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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 cancelle

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.

I_Byte 6y ago
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?
- morpheuskafka 6y ago
  I have used it and it seems to work pretty well, they just set up a complete integration with 1Password so I trust them because of that as well.
- rawtxapp 6y ago
  I love it, I use it for the gyms, my internet provider, the laundry machine provider, any place that I don't trust their data storage, etc.
- 1shooner 6y ago
  I have to replace my simple.com account, so instead of doing that for a dozen or more subscriptions, I just changed the funding provider in Privacy, and keep the vendor-specific virtual cards.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- franklampard 6y ago
  Sometimes the merchant will tell the card is a virtual card and not allow it, but most of the times it works perfect
Spivak 6y ago
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.
- vincentmarle 6y ago
  Getting collections to your door for not paying your internet bill is mostly a European thing. I haven’t seen it in the US.
  - nkozyra 6y ago
    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 civil suit.
    - calvano915 6y ago
      This might vary in pre vs postpaid accounts. Postpaid typically includes credit check which requires submission of info that could later be used for collections.
    - kortilla 6y ago
      Most of these subscriptions (nyt, prime, etc) are not debt. They are a service you pay monthly in advance for.
      - nkozyra 6y ago
        The example I was replying to was internet service, though.
  - danielscrubs 6y ago
    No it isn’t. They will take fees until they don’t get any more and then a part of the government will handle it. Which part of Europe are you from?
jimmaswell 6y ago
This sounds like some kind of fraud, or at least an easy way to tank your credit and get debt collectors after you if caught. For what it's worth I've never had trouble canceling anything I've subscribed to.
- Johnny555 6y ago
  What kind of fraud does it sound like? I gave my credit card to the merchant and said they could charge it for auto-renew, but that doesn't seem to put me under any obligation to make sure the card is still valid next year - credit cards expire or get canceled all the time. The merchant is free to cancel the subscription if the auto-renew fails.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - PeterisP 6y ago
    Contract law in general does not prescribe that the contract is automatically terminated with no obligations if some payment doesn't arrive. The method of payment is pretty much orthogonal to any obligation to pay and the continuation of the contract. The contract may stipulate that the merchant is free to cancel the subscription if you don't pay for whatever reason (the card expires, the card does not have money, you chose to pay in cash and didn't have a card, whatever). However, the contract can (and usually does) stipulate that the merchant is not required to cancel the subscription in case of non-payment, and in that case the contract is valid, they owe you service and you owe them the contractually agreed payment. On the other hand, contract law generally would assume that the subscription is cancelled if you sent them an unambiguous request in writing even if their standard process flow (e.g. requiring a phone call with a sales rep convincing you not to quite) wasn't followed - if you've sent a letter than that and stopped paying, that should be appropriate in most circumstances.
- rawtxapp 6y ago
  Why would it be fraud? I paid for the service when I used it, if the business makes it impossible to cancel a subscription or makes you go through endless hoops to waste your time, that's on them. After I stop paying for it, they'll just stop providing me the service. If you signed a contract for X amount of months, then I get it, you have to pay, but I always do month to month at the gym, they still make it impossible to cancel.
andix 6y ago
It only works if you didn't give them your name and address. At least in Europe some debt collection agencies will track you down and charge an enormous fee, and will leave you with a bad credit score.
- wickedsickeune 6y ago
  There's a "credit score" in Europe???
  - t_von_doom 6y ago
    From the UK here: Yes we all have a credit score - it's mainly used to measure your ability to borrow and repay debt and will influence whether a company loans to you and the interest rate on said loan. It's not (yet) as aggressive as the social scoring system in China if that is what you were alluding to... Do you not have a similar system where you are from? How would the above be decided for you?
    - gspr 6y ago
      Well, is it a score based on your current economic situation, or your past use of credit? Here in Norway you're evaluated/scored based on some metrics like income, job security, job prospects, education, assets, debt, defaulted debt in the past, fixed expenses, etc. I think when Americans talk about "credit score" they talk about something completely different, namely their insane system where your score is (positively) affected by taking on and managing credit card debt. In that fucked up world, two debt-free people with the same income will be "scored" differently if one of them happens to use a CC to buy all his groceries and pays off the card each month, and the other buys the same groceries on debit. Surely you don't have that insanity in the UK, do you?
    - bjohnson225 6y ago
      There's not a universal credit score in the UK. There are a bunch of providers who will try and sell a score to you, but the actual score can vary greatly from provider to provider and guarantees nothing in terms of getting accepted for credit. Banks giving out loans will look at the data behind the score along with a bunch of other factors. It's very possible that if Experian say person A is average and person B is good, a bank may decide to give Person A a better rate on a loan based on different data, or different weighting of the data.
bhupy 6y ago
Privacy.com is awesome, but I recently tried using this for Bloomberg, and their e-commerce platform seemed to know that I was using a prepaid card and declined the authorization.

