PandaDocReviews of pandadoc.com

Shadey and manipulative pricing tactics. In two years they released zero new features (that I was able to take advantage of) and then changed the plan name from Essentials to Starter, charging the same amount of money, and removing core features such as ability to create templates and pricing tables. What even are you if I can’t do those BASIC things? May as well use word for free. Have since gone to a competitor and love it. Lower price and more features, can you believe it?

⚠️ NOTE FOR ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN SCAMMED BY THIS SERVICE — READ THIS FIRST: File a CHARGEBACK with your bank. Select CREDIT NOT PROCESSED as the reason code. Attach every screenshot, every email, every chat transcript. Let the bank decide. Do NOT accept their "cancellation policy" as a final answer — it does NOT override your consumer rights. Full explanation below. Now, my story: I started using PandaDoc on the Free plan. After a couple of days, I genuinely liked the service, so I decided to upgrade to the STARTER ANNUAL PLAN, paying the FULL YEAR UPFRONT to take advantage of their advertised 46% discount. Here's where the nightmare begins. The Starter plan advertises 5 TEMPLATES. What they don't tell you is that PandaDoc pre-loads your account with their own default templates — and actually ENCOURAGES you to explore them. So I did. I browsed a few. I didn't use them. I didn't customize them. I didn't create a single document. I didn't add a single signatory. I simply LOOKED at them. Guess what? Just VIEWING those default templates caused them to appear in my template list — and they were immediately COUNTED AGAINST MY 5-TEMPLATE LIMIT. Even after archiving them, the system still showed ZERO TEMPLATES AVAILABLE and prompted me to upgrade to a higher plan — another 400+ on top of what I had already paid just hours earlier. Let that sink in: I PAID FOR AN ANNUAL PLAN, EXPLORED THE PLATFORM'S OWN SUGGESTED TEMPLATES, AND WAS IMMEDIATELY LOCKED OUT OF A CORE FEATURE I HAD JUST PAID FOR. This is not a bug. This is a design choice. And it is, in my opinion, a textbook bait-and-switch. I contacted their support team immediately. To their credit, the agent was polite. But let's be honest: customer support agents are paid to follow a script. They offered me a 25% discount on my next billing cycle — as if I would ever trust this platform with another payment. When I firmly declined and demanded a full refund, they escalated to the Billing team... who apparently need 3 BUSINESS DAYS just to DECIDE whether to refund a payment made less than 24 hours earlier. They also conveniently attached their PAYMENT POLICY, which essentially states: once you pay, you don't get your money back. How convenient. So here we are. February 8, 2025. Waiting. I have already notified my bank and they are STANDING BY to process the CHARGEBACK under the reason code CREDIT NOT PROCESSED. I am giving PandaDoc exactly 48 hours from my last message. If no refund is confirmed, the dispute will be filed immediately. Now, as promised at the top of this review, here is the FULL EXPLANATION for anyone who needs it — especially if you are not familiar with the dispute process: DO NOT TAKE "NO" FOR AN ANSWER. DO NOT STOP AT WHAT THEY TELL YOU. ALWAYS FILE THE DISPUTE. Here's what many people don't know: companies like this often use CHARGEBACK PREVENTION SYSTEMS (such as Verifi or Ethoca). These systems are designed to protect their payment gateways and merchant reputation. The moment you open a dispute with your bank, these systems can AUTOMATICALLY TRIGGER A REFUND — before the bank even investigates. They refund you not because they want to, but because a chargeback on their record is far more costly to them than your subscription fee. If they DON'T have such a system in place, the dispute will be reviewed and judged by your bank on its merits. And here's the key: A COMPANY'S INTERNAL CANCELLATION POLICY DOES NOT OVERRIDE CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW. Their policy must comply with the laws of the jurisdiction YOU reside in. Any terms and conditions must have been EXPLICITLY ACCEPTED by the consumer at the point of sale — and even when accepted, THEY CANNOT WAIVE YOUR STATUTORY RIGHTS. A dubious policy written on a website is not a blank check to keep your money. So file the CHARGEBACK. Select CREDIT NOT PROCESSED as your reason. Attach every screenshot, every email, every chat transcript. Let the bank decide. I don't care about the money. For me, it changes nothing. But for a freelancer, a small business owner, or a startup founder who invests in what they believe is a legitimate tool — THIS KIND OF PRACTICE CAN COST THEM REAL MONEY AND REAL OPPORTUNITIES. Someone out there might be counting on that annual subscription to run their business, only to find out they've been locked out of features they paid for within hours. That's why I'm posting this. That's why I'll post it on TRUSTPILOT, BBB, G2, CAPTERRA, and every other platform people consult before making a purchasing decision. Because REVIEWS MATTER. People read them. And this company will lose far more in lost subscriptions than they would have lost by simply issuing a fair refund. I WILL UPDATE THIS REVIEW WITH THE BILLING TEAM'S FINAL RESPONSE. GO ELSEWHERE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 1/5 — ONLY BECAUSE ZERO IS NOT AN OPTION.

Started with PandaDoc about December 30th, was pretty good, paid $288 for the starter for a year. The following year, they kicked me up to the highest possible charge, charging my account $1,068. After fighting with them for over a month, I was finally able to not be locked out of my account, which cost me numerous deals. They then refunded the money and I paid $225 for the year. Then again, the literal next day, they changed it to an additional $65 for the most premium offer, which I didn't change. Didn't even log into my account on the 3rd or 4th. Started using it on the 5th, where they demanded another $558 to do the full year at the most expensive plan. Thank God that my payment details expired, but now I'm arguing with them again with an AI robot in their emails to be able to get this solved, and now I can't get any contracts done. Recommend going to any other company. If I can get a refund, I will be doing that.

I was a long-standing paid customer. After a plan retirement, my account was moved onto a lower tier with fewer features, but my monthly price remained the same. I didn’t knowingly accept a downgrade and there was no clear in-product acknowledgement or prompt to agree to reduced functionality. I continued paying in good faith and only became aware of the impact when creating a client proposal and exporting it, and found that key functionality I relied on was no longer available. Support later confirmed the change had happened months earlier. The only options offered were to pay more to regain the same functionality or continue on the reduced plan. I cancelled as soon as I understood what had changed. Paying the same amount for fewer features and discovering it only when producing client proposals is a frustrating experience. Based on this, I would be cautious relying on the platform for proposal-led, client-facing work.

This company is twisting hands to extract more money from their customers. Every year they are stripping features from their plans and are asking you to upgrade to be able to use them. I am paying for a starter plan and I am simply trying to send a doc for signature and it is asking me to upgrade. I've had enough. They don't even have a phone customer service. Only email. I literally hate this stupid business practices. I am going to vote with my money and I am leaving!

I feel like management is deliberately hiring saboteurs to make the website as user-unfriendly as possible—everything is done so poorly that it would take extraordinary talent to mess it up this badly!

As with other reviewers, we find their sales agreement to be challenging and customer service has all of the AI nomenclature down to let you know they value you without the ability to make any reasonable adjustments. Further more, we have recently had a number of people not be able to sign agreements from their business computers which has been a challenge. It is certainly their chosen business model to bully people into paying for services they no longer need, though I can't imagine it is one that will serve them long-term nor is it one most customers will find valuable.

Worst platform ever. Huge ripoff. Make sure your cancellation goes through twice. If they get their hands on your money, you'll never get it back.