4 ms·

The problem with paying media/news sites is that you do get full access to content but that content is still stuffed with ads & trackers. Being able to unsubsc

by dazc 5y ago

The problem with paying media/news sites is that you do get full access to content but that content is still stuffed with ads & trackers. Being able to unsubscribe without any friction is also a bit of an issue.

awinter-py 5y ago
yeah it should be illegal to ad / track users who have paid given how crappy the ads ecosystem has become to browsers, if I'm paying for something, I want out of all of that legislation should make a bright line here. I don't want to see an ad in a taxi, on an airplane, in the dentist's office, and certainly not if I've paid for nyt maybe carve out limited 1st party tracking, maybe not
- teddyh 5y ago
  > it should be illegal to ad / track users who have paid It should be illegal to ad / track users, period. Oh hello GDPR, I didn’t see you there.
blamazon 5y ago
>Being able to unsubscribe without any friction is also a bit of an issue. For a while I was known amongst coworkers and friends as "that guy who will cancel or reduce your Boston Globe subscription fee for 10 bucks." They make you call during business hours and go through a whole guilt routine where a human tells you statements implying you'd be a bad person for missing out on important news and not supporting local journalism, followed by questions prompting you to justify why you want to exhibit these antisocial traits by canceling your subscription. Then, if you didn't yield to that tactic, they beg to reduce your cost to a promotional rate of first half off, then 90% off, for 6 months. Then, finally, you can cancel and the agent says goodbye in such a way as like you just stepped on a puppy. I never found a way to get the call center to go off this script. My 'clients', empathic and intellectual Bostonians, simply could not bear to partake in this shame and/or degradement of the Globe.
- euroderf 5y ago
  You made the mistake of engaging in their dialog. I find that what works is to simply keep repeating the phrase "I wish to cancel my subscription". When they ask you why you are canceling, and you repeat your phrase, they typically just say they are filling something in. This single-mindedness unwillingness to engage in their dialog might be interpreted as rude. But then again, their scripting is absolutely exploiting your unwillingness to be rude. Screw that.
  - dazc 5y ago
    You also run the risk that they will just hang up on you. Nobody gets a bonus for letting you go.
    - euroderf 5y ago
      That has not happened to me. I think an incentive for the agent might be, if it's clear you want out, they can save some time and get their calls-handled number up, by cutting out the pseudo-engagement malarkey.
      - blamazon 5y ago
        My experience with the Globe seemed to indicate the agents were being graded on how many script points they hit, not on the calls-handled-per-minute. If you think about them as a defense from bleeding subscribers this makes sense. Spending 10 minutes to attempt to save a year of recurring subscription is a good deal. You don't want the agents to be efficient and handle many calls per hour.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- dazc 5y ago
  Unsubscribe as a Service, you could be onto something there?
somedude895 5y ago
After trialing the Economist and WSJ and both times having to go through all that bullshit to cancel, I'm never going to subscribe to any US publication ever again. I've never experienced anything like that with EU publishers.
- openknot 5y ago
  The French newspaper Le Monde in France requires a printout of a cancellation form sent via physical mail with tracking to unsubscribe, even if the subscription is digital-only. From their terms [0]: "Unless otherwise stipulated in the Special Conditions, the cancellation of a Subscription must be sent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to the Customer Service department. "A Customer who wishes to terminate their contract must print out (or copy on plain paper): - For a digital subscription, the cancellation form is available here - For a paper subscription or a mixed subscription (paper + digital), the form is available here Cancellations received by Le Monde before the 15th of the month will take effect at the end of that month. Cancellations received after the 15th of the month will take effect at the end of the following month.:" Back when the UK was in the EU, I also had to call long-distance to British newspapers to unsubscribe. It's the same for many Canadian and US subscriptions. It's not cultural, it's common practice by newspapers. The best way to protect oneself consumer is to carefully read cancellation terms before subscribing to any newspaper or periodical and purchase subscriptions through Apple's App Store if you own an Apple device (as it lets you cancel without hassle) when you can. [0] https://moncompte.lemonde.fr/cgv-en#ancre_engagement https://moncompte.lemonde.fr/cgv-en#ancre_engagement
- kgermino 5y ago
  Isn’t The Economist a UK publication? Though I guess that isn’tEU anymore either

