay Horror Story: A Cautionary Tale of Unwanted Subscriptions and Account Woes

Hello!

I'll be honest, I've always tried to avoid Yandex's payment system whenever possible. I don't even have a card linked to my earning platform because I've heard all the horror stories about how Yandex treats its clients' money. Even though I'd have to pay a commission to withdraw my funds, at least I wouldn't be surprised by some unexpected bank card deductions.

But I've had a bad experience in the past: last year, a small amount was deducted from my Sberbank card. It was through Yandex Split, where they'd somehow gotten my data and linked my card to the Split account – which I'd never opened, to be honest.

However, they eventually returned the money with an apology. After that, I severed ties with Sberbank for good and opened an account with another popular Russian bank. I'm really glad I did, as it helped me avoid a suspicious purchase through Yandex Pay. But I'll get to that later.

I love ordering beauty boxes, and this time, I was really interested in two products from the 'Kosmedel' store – specifically, two beauty boxes with lots of pharmacy cosmetics. As you might know from my reviews, pharmacy cosmetics are currently my top choice. So, I see that the price is pretty cheap, plus there's a promo code, and if I pay with Yandex Pay, I can even save some more – 3764 RUB instead of 4464 RUB. The delivery point is just a stone's throw from my place, so I decided to open a Yandex Pay account right away. It only took me about 30 seconds, and all I needed was my phone number.

I found another promo code, which brought the price down even further to 3,564 rubles.

Next, I started looking for ways to top up my account and pay for my purchase - I had only 30 minutes to do so, or the order would be automatically cancelled. And that's when the first thing that didn't sit well with me came up. Apparently, I was supposed to open full access to my card and link it to my government services. No way, I thought, I'm not comfortable sharing my personal data. That's when I realized something was off. Okay, I thought, I'll just transfer the money via QR code, but no, that wasn't an option either - all paths led back to government services, or the second option was to link my bank card. Great, now they'd be taking money from me every month for a subscription I wouldn't even be using!

Okay, so I decided to top up my Yandex Pay account directly using the bank account details from another bank. That would be safe, I thought, but then I got a rejection, and that's when I knew it was time to cut ties with Yandex Pay.

It turns out they're not interested in that payment method, and you know why? Because they can't charge my account after a month, since my bank card won't be linked to my Yandex Pay account. After that, I went through the reviews and was proven right. So, I figured, no big deal, I'll stay without the beauty boxes and order something else instead. Later on, I found these boxes on OZON, and I even managed to save a bit and pay less: 3,437 rubles.

I thought it'd be a breeze to cancel my account and move on with my life. But nope!

First off, as soon as you open your account, you're somehow magically enrolled in multiple Yandex products, including Split and Yandex Plus.

I tried to cancel, but it was like trying to get blood from a stone. I started writing to customer support, but they just kept bouncing me around to different chat windows or sending me automated responses from a bot that didn't even understand my question: 'close my account'.

Then I decided to read up on the subscription details, and that's when things got really ridiculous. I was laughing so hard I had to read it out loud multiple times. Check this out!

Freezing your subscription won't cancel Plus. It's like hitting the pause button, but the show keeps going.

If you just delete your Yandex ID, uninstall Yandex apps, or log out of your account, your subscription won't be cancelled. You'll still get the benefits, and the money will keep getting deducted. If you want to cancel your subscription, follow the instructions below.

And to make matters worse, deleting your account or freezing your account won't do the trick either. The money will still be taken out of your account the following month. And to top it all off, if you're no longer interested, your subscription won't be cancelled. It's like a never-ending cycle.

It's like they say: 'Come as you are, leave as you are.'

Enter - don't be afraid, exit - don't be sad!

Fast forward an hour, and I wrote to tech support again. They promised to look into it and delete my Yandex Pay account; I should receive an SMS with instructions. I'm still waiting.

But the thing is, the information online is completely different. And I'm starting to believe the latter, since it's been over a day and I still haven't received the SMS.

The countdown to closing my account began, and I was told it would take a few days.

I got the notification, but it wasn't a matter of just a few hours – it was a few days.

So, what's the takeaway? I didn't even get to buy anything or pay for it, but I was already stressing out because it took me a few days to close the account completely, even though I'd opened it in just 30 seconds. I'm just glad the bank cancelled the operation and gave me a chance to come to my senses. If I had wanted to return my money to my Yandex Pay account, I would've had to provide my passport details by now.

To withdraw funds from a Yandex Pay card, you need to go through a verification process, confirming your identity by entering your Russian tax ID and passport details or by authorizing through Gosuslugi.

In short, Yandex Pay has been a complete nightmare for me, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. At first, it lures you in with attractive offers, but then it rips you off with unnecessary subscriptions. I think Yandex is more focused on making things better for themselves rather than their customers.

Thanks for reading.