I_Byte 6y ago

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?

morpheuskafka 6y ago
I have used it and it seems to work pretty well, they just set up a complete integration with 1Password so I trust them because of that as well.
rawtxapp 6y ago
I love it, I use it for the gyms, my internet provider, the laundry machine provider, any place that I don't trust their data storage, etc.
1shooner 6y ago
I have to replace my simple.com account, so instead of doing that for a dozen or more subscriptions, I just changed the funding provider in Privacy, and keep the vendor-specific virtual cards.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
franklampard 6y ago
Sometimes the merchant will tell the card is a virtual card and not allow it, but most of the times it works perfect

Spivak 6y ago

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.

vincentmarle 6y ago
Getting collections to your door for not paying your internet bill is mostly a European thing. I haven’t seen it in the US.
- nkozyra 6y ago
  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 civil suit.
  - calvano915 6y ago
    This might vary in pre vs postpaid accounts. Postpaid typically includes credit check which requires submission of info that could later be used for collections.
  - kortilla 6y ago
    Most of these subscriptions (nyt, prime, etc) are not debt. They are a service you pay monthly in advance for.
    - nkozyra 6y ago
      The example I was replying to was internet service, though.
- danielscrubs 6y ago
  No it isn’t. They will take fees until they don’t get any more and then a part of the government will handle it. Which part of Europe are you from?

jimmaswell 6y ago

This sounds like some kind of fraud, or at least an easy way to tank your credit and get debt collectors after you if caught. For what it's worth I've never had trouble canceling anything I've subscribed to.

Johnny555 6y ago
What kind of fraud does it sound like? I gave my credit card to the merchant and said they could charge it for auto-renew, but that doesn't seem to put me under any obligation to make sure the card is still valid next year - credit cards expire or get canceled all the time. The merchant is free to cancel the subscription if the auto-renew fails.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- PeterisP 6y ago
  Contract law in general does not prescribe that the contract is automatically terminated with no obligations if some payment doesn't arrive. The method of payment is pretty much orthogonal to any obligation to pay and the continuation of the contract. The contract may stipulate that the merchant is free to cancel the subscription if you don't pay for whatever reason (the card expires, the card does not have money, you chose to pay in cash and didn't have a card, whatever). However, the contract can (and usually does) stipulate that the merchant is not required to cancel the subscription in case of non-payment, and in that case the contract is valid, they owe you service and you owe them the contractually agreed payment. On the other hand, contract law generally would assume that the subscription is cancelled if you sent them an unambiguous request in writing even if their standard process flow (e.g. requiring a phone call with a sales rep convincing you not to quite) wasn't followed - if you've sent a letter than that and stopped paying, that should be appropriate in most circumstances.
rawtxapp 6y ago
Why would it be fraud? I paid for the service when I used it, if the business makes it impossible to cancel a subscription or makes you go through endless hoops to waste your time, that's on them. After I stop paying for it, they'll just stop providing me the service. If you signed a contract for X amount of months, then I get it, you have to pay, but I always do month to month at the gym, they still make it impossible to cancel.

andix 6y ago

It only works if you didn't give them your name and address. At least in Europe some debt collection agencies will track you down and charge an enormous fee, and will leave you with a bad credit score.

wickedsickeune 6y ago
There's a "credit score" in Europe???
- t_von_doom 6y ago
  From the UK here: Yes we all have a credit score - it's mainly used to measure your ability to borrow and repay debt and will influence whether a company loans to you and the interest rate on said loan. It's not (yet) as aggressive as the social scoring system in China if that is what you were alluding to... Do you not have a similar system where you are from? How would the above be decided for you?
  - gspr 6y ago
    Well, is it a score based on your current economic situation, or your past use of credit? Here in Norway you're evaluated/scored based on some metrics like income, job security, job prospects, education, assets, debt, defaulted debt in the past, fixed expenses, etc. I think when Americans talk about "credit score" they talk about something completely different, namely their insane system where your score is (positively) affected by taking on and managing credit card debt. In that fucked up world, two debt-free people with the same income will be "scored" differently if one of them happens to use a CC to buy all his groceries and pays off the card each month, and the other buys the same groceries on debit. Surely you don't have that insanity in the UK, do you?
  - bjohnson225 6y ago
    There's not a universal credit score in the UK. There are a bunch of providers who will try and sell a score to you, but the actual score can vary greatly from provider to provider and guarantees nothing in terms of getting accepted for credit. Banks giving out loans will look at the data behind the score along with a bunch of other factors. It's very possible that if Experian say person A is average and person B is good, a bank may decide to give Person A a better rate on a loan based on different data, or different weighting of the data.

bhupy 6y ago

Privacy.com is awesome, but I recently tried using this for Bloomberg, and their e-commerce platform seemed to know that I was using a prepaid card and declined the authorization.