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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

#351

Post by slg »

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…

>Do they really think that they can curve their churn this way?

Yes, because it actually does work. If you need proof, just call up one of these companies and say "I am cancelling because your service is too expensive." Odds are decent that you will get some type of promo offer to keep you. If there is any competition in your area for internet/cable and you have never done this, you are wasting money.

OP could have also had any number of other problems that could have been solved by these retention specialists. Basically they are doing the equivalent of an IT person asking if you have turned it off and back on again. That might be frustrating for the type of people who read HN and know better, but the reason they ask it is because there are legitimately issues that can be solved by this extremely basic level of support.

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

#352

Post by kenneth »

baybal2 wrote: post #308
jabberwcky wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst experience I had with this involved 4 customer service representatives simply hanging up (after a 30+ minute wait) after exhausting their script. I simply recorded the final call, stopping paying the bill, and sent the documentation I had to the credit reference agency when the contract went into default At some point they sent a debt collection agency, that was much less stressful than it sounds. They call…

I had a funny episode with TD when I was closing the bank account when I was leaving Canada for good. Very hard to close the account, even in person. My point was to make sure that there is no recurring payments left on the account. Similar bullshit. You ask to close the account, and they keep asking you back with a square face. In the end, a year after I left Canada, I get a call from collectors saying that they hav…

I had, surprisingly, the opposite experience when I exasperatedly wanted to cancel my BofA account. I had had it with their awful customer service and simply wanted to never do business with them again. I went into a branch expecting a difficult process. The teller had me all sorted and done in 5 minutes. I was impressed.

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

#353

Post by jb775 »

chmod600 wrote: post #278

I just cancelled and it was relatively painless, to their credit. When they asked the reason, I said that political coverage was unfair. Left is OK, unfair is not. I don't consider myself "on the left" but I really don't mind a publication being left of center or right of center. If it's good, I will pay for it (I subscribed tp The Atlantic at least twice, and the New Yorker once, and probably others in a mix of prin…

> they want to persuade me to hold a set of opinions

Glad more people are realizing this. It's harder to spot/acknowledge for people on the left since the biased coverage feeds into their worldview...in my opinion it's artificially solidified their confidence on how "correct" they feel they are about political topics.

The next step in this realization is nothing to do with one-sided reporting, it's the massive scale of what selectively gets ignored or hidden.

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

#354

Post by keiferski »

lonelyeagle wrote: post #77

A little trick might work. You only need to say you become a trump supporter and they will cancelled it immediately. I use this way and the whole process cost less than 5 mins.

The Curb Your Enthusiasm strategy in action.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B2oLFKYNInQ

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

#356

Post by kccqzy »

gnopgnip wrote: post #349
dealforager wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Cancelling a card and not paying a bill doesn't mean you no longer owe the underlying debt. A real company like the NYT will still pursue collecting the debt

What collection agency wants to collect a $4 bill?

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

#357

Post by ganafagol »

I expected to read details of some legal battle over months. But this is a transcript of a chat for about 15 minutes. Srsly? That's what outrages you? Having to wait for a few minutes to cancel a newspaper subscription? How many times a day do you do this kind of thing?

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

#358

Post by andix »

I always try to cancel subscriptions with a legally binding letter. In Austria we have a federal signature service, which can be also used to sign PDFs. Those signatures are legally binding and have to be accepted by all people and companies inside the EU.

So I send a signed letter via email to the company. I ignore all their forms, procedures, intimidations. If they don't want to accept it, just threaten them with a credit card dispute (which you will win).

I have no idea about the laws in the US though, if that's possible. And yes, it's annoying. But you just need to figure it out once, and use the same standard procedure for any services/subscription.

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

#359

Post by croes »

ganafagol wrote: post #357

I expected to read details of some legal battle over months. But this is a transcript of a chat for about 15 minutes. Srsly? That's what outrages you? Having to wait for a few minutes to cancel a newspaper subscription? How many times a day do you do this kind of thing?

It's not about the time but about the way. You can sign up with a few clicks but to cancel you need to talk to human being.

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

#360

Post by HenryBemis »

astura wrote: post #325
oconnor663 wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this sort of thing still end up hurting your credit score though? I don't know how this actually works, but I feel like I've heard scary things about it.

If that invalid "debt" was still on your credit report you'd just file a dispute to have it removed.

When you remove an invalid debt, make sure that the bank doesn't sneak it back in. The banks "push" to the credit scoring companies on regular intervals, so although the credit scoring company-ies may remove it, unless the bank/source removes it from THEIR systems, it will be re-pushed 1-3-6 months later.

(source: Dave Ramsey's mentioned that in many of his radio shows/podcast episodes)

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