Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#591

Post by bongripper » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 8:39 AM UTC

lazide wrote: post #345

wolverine876 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking all legal free money is wise, or even just non-idiotic?

If someone you know (a customer, in this case, with an existing relationship) wants to keep paying you, why go out of your way to say no? unless there is a specific reason you think they screwed up - like they say they want to cancel, but hit the wrong button or something. Or you know they’re dead and can’t cancel. Otherwise it just inconveniences them if they want it, since you cancelled it out from under them. Bad…

Dude you're literally so retarded

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#592

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 8:42 AM UTC

erickj wrote: post #581

CJefferson wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not send a message reminding them of the service, and giving an easy one-click way of cancelling? You could include some info on how they can use your service as well of course.

Imagine someone walked by your house every month and dropped a $5 bill on your lawn. The 1st of every month ... there it was. Would you put up a sign reminding them to stop stop dropping $5 bills?

[deleted]

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#593

Post by lwhi » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 9:10 AM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #477

lwhi wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your point? That the system is just fine thank you Sir, move along?

My point is that is logical and not that bizarre that companies will do anything they can to broaden their customer base. Once you've sold your product to the rich and the middle class, you have to target the poor. Because your factory keeps spitting out product and you need customers.

Some companies only sell to people who are financially struggling. And a great deal of these companies rely on people not being financially literate to make huge amounts of money.

There's no inevitability to these systems. People make choices to run companies these ways.

They don't have to sell because the factories can't stop making products.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#594

Post by libraryatnight » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 9:10 AM UTC

wolverine876 wrote: post #64

The blame falls also on businesses which take money for services they don't deliver. They often know, and otherwise often could know, when subscribers are not using the service. If you're a business, you should earn your revenue, otherwise you are frauds. This particular behavior is little better than taking money and simply refusing to provide service. Don't tell me it's unintentional - you know what's happening and…

When I was a teen I worked for a credit card company doing outbound balance transfer sales, it was awful. But the day I put in my two weeks was when my sup pulled a call of mine to review and asked me what I had done wrong.

In it, a very very old woman who never used her card anymore, hadn't had a balance in some time, barely remembered she had it, was not interested in the balance transfer. My requirement in addition to the balance transfer was to also offer the product that came up for the account. The product was an account protection that basically froze your payments if you were unable to make them.

She asked if I thought that was something she really needed, I said no, you don't run a balance so it'd likely not be worthwhile if she planned to continue not using it. The sups issue with the call was that I said she didn't need the product. He wanted me to swindle that lady.

I didn't walk out or anything I just said this is my 2 weeks this isn't for me. Anyway, at some point people make these things okay, we can stop it.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#595

Post by samarthr1 » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 9:12 AM UTC

godelski wrote: post #61

MOARDONGZPLZ wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. New York Times always gets me without fail. They always start at something absurd like $3/mo or $5 for six months, and before you know it I’m auditing my statements and see that I’ve been paying $34.99/mo for the last two years. Repeat ad infinitum.

I feel like a great way to solve these is to require confirmations when payments change (maybe with exception of variable rate loans?). If you work at a bank, maybe pitch a notifications system that detects reoccurring transactions that are in fixed amounts that notifies customers when they change. In fact, also pitch giving your customers a fucking list of reoccurring transactions. Seriously, how is so much software…

This is something my central bank has forced on all banks. If I want auto pay, then my bank notifies me a day or two before, and after the mandate is executed. I also have a single place where all my auto pay mandates can be managed from

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#596

Post by setr » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 9:42 AM UTC

pxc wrote: post #584

PakG1 wrote: post #572

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose the cynic would argue that if they didn't have this billing practice, they may have survived. Which the other cynic would say is the problem, are businesses being too subsidized by unethical billing?

We also don't know that it closed because it failed. Small businesses like that can end up closing just because the owner moves away or something like that, if the owner is highly involved in operating the place.

I’m highly suspicious that the whole 90% of restaurants fail thing is largely because small business owners don’t know how to manage their finances and maintain adequate buffers for lean months. I expect even the highest revenue places to just fall over suddenly because of it

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#597

Post by 8organicbits » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 9:43 AM UTC

raz32dust wrote: post #547

wolverine876 wrote: post #64

The blame falls also on businesses which take money for services they don't deliver. They often know, and otherwise often could know, when subscribers are not using the service. If you're a business, you should earn your revenue, otherwise you are frauds. This particular behavior is little better than taking money and simply refusing to provide service. Don't tell me it's unintentional - you know what's happening and…

In the elderly neighbor and shovel example, I don't see what's wrong, as long as it was communicated. It depends on the agreement really - for example, if the shovel guy was charging a little less for subscription than what it would otherwise cost the elderly in a regular year of snow. The elderly is getting the benefit of always having a shoveler ready and available, and the shoveler is getting the benefit of more p…

> ready and available

This is key. I've had software contacts where I was on retainer to provide service if needed. I wasn't needed, and got paid just for making myself available.

The shovel person's availability is reduced, they can't take another job that conflicts with this contract. They needed to buy a shovel, stock salt, maintain their car, etc. This seems like a pretty normal service retainer.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#598

Post by taffer » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 10:05 AM UTC

skeaker wrote: post #451

Alupis wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with people putting on their adulting pants and actually being responsible? Why outsource personal responsibility to a third party? That seems, absurd. "Frazzled and overloaded" is not an excuse for not looking at your bank account one time in 6 months or longer. That's just plain old fashioned irresponsible. If you are at a stage in life where a $10 subscription is hurting, then it stands to reason you…

> What's wrong with people putting on their adulting pants and actually being responsible? What's wrong with asking businesses to simply not charge you if you don't use the service? You can play the blame game all day, but that doesn't actually give us any reason why not. "Cars shouldn't have seatbelts because you can just not crash your car" is a similar line of thinking that also doesn't make very much sense. Why s…

> What's wrong with asking businesses to simply not charge you if you don't use the service

Pay-per-view services exist. Customers seem to prefer subscriptions.

Any subscription model works by amortising costs over a large population, which always means that some people will benefit more than others. To prevent businesses from charging for unused subscriptions, the only solution would be to ban subscriptions altogether and have everything on a pay-per-use basis. That would also include internet subscriptions and transit passes.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#599

Post by kortilla » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 10:11 AM UTC

Qwertious wrote: post #586

kortilla wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should I get a refund for not using my insurance?

Everyone uses their insurance - an insurance claim denotes when you get snake-eyes , not when you roll the dice.

No, I don’t use it when I’m not driving.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#600

Post by robertlagrant » Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 10:50 AM UTC

wolverine876 wrote: post #463

robertlagrant wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why is responsibility any less there? It's not. They should be ensuring the service being paid for is available. That's their responsibility.

You really think it's responsible to knowingly take people's money for nothing? I think that's textbook irresponsibility - it's an assertion of irresponsibility as ok.

Well, you'd have to put work in to know. If I get a physical magazine subscription, the magazine doesn't know if I read it, unless they put in the work to phone me and ask. They aren't being irresponsible at all.