Posted on 05/08/2010 7:31:51 PM PDT by OldNavyVet
Subscribers to Classmates.com might be surprised to learn that they’ve agreed to an automatic renewal clause.
It happened to me.
I learned about it after finding a $39 renewal charge on my credit card.
My credit card company subsequently gave me a $39 conditional credit based on my complaint; but that credit was revoked after Classmates disputed it.
In their paperwork, Classmates writes that members may …“terminate Subscription Services at any time by contacting our Member Care Department via email or via our live chat representative.“
I'm now at an age where “who needs it?”; but I was late in “terminating”; so I’m now locked into Classmates for another year.
Consumer Reports does the same thing.
If you subscribe to their online access, you have to agree to an automatic renewal. I specifically called them right after my initial subscription, since there was no way to subscribe, without also agreeing to the automated renewals — told them that I am subscribing, but I do not want automatic renewals, but after a year, they did it anyway.
On my print edition, I subscribed for a year, on the website in my profile for the print edition, I checked and it said no automatic renewals, and they did it anyway.
I called and they eventually reversed it and canceled my subscription.
But I was pretty upset that even Consumer Reports does this — it’s not just that they do automatic renewal, but they did it even after you specifically instruct them NOT to do it.
Consumer Reports, as I said above — you have to agree to automated renewal
https://ec.consumerreports.org/ec/cro/order.htm?INTKEY=I61HLT0
...put up with the hard sell.
I typically counter the hard sell by getting as verbally agressive as possible - yet keeping the language clean and businesslike. Three important words to remember to use when you are in such a mode: cease and desist. In some states it carries legal weight.
Instead of calling Reader’s Digest, call your CC fraud division and report an unauthorized charge.
A third of my class is on Facebook anyway.
“Almost everybody that takes your credit card for a subscription to service has automatic renewal. It’s convenient for the people that want to stay and a money maker for the ones that don’t dot their i’s when they want to leave”
Not just credit cards, they can do it with your checking account also.
I was given the option to set it up to automatically renew or not. I opted not to and I had no problem when my year was up.
I think it’s a legit practice but I think it’s only fair if the company sends a communication they are about to bill you. MLB did that but I previous I worked for did it primarily as a means to make revenue on users like yourself.
Many businesses have discovered that selling subscription services (internet, print, or otherwise) with automatic renewal provides a virtually guarenteed cash flow stream.
I no longer subscribe to any product or service that has automatic renewals. It’s a devious and reprehensible business practice. It’s also a good way to permanently alienate your customers.
You were switched to General Forum I wanted to thank you I just deleted my card so they will not beable to renew automaticly I might be bump off of this site but that is alright.
I ‘joined for free’. Since I didn’t upgrade my account, I wasn’t allowed to contact other people on my class roster though. They did, however, send me auto emails. They left my name, ‘Nikita Khrushchev’, on my class roster for months,lol.
This is indeed true in many instances. The scam comes in when this is not disclosed.
I have been a Norton customer for years. Each year I dutifully decide to either renew with charge card or go buy another SW pkg at the store. This past year I was automatically charged.
I cancelled the subscription, let them know why and reminded them I have been a customer for over 10 years.
A few days later I received a phone call, an apology and an offer to re-new my subscription at half price.
Don’t renew your subscription. Norton software stinks. Poke around the web, find out how to uninstall it (none of Norton’s uninstalls are clean) and replace it, most of the best replacements are free. Your system will run faster, more stable, and you’ll save money.
Do you have any specific recommendations?
I thought I had a bookmark to a thread but I can’t find it. For anti-virus stuff I used to like AVG but they’ve gotten naggy so I’ve switched to Avast. They’re both free. For other utilities I’ll generally start my search at TuCows or Download.com, they both have a lot of free stuff and cheap stuff, and almost all of it is better than Norton.
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