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>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 o
by 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 agoYou 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 agoYou also run the risk that they will just hang up on you. Nobody gets a bonus for letting you go.
- euroderf 5y agoThat 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 agoMy 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.
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- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- dazc 5y agoUnsubscribe as a Service, you could be onto something there?
- blamazon 5y agoI believe folks are operating in this general type of space, not sure if any are doing phone interface though. I think Truebill offers some kind of Unsubscribe+ for certain compatible services. I am aware of Trim, [1,2] which has an interesting proposition. You give it your comcast type login and it pretends to be you in a support chat window. Then it repeatedly attempts to secure a reduced rate. If it succeeds, you pay Trim a portion of the long term cost savings. [1]: https://www.asktrim.com/blog/trim-a-money-saving-chatbot-raises-2-2m-to-fight-predatory-billers/ https://www.asktrim.com/blog/trim-a-money-saving-chatbot-rai... [2]: https://www.asktrim.com/ https://www.asktrim.com/