Mailchimp Email SMS Marketing

I signed up for Mailchimp’s Essential plan, but without my consent they automatically switched me to a more expensive plan and charged me extra. The reason? Simply importing contacts — even though not all of them are subscribers. In the end, Mailchimp only recognized 302 active emails, yet they forced me into a higher tier and billed me more.
This feels completely unfair and misleading. If I had actually used a larger audience, I could understand the cost increase. But being charged for contacts that aren’t even active subscribers makes no sense.
To make things worse, the system gives you no clear warning before upgrading and charging extra. It feels like a trap to push users into paying more.
I regret choosing Mailchimp — the pricing model is deceptive, support is slow, and instead of helping small businesses, it takes advantage of them.
I will be canceling and moving to another platform.