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Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

bbc.com

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Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#171

Post by globular-toast »

NKosmatos wrote: post #123

I don’t understand how people leave subscription or renewal charges unchecked in their credit cards. I can understand keeping a subscription unused but still acknowledging and paying for it (for whatever personal reasons), but having a charge in your credit card without knowing what exactly it is or why, sounds a bit strange to me. Could be that I’m not rich enough and I’m still paying attention to every single €/$/£…

There's a huge inequality between those who understand finance and those who don't. You don't get rich just by working hard. You have to understand money to get ahead. But many people are essentially afraid of money.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#172

Post by thih9 »

mywacaday wrote: post #168
sytelus wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm getting charged by rhapsody.com every quarter for no apparent reason. I used their service like may be 8 years ago. They have a phone number in their merchant line which is invalid. When I filed request to void the charge to American Express, initially they declined! Then I filed appeal with angry comments and they finally voided it. It took over two months for the process. I just saw new Rhapsody charge again. T…

Companies that make it difficult to unsubscribe should be penalised, I live in Europe and got the New York Times on a 12 month trial for €4 a month. Trial just ended and it's now €8 a month, only way to cance is to ring them, have tried once so far and was on hold for 20 mins before I hung up. There should be a law that if you can sign up online you can cancel online.

Thanks for sharing this. This sounds absurd and discourages me from supporting them.

On the other hand I cancelled and re-enabled netflix a number of times. I’m currently subscribed and happy that I can change it anytime.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#173

Post by lovehashbrowns »

sytelus wrote: post #143
goodside wrote: post #55

Years ago, I heard of a dating site doing the opposite of this. They normally sent periodic digests and newsletters to their users to try to increase engagement, but if a user went a certain number of months without logging into their account, but still allowed monthly fees to be charged, they were labeled as a “sleeping giant” in the database. Once in this state, they would not be contacted by the site for any reaso…

I'm getting charged by rhapsody.com every quarter for no apparent reason. I used their service like may be 8 years ago. They have a phone number in their merchant line which is invalid. When I filed request to void the charge to American Express, initially they declined! Then I filed appeal with angry comments and they finally voided it. It took over two months for the process. I just saw new Rhapsody charge again. T…

It's so frustrating because my credit card declines the most random things. But when a service charges me twice in one week after I've been subscribed and charged the same amount once a month for years, the charge goes through and I have to go through hoops to get that money back.

And credit cards do this other obnoxious thing where they update merchants when you get a new credit card. It would be great if they didn't do that because then you'd remember that you are paying for certain services you never use because you'd get a payment declined email. But nah credit card companies just let those scumbag merchants continue their shadow charges under the guise of it being more convenient. Certain services like energy bills, phone bills. Sure, update the merchant with the new credit card. But a gym!? Gtfo with that trash.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#174

Post by adamtulinius »

mywacaday wrote: post #168
sytelus wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm getting charged by rhapsody.com every quarter for no apparent reason. I used their service like may be 8 years ago. They have a phone number in their merchant line which is invalid. When I filed request to void the charge to American Express, initially they declined! Then I filed appeal with angry comments and they finally voided it. It took over two months for the process. I just saw new Rhapsody charge again. T…

Companies that make it difficult to unsubscribe should be penalised, I live in Europe and got the New York Times on a 12 month trial for €4 a month. Trial just ended and it's now €8 a month, only way to cance is to ring them, have tried once so far and was on hold for 20 mins before I hung up. There should be a law that if you can sign up online you can cancel online.

Actually we have such a law in the EU. Not sure what it's called, but I'm sure it exists.

