Unexpected charges for therapist matching and sessions
💚 healthproduct problem11 reports ●●●●●
A Talkspace user reports being charged $200 for therapist matching, followed by requests for an additional $70 per session and $200 per month, and is unable to obtain a refund.
What people do today
- Requesting a refund through customer support
- Disputing charges with a bank or credit card issuer
🔧 Fix this
Ideas a builder, maker or community group could start on:
- A browser extension that highlights hidden subscription terms and total cost-of-ownership on therapy platform checkout pages.
- A comparison website that lists the true all-in cost per session for various telehealth providers to prevent surprise billing.
- A standardized 'nutrition label' for digital health services that clearly displays monthly fees versus per-session fees before payment.
- A browser extension that verifies real-time insurance eligibility and copay amounts against provider billing systems before booking.
- A third-party verification service that acts as an intermediary to confirm insurance coverage and exact costs before a session is confirmed.
Real voices
“They took 200 dollars from me just to match me with a therapist and then to actually have a sessions with him want an additional 70 dollars for each session and another 200 dollars every month.”
“It’ll say copay $0 then charge you $200 plus dollars after you’ve had a a session”
“Had a therapist on here who supposedly specializes in Borderline personality disorder tell me in our first session that I should stop taking my medications because it doesn’t work for the disorder (wtf??) and then proceeds to question my entire diagnosis and basically tell me that I don’t have it right now because I’m not in immediate crisis.”
“I canceled before the 24 hour period but I’m still being charged. Support will not help you with anything other than how to pay or login.”
“They ask you to type in your insurance information but at the end it’s still 100 a week to talk to a Therapist”
“hides the fact deep in the terms and conditions that they can charge up to a $125 cancellation fee if you are to cancel within a 24 hour to 48 hour window.”
“the person I was matched with had zero experience in my realm, in fact she seemed like she barely knew what she was doing at all. When I asked her for clarity on her process she immediately got defensive and unmatched me so I could no longer review her.”
“Problem started when I was required to log in to my previous account. My EAP wouldn’t update. I tried several times. I couldn’t use my email since it was connected to a previous account. Then log back into a previous account, and no EAP got transferred over. ... THEN I just learned today that I was charged $125 for a late cancellation, which was 20 days ago. On a card that I have no idea where they have that card on file”
“The cost per month was now $47 a month. After financial aid paid for 20% of the total. Only way to proceed is to pay out of pocket over $200 a month. The total price was less before I applied for financial aid.”
“the session happened and is billing for it. Customer support is hard to work with.”
“It’s 125 with my insurance, this app advertises as low as 29 a visit”
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