A documented customer account

Settlemate promised me a $500 settlement. There were none. Then came eight months of refund runaround.

This is a factual, dated record of my experience with the Settlemate app, quoted from the company's own emails. I am publishing it so the next person can decide before they pay.

The app
Settlemate (class-action / settlement claim finder)
What I was told
A notification said I qualified for a $500 settlement
What I paid
Annual subscription via Google Play, order GPA.3380-4563-3548-79003
What I found on login
Zero settlements available. I live in Costa Rica; the claims are US-resident only.
Refund requested
Within days of purchase, December 2025
Status as of August 2026
No refund. Company's "final response" issued.

What happened

On December 5, 2025, I received a notification through the Settlemate app telling me I qualified for a $500 settlement. On the strength of that specific promise, I happily paid the annual subscription fee through Google Play. When I logged in, I qualified for no settlements whatsoever. I later learned the claims are limited to U.S. residents, which was not made clear before I paid, and I live in Costa Rica, so the number of claims I could ever access is zero.

I requested a refund within days. What followed was an eight-month loop.

The runaround, in their own words

Dec 7, 2025
"All subscriptions are managed directly by Apple (App Store) or Google Play Store... please contact them for a refund."Settlemate Support
Dec 9, 2025

Google advised me that the developer must issue the refund. I relayed this and asked, again, for a refund.

Dec 11, 2025
"Class-action lawsuit claims are currently limited to U.S. residents only."Settlemate Support

This is the first time the U.S.-only limit was stated plainly to me. It was not what the $500 notification implied before I paid.

Jul 20, 2026
"Our goal is genuinely that you recover more than what you paid... that's the foundation of our Money Back Guarantee [which] is built around a full 12-month period."Settlemate

A money-back guarantee I could only claim after waiting a full year, for a service I could never use.

Aug 17, 2026
"We cannot issue a refund for this order now or at a later date through our systems. We have completed our review and have no further refund action available from our side."Carlos, Settlemate
Aug 19, 2026
"Settlemate cannot refund or reimburse this Google Play purchase... Our review is complete, and this is our final response regarding this refund request."Settlemate

Why I am writing this

I paid on the basis of a specific, quantified promise: $500 in claims waiting for me. That promise was false for me the moment I paid, and the company has spent eight months telling me it cannot do the one thing its own money-back guarantee says it stands behind. Google says the developer can refund; the developer says it cannot. Somebody is not telling the truth, and I am out the money either way.

If you are thinking about paying Settlemate: confirm, before you pay, that real claims are actually available to you in your country, and do not rely on a pre-purchase notification of a dollar figure. Read the refund terms. Understand that the "money-back guarantee" may require a full year's wait.