281–290 of 845 posts
I just unsubscribed using web form. There are some dark patterns involved but not too dark. E.g. first option is the chat with representative, second is the call by phone and third option is the web form. After I have navigated 3 pages using "default button" for canceling the unsubscription process - it is done. It's not the best experience, but not the nightmare the OP described.
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This isn't the first time I've seen NYT cancellation process in my social feeds. It has to be a negative feedback loop cycle. People that read HN are absolutely the type that would consider paying for NYT (or at least the two cohorts have great overlap). This cancellation process never considered the impact of internet cancel culture and rage reactions. It's far easier to damage a brand than it is to build it up.
How often do you see NYT articles on the front page? It is very rarely for me.
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When I tell someone I want to cancel a service, the only thing I ever want to hear is, "Yes sir." followed by, "All done, sir." And maybe a, "Have a nice day, sir." Period. I give you money. You give me a service. I stop giving you money. You stop giving me the service. Its just that goddamn simple.
Nonsense. If your situation was generalizable, then no one would accept rebates or gifts offered during the cancelation process - yet many do, which is why sales rep continue to offer them.
Very few people actually determined to cancel are going to be convinced by something like this, I suspect. There's a whole cottage industry of mostly older, upper-middle class folks who call customer service lines once a year to get their rebate. I find the whole game rather reprehensible (on the part of the companies that allow it). It constitutes a kind of wealth transfer to the people who have the free time, energy, and ability to play the game. I'd much rather these companies just reduce the price across the board towards the "average" payment, and stick to their guns with the people who call in.
This would eliminate so many hours of pointless work and frustration.
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What do you suggest?
BBC, NPR, /r/news, etc. There's tons of decent news sites.
It isn't just their rabid anti-conservative bias, which I'm more or less fine with as its pretty clear their possessed by their ideologies, but its their fascism of banning anyone who has a different opinion, while hilariously hiding behind "fighting fascism". I guess it makes sense though... fight fire with fire, fight fake fascism with real fascism...
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Exactly. I was cringing so hard because he kept engaging with the rep on lines of questioning that were so obviously going to go down the path they did. I've cancelled my NYT account in the past and it was rather painless because I was consistent in my response and communicated clearly that I just wanted to unsubscribe. I've since renewed my subscription, but cancelling service with an ISP or even Amazon Prime at thi…
It also took exactly 15 minutes between encountering the live agent for the first time and the final sign-off. That's nothing given that they had to communicate via live text chat. And as others have pointed out in this thread, it's actually possible to cancel just by filling out a form, not that this excuses the dark patterns and endless offers. This reads as someone determined to get something juicy they could scre…
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 said the phrase "I want to cancel cable but keep internet" 23 times to a Time Warner retention specialist then their supervisor, and I may have talked to her supervisor, too. They get paid to ignore you and read back canned responses like "but what about your favorite channels?", "what about watching sports?", etc. It was the first time my girlfriend had ever seen me angry.
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When most people see "cancel membership" they will think it is immediately. They will just wait to cancel until the last possible day and when they forget it's free money for Netflix. It's smart/shady. I'm sure it contributes to their decreasing churn.
Full disclosure, I used to work for Netflix. I really don't think they're trying to be shady. When you click to cancel, it tells you what your last day of service will be. This is also how just about all monthly subscription services work. One of the most important metrics at Netflix is how many hours members are watching. Any A/B test that can improve that metric is really cherished, because Netflix wants happy cust…
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.
No problem, right? I'll pay up on the account, re-activate, and work out. Nope, they wanted to charge me a reactivation fee. I said "no" and left. Never paid them another dime.
What a stupid business.
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Normal? What other business does that? I can’t think of one.
Banks and credit cards cancel inactive accounts.