How do I sign up for Escapist+ with ad-free videos?
You should see a little floating E+ at the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Click that. If the icon does not appear, please refer to our General Troubleshooting section below.
You can use this widget to create and manage your subscription. You can enjoy your subscription on multiple devices*, such as PC, iPad, and mobile phone. At the moment, we only offer credit/debit options. We’re hoping to introduce a PayPal option soon.
You’re also able to send an Escapist+ subscription as a gift. What a splendid idea!
*Note: While there is no limit on the amount of devices you can connect to your subscription, your service may be interrupted if too many different IP addresses connect to your account, for security reasons. Please refrain from sharing your login information with anyone outside of your household to prevent this.
I signed up for Escapist+, but I still see ads on the Escapist Youtube Channel
As much as we’d like to connect our Youtube with our website, this technology does not yet exist. We’re not able to marry the two.
Escapist+ is the on-website premium program for this website only, pertaining to our in-house video player. However, we do offer a totally separate option for Youtube-Only subscribers. Click the “Join” button when you get there to learn more.
General Troubleshooting
Can’t watch videos or leave comments?
As a general rule, please try surfing the site using “Incognito Mode” with all browser extensions disabled, to rule out 3rd party app interference. We recommend using the latest Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge browser. If you haven’t performed a system update in awhile, this can sometimes help.
Our site uses SSL encryption, cookies and javascript to personalize your experience. Sometimes, browser extensions such as Norton Privacy or Adblock Plus may interfere with javascript components, such as Disqus and video players. Also, please make sure your computer’s clock is set to the correct date, as this can interfere with SSL certificates (HTTPS links).
In some cases, it’s our fault. A video may not have completed uploading or our web servers are having a service interruption. If you can watch some videos on the site but not others please do let us know. Please copy the problem URL into your message.
I signed up but I still see ads on certain kinds of videos
If you’re on a page with an Escapist video player, the ads should be blocked. If this isn’t working for you, please contact us (instructions at the bottom of this page)
When browsing older videos (Escapist “V1”) that don’t use our latest video player technology, or when browsing a page that uses a third-party video player from others. For example, we may embed a video from Sony that they have released with ad support on Vimeo, Youtube, or DailyMotion. Unfortunately we’re not able to block ads on third-party video players. We would if we could.
Forgot your forums password?
For the new forums – reset it here
Please note the old “V1” forum accounts won’t work on the new forums.
How to change your credit card, or change/cancel membership for Escapist+
From your Desktop PC* with your ad-blocker disabled, simply click on the E+ icon on the bottom right hand side, and click manage payment. The menu will guide you through all the steps.
*This may also work from your mobile device, but some older devices may vary in compatibility.
You can cancel your membership as well as remove your saved payment information at any time:
What is Pico / Stripe?
The Escapist do not store any payment information on our servers. We use a trusted third-party service to collect and process credit cards for your protection. That means that should our website be compromised, none of your information is stored on our server – not even your email. Stripe is our merchant account and offers bank-grade security to keep the bad guys from accessing your info.
Learn more about PICO here.
Learn more about STRIPE here.
Where’s my confirmation email?
In some cases, email providers such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and Outlook may filter our messages as false positives for spam. Emails are sent from our payment supplier “[email protected]”, please search for this in your spam and trash folders.
When does my monthly membership recur?
Memberships begin on the unique start day when you signed up. If you’d like payments to go out near a specific date, it’s best to sign up on that exact day (or request a refund and sign up again on the desired day if you already subscribed). This may also by 48-72 hours due to things like leap year and unplanned service interruptions.
How do I remove all of my customer data?
We store two sets of data for you: Your social data (such as comments and forums) on our servers and financial data is secured on our payment processor’s side. You can request the deletion of both these things or one or the other at any time: Please email: [email protected] from the email associated with your account.
Uptime guarantee
While we make a best effort to have the site up and running 24/7, service interruptions can sometimes occur that are beyond our control (such as ISP routing, hosting company upgrades going not as planned, etc). In most cases, the site will never be offline for more than a few minutes at a time, and we use Cloudflare’s “always on” technology to serve cached pages when we have to go offline. If for whatever reason you’re not happy with our service availability please do contact us about a refund.
Satisfaction guarantee
If for any reason you are not satisfied with the service, you can go into your account and stop future payments. As for refunds, membership comes with a no-questions-asked money back guarantee, as long as they are cancelled by the 14th day from the time your membership was created (on month-to-month plans). Yearly plan members carry a one month minimum commitment. Partial yearly refunds will be prorated at the month-to-month membership rate. Please note that credit card processing fees cannot be refunded (we have no control over merchant card and payment processing vendor fees, typically $1 per transaction and 3% of the total transaction). Please contact us from the email on file, or forward us a copy of the receipt to request a refund.
Long-time Escapist PubClub Member and still getting charged?
The current Escapist team took over around August of 2018, and we’ve made all efforts to stop payments from the “V1” forums. Unfortunately, we have limited insight into the third-party payments the previous owners set up, or invoices still being triggered by those systems. Please contact us with as much information (such as an old receipt) and we’ll do our best to help you get that sorted out. They may appear as WarCry or Macris or Defy Media.
If you are a legacy member still paying by Paypal, here’s how to cancel recurring payments as well as how to cancel pre-approved subscriptions.
If you have a different technical issue, please contact us
How to contact Escapist+ Support
Please email: [email protected] and please include the following: (1) What Device/Browser you are using (2) An example specific URL on our site that your request is about. (example: I can’t see this video http://www.link-to-the-video.etc)
For payment issues with Youtube Premium
For all credit card matters with Youtube, there is a youtube-specific rep that can help you. Please refer to that service’s support page for more information. On the top-right corner of the Youtube page there’s a “get support” link to chat with a rep.
I was charged multiple times by Youtube
In some cases it may appear as an “authorization” first but after 24-48 hours it will only show as 1 charge. They first test the card as a kind of handshake, and that will eventually disappear. As long as you don’t have multiple youtube accounts it should only charge you once.
