Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it

imgur.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 845 posts

Re: Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it

#91

Post by Karunamon »

jrockway wrote: post #21
tambeb wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha yes! Right around the time I decided I didn't want the sub anymore was luckily right around when I cancelled (for unrelated reasons) the credit card they had on file. Super easy!

My credit card expired and they sent my account to collections. I still subscribe because I like the work their journalists do, but when I read an article about how they're dying I don't really feel bad for them. (I am also tempted to cancel my Wall Street Journal subscription when I accidentally read an opinion column. Not sure why real journalists let partisan hacks put their opinion columns right next to their rea…

How is that not fraudulent? Obviously they're not giving you online access anymore or sending you papers once your card gets declined for a month-to-month subscription.

Re: Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it

#93

Post by Cyph0n »

ganstyles wrote: post #82
Cyph0n wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they really need to rely on dark patterns just to survive - which I highly doubt is the case - then they simply don’t deserve to survive. Yes, it sucks, but that’s how the free market works.

Presumably not, if they use dark patterns and not only survive, but thrive. Right?

Again, I highly doubt that NYT relies on these dark patterns, but I could be wrong.

If NYT actually relied on these tactics to keep themselves afloat, then I wouldn’t call it “thriving”, simply because these kinds of techniques are not sustainable at all in the long run.

Re: Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it

#94

Post by gumby »

cperciva wrote: post #39

I had a similar experience with the Economist a few years ago. Signed up for a trial (something like $5 for 13 weeks?) and decided to cancel at the end of the trial. It took me 10 minutes on the phone to cancel, and then I received 3 phone calls later that day from the Economist offering me special offers to re-subscribe. I have to admit that I may have answered rather rudely when the third caller asked how I was doi…

At least for the economist this was not the case last month. I canceled my sub and got a new one for my kid who wants the paper copy (this way I got the intro deal for students) and it was painless. Plus I can still log in online.

So maybe enough people complained, or someone in the subscription department ran across a conscience and tried it on for size.

Re: Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it

#95

Post by raegis »

If you live in southern California an have a Los Angeles Public Library card, you can view the NY Times by logging in every two days. You do have to register at nytimes.com but it's all free.

Regardless, you should check if your local library has an online subscription.

Re: Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it

#96

Post by soneil »

1shooner wrote: post #28

Most of this chatlog is "you" adding more noise than is necessary for this transaction.

For an interesting definition of "most"? I see, what, 3 lines that weren't direct answers to direct questions? One of those was pretty legitimate feedback, which seems sensible when the rep tells you feedback is why they're asking. Another is just asking for a copy of the chatlog.

Re: Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it

#99

Post by samcheng »

tech-historian wrote: post #76
whoisjuan wrote: post #25

Imagine having a business model so fragile that your only line of defense is to obscure the cancellation process through these tactics. Do they really think that they can curve their churn this way? I mean best you’re doing is getting maybe another month or so of revenue from a customer who is just pushing the pain of cancelling because they are busy or lazy. And at the end instead of getting what could be a dormant…

Back in 2006 an AOL subscriber recorded their conversation with an AOL customer service agent while trying to cancel the service. It was really bad, way worse than this NYTimes process. The NYT wrote an article about the debacle [1] and had this to say about Netflix's great customer service and ease of cancellation, compared to AOL's awful service: "Seeing how Netflix would be so protective of my time were I to leave…

Netflix is notoriously generous here. They allegedly auto-cancel accounts that don't use the service for too long!

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/net...

Re: Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it

#100

Post by rawtxapp »

Spivak wrote: post #62
rawtxapp wrote: post #22

I've never been able to cancel any subscription with ease, so nowadays I always use Privacy to get temporary credit cards. When I want the subscription cancelled, I try the provider's website, if it doesn't work, I just cancel the card all together.

There is some danger to this since just because your card is declined doesn’t mean that you stop owing them money. Gyms like to take advantage of this.

The solution to that is, you never give them your real name, address, number, email, etc. It's never verified and Privacy doesn't seem to check your name matches.
Post reply on HN