I believe the wording to be something like it has to be possible to cancel in a similar way you signed up.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#175

Post by jaxonrice »

mywacaday wrote: post #168
sytelus wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm getting charged by rhapsody.com every quarter for no apparent reason. I used their service like may be 8 years ago. They have a phone number in their merchant line which is invalid. When I filed request to void the charge to American Express, initially they declined! Then I filed appeal with angry comments and they finally voided it. It took over two months for the process. I just saw new Rhapsody charge again. T…

Companies that make it difficult to unsubscribe should be penalised, I live in Europe and got the New York Times on a 12 month trial for €4 a month. Trial just ended and it's now €8 a month, only way to cance is to ring them, have tried once so far and was on hold for 20 mins before I hung up. There should be a law that if you can sign up online you can cancel online.

I had exactly the same issue and worked around it by switching my payment method to Paypal and then cancelling the subscription agreement in Paypal.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#176

Post by Geezus_42 »

sytelus wrote: post #143
goodside wrote: post #55

Years ago, I heard of a dating site doing the opposite of this. They normally sent periodic digests and newsletters to their users to try to increase engagement, but if a user went a certain number of months without logging into their account, but still allowed monthly fees to be charged, they were labeled as a “sleeping giant” in the database. Once in this state, they would not be contacted by the site for any reaso…

I'm getting charged by rhapsody.com every quarter for no apparent reason. I used their service like may be 8 years ago. They have a phone number in their merchant line which is invalid. When I filed request to void the charge to American Express, initially they declined! Then I filed appeal with angry comments and they finally voided it. It took over two months for the process. I just saw new Rhapsody charge again. T…

https://privacy.com/join/5FPVD

Give every merchant an individual card and kill the card when they won't stop charging you.

P. S. There's also a browser extension that will let you generate a card at the time of checkout and autofill the information.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#177

Post by dylan62 »

Netflix impressed me recently with how easy they made it for me to cancel my subscription. It means I will have no hesitation to re-subscribe in future, should I feel the urge.

I just wonder how long it will last. It sometimes feels like all the big successful consumer companies become accountancy-driven scumbags sooner or later. Fingers crossed Netflix can buck the trend and stay a nice company to deal with.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#178

Post by Jare »

KajMagnus wrote: post #106
kbyatnal wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why privacy.com is great. Whenever I sign up for a subscription, I create a virtual card and after paying for the first month, I "pause" the card (ie. decline all additional charges). When I get the notification that my payment failed and I'm actually getting value out of the subscription, I log in and change the status to "active" again.

It sounds as if you are not worried that they would sue you? What are the reasons you feel safe? (Then maybe I could try this me too)

Years ago, my CC expired with an active Xbox Live sub attached (I moved overseas). Microsoft flagged my account as bad in some way, and years later when I moved back and tried to resub they didn't let me. Their loss, as I never spent another $ on Xbox after having purchased over 30 360 titles and been a Live subscriber since day 1.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#179

Post by vbezhenar »

mav3rick wrote: post #158
gear54rus wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the reasons subscription model is cancer: they hope you'll forget it's on.

Virtual Cards with set expiry numbers will end this game

I'd prefer my bank to allow me to manually approve every payment, e.g. via smartphone application. It would be easy to understand, fast enough, with some options like "approve netflix forever". That would be ideal for me. And if I don't like this particular payment, just decline and move on.

Those agents who pull my money without my explicit consent every time are the reason I'm keeping my card with minimal amount of money (I don't use credit cards, only debt cards).

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#180

Post by zepearl »

reificator wrote: post #127
KajMagnus wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds as if you are not worried that they would sue you? What are the reasons you feel safe? (Then maybe I could try this me too)

> It sounds as if you are not worried that they would sue you? Netflix subscriptions are prepaid. What on earth would give them the idea to sue if your card is declined? If your current month runs out and your renewal is declined, they just don't authorize you for a second month of service. There's no breach of contract, there's no debt for services rendered, I can't think of a single motivation to sue for this. What…

The post was probably referring to companies/subscriptions in general. The "contract" is separate from the method & frequency of the payments => even if you stop paying you still own them the old&new amount(s) as long as the contract hasn't been cancelled/terminated.
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