Free trials, renewals and refunds at resume builders

The short answer

A resume builder that charges you after a “free” or cheap trial is usually doing what its terms say. The trouble is that the terms are spread over a pricing page, a help centre and a terms page, and they do not always agree. This guide puts the billing, refund and cancelling lines of eight resume tools side by side, from their own pages. None of the tools was used for it and nobody was charged; where pages contradict each other, both versions are given.

1. A cheap trial is the first period of a subscription

The most common surprise is a trial that renews at the full price.

• Resume.io sells a 7-day trial for $2.95. If it is not cancelled within those 7 days, it becomes a subscription at $29.95 billed every 4 weeks, and the trial price is available once per account.
• Jobscan’s 7-day free trial comes with its quarterly plan, $89.95 every 3 months. Starting it places a temporary $1 authorisation hold on the card, which Jobscan says is not a charge, and cancelling during the trial costs nothing.
• Rezi’s app page says new users may be eligible for a free trial, without stating its length or what follows it.
• Huntr has no trial; its free plan includes a few AI credits instead. Kickresume has no separate trial either: it is free until you choose a paid option.
• Teal’s pricing page says no card is needed to start.

A trial that asks for no card cannot renew by itself. One that asks for a card is a subscription with a short first period.

2. “Free” may not be the file you need

The free plan’s download is where the tools differ most, and it is the answer to “free resume builder with no paywall”.

• Kickresume: 4 basic templates, unlimited downloads as PDF or DOCX, and its phone apps export free without a watermark.
• Teal: unlimited resumes edited and exported, with no upgrade.
• Huntr: unlimited base resumes with PDF export.
• Rezi: 1 resume and 3 PDF downloads; Word export is on Pro.
• Enhancv: the free plan lasts 7 days, carries Enhancv branding and allows at most 12 section items. Its pages do not say whether the free plan downloads a PDF.
• Resume.io: its pricing page says the free download is TXT only. One help article also names a PDF in the Vancouver template; another says free users get TXT, which carries no layout or design.

If a free plan’s file is a TXT or a branded PDF, you will meet the paywall at the moment you want to send the resume.

3. The billing period may be shorter than a month

“Monthly” is not always a calendar month. Resume.io bills every 4 weeks, 28 days, which comes to 13 charges a year. Teal+ is billed every 7 days at $13, every 30 days at $29 or every 90 days at $79. Enhancv charges each billing period in full at its start, and its terms allow price changes with 30 days’ notice. Kickresume’s monthly, quarterly and yearly plans all renew automatically.

Two kinds of plan do not renew. Resume.io’s 6-month and yearly plans fall back to the free plan when they end, and its one-time payments do not renew. Rezi’s Lifetime plan is $149 once. Rezi’s plans page also says a user is not charged again unless they renew, though no page read says plainly whether Pro renews automatically.

4. The refund is narrower than the guarantee

A headline guarantee on a pricing page is often limited on another page.

• Resume.io shows its terms three ways: a 7-day money-back guarantee on the pricing page; refunds only within 7 days of account creation in the help centre; and, in the terms, no refunds on subscriptions, with a 14-day right of withdrawal for EU residents and a guarantee during the trial.
• Kickresume’s pricing page offers a 14-day money-back guarantee. Its terms, last modified on 11 January 2024, apply it once per user and otherwise call subscriptions non-returnable, with no refund for the rest of a period you cancel.
• Rezi’s pricing banner gives a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans, while its FAQ names Pro and Lifetime only.
• Enhancv does not refund a monthly fee if the service was used that period; quarterly and semi-annual fees may get a partial pro-rated refund.
• Jobscan refunds only a Premium charge disputed within 2 calendar days of the period’s start, for a service not used in it, case by case and less a 3.5% fee.
• Resume Worded gives first-time buyers no refund. A member who forgot to cancel may ask within 48 hours of the billing date and, if the period is unused, may get a voucher, credit or partial refund.
• Huntr’s refunds are discretionary: a request within three days of the latest charge after at least two billing periods may qualify, none after 14 days from the last invoice, and high use may disqualify a request. Its quarterly and biannual plans are refunded pro rata by usage.
• Teal’s refund and renewal terms could not be read: its help and terms pages refused automated reading.

5. Cancelling has its own steps

Several tools put the job of confirming a cancellation on you. Resume.io’s cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid term and sends a confirmation e-mail, and choosing the offered subscription extension instead of finishing the cancellation leads to a renewal charge. Enhancv says cancelling is done on its Billing page and that e-mail requests are not always answered; after the period ends, the account is read-only, so documents can be downloaded but not edited. Rezi may show a retention offer before the cancellation, and its cancel page and plans page disagree on whether access ends at once or at the end of the period. Resume Worded’s terms make confirming the cancellation the customer’s responsibility. Huntr’s cancellation is self-serve and keeps the plan until the period ends, and Jobscan’s account becomes free at the end of the period.

Before you enter a card

1. Find the renewal line: what the trial becomes, at what price and how often.
2. Check the free plan’s file type, and whether it carries branding.
3. Read the refund lines on the terms page, not only the guarantee on the pricing page.
4. Note the cancel deadline in your calendar, and cancel in the account itself.
5. Keep the confirmation e-mail or a screenshot of the cancelled plan.
6. If you will need the tool for months, compare the cost with a plan that does not renew, such as Rezi’s Lifetime or Resume.io’s 6-month plan.