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Netflix does something similar. It won't let you remove your credit card so you don't get billed automatically after the first month.

by shyn3 6y ago

city41 6y ago
Can't you just cancel your account at any time? https://help.netflix.com/en/node/407 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/407
- shyn3 6y ago
  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.
  - city41 6y ago
    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 customers who both stick around and tell their friends. Trying to squeeze an extra month out of them doesn't really fit their style.
    - joveian 6y ago
      That is a whole different type of shady :(.
    - shyn3 6y ago
      Okay makes sense then. I just don't see any of the elder people who I have setup Netflix risk pressing the cancel button because they can't get it set up. However, they do try to remove their credit card number and it doesn't let you. Which is actually another annoyance, why can't I delete my credit card from your site. It's still a dark pattern or just bad data security.
      - city41 6y ago
        That's a good point about older customers. I could see them being confused. I'm not really sure to be honest though, as I didn't work on this stuff when I was there. I'm not sure about the credit card issue either.
        shyn3 6y ago
        Sorry, when I said "your site," I was not referring to you, but sites in general. Appreciate the insight from your comment.
daveevad 6y ago
we've cancelled our netflix subscription multiple times. in fact, they've made it so easy that we've resubscribed plenty. if anything, the netflix model is one to emulate. that being said, we've never tried removing my credit card.
ludocode 6y ago
This has not been my experience with Netflix at all. I regularly unsubscribe and resubscribe later. Unsubscribing is always just a click of a button and I've never had to speak to anyone at Netflix for anything. Incidentally they also appear to honor their data deletion policy. If I stay unsubscribed for more than six months, my account ceases to exist and I need to create a new one to resubscribe. I would have thought Netflix would be the gold standard for how to do this properly. I'm sure they have lots of people like me who subscribe a few months a year just to check out whatever's new. If I ever ran into a problem like this I would never sign up again.

Netflix does something similar. It won't let you remove your credit card so you don't get billed automatically after the first month.

by shyn3 6y ago

Netflix does something similar. It won't let you remove your credit card so you don't get billed automatically after the first month.

city41 6y ago

Can't you just cancel your account at any time? https://help.netflix.com/en/node/407 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/407

shyn3 6y ago
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.
- city41 6y ago
  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 customers who both stick around and tell their friends. Trying to squeeze an extra month out of them doesn't really fit their style.
  - joveian 6y ago
    That is a whole different type of shady :(.
  - shyn3 6y ago
    Okay makes sense then. I just don't see any of the elder people who I have setup Netflix risk pressing the cancel button because they can't get it set up. However, they do try to remove their credit card number and it doesn't let you. Which is actually another annoyance, why can't I delete my credit card from your site. It's still a dark pattern or just bad data security.
    - city41 6y ago
      That's a good point about older customers. I could see them being confused. I'm not really sure to be honest though, as I didn't work on this stuff when I was there. I'm not sure about the credit card issue either.
      - shyn3 6y ago
        Sorry, when I said "your site," I was not referring to you, but sites in general. Appreciate the insight from your comment.

daveevad 6y ago

we've cancelled our netflix subscription multiple times. in fact, they've made it so easy that we've resubscribed plenty. if anything, the netflix model is one to emulate. that being said, we've never tried removing my credit card.

ludocode 6y ago

This has not been my experience with Netflix at all. I regularly unsubscribe and resubscribe later. Unsubscribing is always just a click of a button and I've never had to speak to anyone at Netflix for anything. Incidentally they also appear to honor their data deletion policy. If I stay unsubscribed for more than six months, my account ceases to exist and I need to create a new one to resubscribe. I would have thought Netflix would be the gold standard for how to do this properly. I'm sure they have lots of people like me who subscribe a few months a year just to check out whatever's new. If I ever ran into a problem like this I would never sign up again.