Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it • Hacker News Board

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

#251

Post by BugWatch » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

Theory5 wrote: post #36

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…

This happened to me with audible. They didn't have the cancel subscription on the app. Had to hunt for it on the site. Was asked if i was suuuuuuure i wanted to leave, 3 separate times before it canceled. Definitely not thinking of doing that again, or like i do for some streaming services, pay for a couple months, stop, then pay for a few more. Utterly rediculous.

Ah, that must be famed "Beetlejuice(, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!)" technique.

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

#252

Post by rrdharan » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

zippergz wrote: post #190

pottertheotter wrote: post #151

I had a similar issue with the Wall Street Journal a few years back, and despite having spent the majority of my career working on Wall Street, I’ll never buy a subscription again. I signed up for a really good deal for 6 months of digital + paper delivery, but my paper always arrived a day or two late, so before my 6 months were up I tried to cancel, but couldn’t figure out a way to do so on their website. I message…

I almost bought a WSJ sub during a recent sale, and decided against it specifically because I checked and it said I'd have to call them to cancel.

If you change your address to one in California, they expose the cancel option, because they have to by law:

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-unsubscribe-easily-from-WSJ-o...

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

#253

Post by franklampard » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

I_Byte wrote: post #48

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.

Woah, I had no clue that Privacy existed before but it looks really cool! What do you think of the service? Have you had any problems with it?

Sometimes the merchant will tell the card is a virtual card and not allow it, but most of the times it works perfect

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

#254

Post by nkozyra » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:34 AM UTC

kortilla wrote: post #229

nkozyra wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does "to your door" mean here, because it's exactly how the process works in the US. Typically if don't pay a bill you'll get a few months to rectify with fees tacked on, then internal collections will happen or it'll be sold to a collection service. In both cases you'll get letters and eventually if the amount is high enough or the debt other otherwise motivated, a summons for pre trial mediation and then a civ…

Most of these subscriptions (nyt, prime, etc) are not debt. They are a service you pay monthly in advance for.

The example I was replying to was internet service, though.

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

#255

Post by gorgoiler » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:36 AM UTC

You’re wasting their time by making them think they can engage you. They are wasting yours by thinking they can engage you.

Be the binary choice you want to see in the world — copy and paste ad infinitum until they acknowledge, then take a screenshot / save the call recording:

“Thanks, I want to cancel my subscription (Jo Doe jdoe94@gmail account 155234) please acknowledge”

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

#256

Post by nickthemagicman » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:36 AM UTC

dealforager wrote: post #232

pottertheotter wrote: post #151

I had a similar issue with the Wall Street Journal a few years back, and despite having spent the majority of my career working on Wall Street, I’ll never buy a subscription again. I signed up for a really good deal for 6 months of digital + paper delivery, but my paper always arrived a day or two late, so before my 6 months were up I tried to cancel, but couldn’t figure out a way to do so on their website. I message…

I use Privacy.com for this reason and to not worry about my cards getting leaked. I create a card per-subscription and set the monthly limit to exactly the cost of the subscription. When I want to cancel, if it's not easy I just destroy the virtual card.

I LOVE Privacy.com!!!

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

#257

Post by gsibble » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

kyrra wrote: post #237

gsibble wrote: post #228

I have something like 4 subscriptions that I cannot figure out how to cancel on my AMEX. So I cancelled my AMEX. They now have a feature where your subscriptions will follow you any way. I literally have no way of getting rid of like $200 worth of fucking subscriptions unless I want to close my credit card account.

Your wording is a little confusing. Are you saying that your card number changed and the subscription was updated to charge that new number? If so, that's known as account updater or card refresher. https://developer.visa.com/capabilities/vau https://www.americanexpress.com/us/merchant/cardrefresher.ht...

Yes. It's infuriating. How do I get AMEX to prevent those charges?

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

#258

Post by cbozeman » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

duxup wrote: post #208

cbozeman wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why are you subscribing to the New York Times? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_involvin... So much for your "paper of record". It's the Paper of the Establishment. And always has been.

What do you suggest?

At the moment, its hard to say... I'm loathe to say, "Nothing", but that may actually be the most correct answer.

Institutions have completely squandered what little trust the public once had in them.

I think we're living through a very specific period of history in which we're going to see some sort of new paradigm emerge and become dominant. Citizen journalism has been on the rise - I don't know how long, I admit I don't pay much attention to it - and established journalists like Matt Taibbi are moving to Substack.

I don't know what the future might hold, but I don't think the next 100 years will look at all like the past 100 years, at least insofar as the concept of "news" is concerned.

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

#259

Post by flovec » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

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…

I've had success pursuing bad i.e. potentially illegal cancellation practices by filing a complaint through the attorney general's office where the company is located.

In my case: 1) First I had a rough time cancelling my account _in person_ at a T-mobile store. The remote T-mobile employees in charge of cancellation kept hanging up on the T-mobile employees calling them from the store because cancellations are bad. This was so normal to the local T-mobile employees it was laughable to them. 2) T-mobile never cancelled my account - they suspended it...and didn't tell me! They reopened it 6 months later, charged me for a few months w/o notifying me, then sent the unpaid dues to a local debt collector. I only found out after being contacted by a debt collection agency.

I was able to get both T-mobile and the collection agency they work with to "look into it", but I could not get a direct answer from T-mobile about how to fix the situation after multiple calls to them, and the collection agency relied on T-mobile to strike the debt clean.

Bob Ferguson is the attorney general for Washington where T-mobile's HQ is. Bob is THE man in case you were wondering. After filing a complaint to his office, which was then forwarded to T-mobile, I heard back from someone at T-mobile specializing in these situations in a week's time and was informed the situation was fixed and the debt was removed from my credit report.

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

#260

Post by bscphil » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 5:39 AM UTC

hartator wrote: post #187

jjcon wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone wondering - no this definitively isn't fraud - no it will have no impact your credit (there isn't even a mechanism for this to happen), nor will it get debt collectors after you (you don't owe a subscription continual payment, failure to pay only means they can terminate your service).

Depends on the contract you’ve agreed to. I’ve heard gyms which would sent the invoice to collections if they can’t charge your credit cared anymore.

I have encountered similar tactics from a popular VPS provider. Set up your account to auto-renew, send the invoice to collections if they can't charge you, instead of just canceling the service. Infuriating, to the point where you'd think they'd be more concerned about driving away future customers.