by dazc 5y ago

awinter-py 5y ago

yeah it should be illegal to ad / track users who have paid given how crappy the ads ecosystem has become to browsers, if I'm paying for something, I want out of all of that legislation should make a bright line here. I don't want to see an ad in a taxi, on an airplane, in the dentist's office, and certainly not if I've paid for nyt maybe carve out limited 1st party tracking, maybe not

teddyh 5y ago
> it should be illegal to ad / track users who have paid It should be illegal to ad / track users, period. Oh hello GDPR, I didn’t see you there.

blamazon 5y ago

>Being able to unsubscribe without any friction is also a bit of an issue. For a while I was known amongst coworkers and friends as "that guy who will cancel or reduce your Boston Globe subscription fee for 10 bucks." They make you call during business hours and go through a whole guilt routine where a human tells you statements implying you'd be a bad person for missing out on important news and not supporting local journalism, followed by questions prompting you to justify why you want to exhibit these antisocial traits by canceling your subscription. Then, if you didn't yield to that tactic, they beg to reduce your cost to a promotional rate of first half off, then 90% off, for 6 months. Then, finally, you can cancel and the agent says goodbye in such a way as like you just stepped on a puppy. I never found a way to get the call center to go off this script. My 'clients', empathic and intellectual Bostonians, simply could not bear to partake in this shame and/or degradement of the Globe.

euroderf 5y ago
You made the mistake of engaging in their dialog. I find that what works is to simply keep repeating the phrase "I wish to cancel my subscription". When they ask you why you are canceling, and you repeat your phrase, they typically just say they are filling something in. This single-mindedness unwillingness to engage in their dialog might be interpreted as rude. But then again, their scripting is absolutely exploiting your unwillingness to be rude. Screw that.
- dazc 5y ago
  You also run the risk that they will just hang up on you. Nobody gets a bonus for letting you go.
  - euroderf 5y ago
    That has not happened to me. I think an incentive for the agent might be, if it's clear you want out, they can save some time and get their calls-handled number up, by cutting out the pseudo-engagement malarkey.
    - blamazon 5y ago
      My experience with the Globe seemed to indicate the agents were being graded on how many script points they hit, not on the calls-handled-per-minute. If you think about them as a defense from bleeding subscribers this makes sense. Spending 10 minutes to attempt to save a year of recurring subscription is a good deal. You don't want the agents to be efficient and handle many calls per hour.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
dazc 5y ago
Unsubscribe as a Service, you could be onto something there?

somedude895 5y ago

After trialing the Economist and WSJ and both times having to go through all that bullshit to cancel, I'm never going to subscribe to any US publication ever again. I've never experienced anything like that with EU publishers.

openknot 5y ago
The French newspaper Le Monde in France requires a printout of a cancellation form sent via physical mail with tracking to unsubscribe, even if the subscription is digital-only. From their terms [0]: "Unless otherwise stipulated in the Special Conditions, the cancellation of a Subscription must be sent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to the Customer Service department. "A Customer who wishes to terminate their contract must print out (or copy on plain paper): - For a digital subscription, the cancellation form is available here - For a paper subscription or a mixed subscription (paper + digital), the form is available here Cancellations received by Le Monde before the 15th of the month will take effect at the end of that month. Cancellations received after the 15th of the month will take effect at the end of the following month.:" Back when the UK was in the EU, I also had to call long-distance to British newspapers to unsubscribe. It's the same for many Canadian and US subscriptions. It's not cultural, it's common practice by newspapers. The best way to protect oneself consumer is to carefully read cancellation terms before subscribing to any newspaper or periodical and purchase subscriptions through Apple's App Store if you own an Apple device (as it lets you cancel without hassle) when you can. [0] https://moncompte.lemonde.fr/cgv-en#ancre_engagement https://moncompte.lemonde.fr/cgv-en#ancre_engagement
kgermino 5y ago
Isn’t The Economist a UK publication? Though I guess that isn’tEU anymore either