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

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

#291

Post by gnicholas »

Six months after I bought a home, I started receiving the weekend NYT. I called them to inquire about it and they said unless I could verify the name on the account, they couldn’t talk to me. I guessed the name of the previous owner, and that was correct. I explained I was the new owner, that I read the NYT online (usually the night before the print edition comes out, since I’m in California), and that I would just end up recycling all the papers.

The rep understood but said she couldn’t cancel the account without verifying my identity. I reiterated that I was not the account holder but I literally own the home where it was being delivered. The rep wouldn’t cancel the account. Eventually he suggested putting it on a vacation hold (maximum 6 months) and then repeating the process every time it started coming again.

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

#293

Post by gostsamo »

hctaw wrote: post #282
gostsamo wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often do you see NYT articles on the front page? It is very rarely for me.

They've been trending the last couple days.

Last couple days have only one story from NYT with ore than 100 upvotes. I didn't bother with checking further than second page of results, but though there are lots of submissions, rarely they get more than a couple of upvotes.

https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=nytimes.com

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

#294

Post by 8note »

xxxtentachyon wrote: post #132
jcims wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other issue with audible cancellation is that you throw away your credits...but then if you try to spend 5-10 credits quickly it becomes challenging...so you don't cancel. lol

They say this, but your credits aren’t actually thrown away immediately (at least they weren’t in 2018 or thereabouts). I learned this by ending up in exactly the position you describe - trying to get rid of credits before canceling - except I gave up with one or two left. To my surprise, they were still there once I was done canceling.

When I cancelled audible, it wouldnt even let me use the app, let alone use credits I had

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

#296

Post by px43 »

CrazyStat wrote: post #178
mikepurvis wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience with this was having a dormant Chase account with like $100 in it, which they chipped away at, withdrawing the $4/mo fee or whatever, until the balance was at $0, whereupon it was immediately closed. I'm not sure if this really counts for much in their favour.

Wells Fargo "accidentally" failed to close my account when I went in person to close it--though they did give me a check for the balance and told me it was closed--and then when I realized six months later it wasn't actually closed, they tried to make me pay them 6 months worth of monthly fees before they would close it.

When I closed my Wells Fargo account, they took out all my money, charged me some account closing fee, which over-drafted and fell back to a credit card which now had a balance on it due to the overdraft and they told me they couldn't close my account. I think I ended up paying something like 130 dollars of fees just to close my account, but at that point they'd already screwed me over so many times that I just paid it all and walked out.

Terrible, terrible company.

Every person everywhere really needs to move all their money to credit unions, our banking system is so thoroughly fucked.

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

#297

Post by kenhwang »

salex89 wrote: post #3

General advice when subscribing to NYT is to do it through PayPal. Once you cut them loose from their funding from PayPal, they let you go without hesitation.

I have all my subscriptions go through PayPal. Makes everything easy to cancel.

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

#298

Post by deusex_ »

uka wrote: post #147

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.

They only have the form for people in California or Europe.

long live strong consumer protection laws

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

#299

Post by px43 »

bastawhiz wrote: post #186
Spivak wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Unless you have a contract, no, you don't owe them anything. Saying that you'd like recurring charges doesn't obligate you to continue paying after you've stopped using a service.

I've never seen a gym that you can join without signing a contract. My sample size is three, but still, seems pretty common.
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