Privacy Notice

1. Who We Are

Semrush Complaints is an independent platform for documenting billing and renewal issues with Semrush subscriptions. We are not affiliated with Semrush.

Data Controller: Semrush Complaints Initiative
Legal Form: Independent consumer advocacy platform
Contact: contact@semrush-complaints.org
Data Protection Officer: Available via the contact email above

Note: We are an independent, volunteer-run initiative. For any data protection inquiries, please contact us via email.

2. What Data We Collect

When you submit a complaint report, we collect:

• Country: To identify geographic patterns (required)
• Amount charged & currency: To calculate total disputed amounts (required)
• Date of charge: To track timeline patterns (required)
• Charge type: When/how the charge occurred (trial, 14-day withdrawal period, renewal, post-cancellation) (required)
• Cancellation attempts: Whether you tried to cancel and what happened (required)
• Refund request status: Whether you requested a refund and the outcome (required)
• Response time: How long Semrush took to respond to refund request (conditional)
• Contact attempts: How many times you contacted Semrush (required)
• Evidence availability: Whether you have supporting documentation (optional)
• Brief description (optional, max 500 chars): What happened in your case
• Email address (optional): Only if you want to be contacted for follow-up

Email is entirely optional. You can submit reports completely anonymously. We do NOT collect file uploads, screenshots, or account numbers to protect your privacy.

3. Why We Collect This Data (Legal Basis)

Legal Basis:

• Legitimate Interest (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)): For required fields that document billing patterns, refund practices, and systematic issues. Our legitimate interest is consumer protection advocacy and assisting regulatory investigations. This interest is not overridden by your privacy rights because data is limited, anonymized for public display, and serves a public interest purpose.
• Consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)): For optional fields (description, email). You provide explicit consent via the form checkbox.

Purpose (Dual Purpose):

Your report serves two goals:

• For You: Generate a personalized chargeback letter with consumer protection laws for your country, pre-filled with your details and ready to send to your bank
• For Everyone: Compile aggregated statistics for consumer protection agencies (DGCCRF, FTC, CMA, etc.) to identify systematic billing patterns and support regulatory action
• Provide public statistics to inform other affected consumers (no personal information displayed)
• Contact you (only if you provided email) for follow-up or if authorities request additional information

4. How We Use Your Data

What we DON'T do:

• ❌ Publish your personal information publicly (name, email, detailed case descriptions are never displayed)
• ❌ Sell or share your data with third parties for marketing
• ❌ Use your data for purposes other than consumer advocacy

5. How Long We Keep Your Data

We retain your data for 12 months from the date of submission.

Exceptions:

• If your case is part of an ongoing regulatory investigation, we may retain data until the investigation concludes (we will notify you if applicable)
• Aggregated statistics (with no personal identifiers) may be retained indefinitely for historical reference

You can request earlier deletion at any time (see section 7).

6. Who Has Access to Your Data

• Platform administrators: To compile reports and statistics
• Google (as service provider): Data is stored in Google Forms/Sheets (see Google Privacy Policy)
• Consumer protection agencies: Only aggregated data or specific case details (with your permission if you provided email) for official investigations

We do NOT share your data with Semrush or any commercial third parties.

7. Your Rights (GDPR)

Under GDPR and applicable consumer protection laws, you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Rectification: Correct any inaccurate data
• Erasure: Request deletion of your data at any time
• Portability: Receive your data in a structured format (CSV/JSON)
• Withdraw consent: Withdraw your consent and request deletion
• Lodge a complaint: File a complaint with your national data protection authority (e.g., CNIL in France)

To exercise these rights, contact us at contact@semrush-complaints.org. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Data Security

Your data is stored using Google Forms and Google Sheets, which provide:

• Encryption at rest and in transit (TLS/SSL)
• Access restricted to authorized administrators only
• Regular security updates from Google

While we take reasonable precautions, no online system is 100% secure. If you're concerned about security, you can submit reports anonymously (without email).

8A. What We Do NOT Collect

To protect your privacy, we explicitly do NOT collect:

• ❌ File uploads, screenshots, or email attachments
• ❌ Account numbers, usernames, or passwords
• ❌ IP addresses (Google Forms may log them temporarily, but we do not access or use them)
• ❌ Cookies or browser tracking data on our website
• ❌ Payment card information or banking details

Why no file uploads? Screenshots often inadvertently contain sensitive information like account numbers or personal identifiers. Instead, we ask if you have evidence available, and consumer protection agencies can request it directly from you if needed.

9. Cookies and Tracking

This website does not use cookies or tracking scripts. We do not collect analytics or track user behavior. The only data we collect is what you explicitly submit through the report form.

Google Forms may use cookies for form functionality. See Google's cookie policy.

10. Third-Party Links

Our site contains links to external resources (DGCCRF, FTC, consumer advocacy sites). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites.

11. Changes to This Notice

We may update this privacy notice to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The latest version will always be available at semrush-complaints.org/privacy.

Last updated: January 2026

12. Contact Us

For questions, data requests, or to exercise your rights:

Email: contact@semrush-complaints.org