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Not to excuse companies that make you jump through hoops to unsubscribe, but is there any reason you can't just call your credit card/bank and cut off transacti
by zja 4y ago
Not to excuse companies that make you jump through hoops to unsubscribe, but is there any reason you can't just call your credit card/bank and cut off transactions to a company that's giving you a hard time? I've heard horror stories about people trying to cancel gym memberships, and wondered why they don't just stop paying, and let the gym figure it out.
- izzydata 4y agoI remember seeing a website here that let you create prepaid cards that you could use for things like this. I'm not sure if you were able to refill the balance on them though, but it would be convenient to be able to just let them attempt to charge an empty debit card.
- kornhole 4y agoI use virtual cards from privacy.com for just about everything I buy online. It allows you to set limits, cancel with a click, and be anonymous by giving the vendor any name and address you want. It is a good service, but I wonder if any competing services exist.
- incompleteCode 4y agohttps://privacy.com https://privacy.com - I don't use them as often as I should, but they do a great job.
- core-utility 4y agoThe issue still comes in with obligation to pay. If the gym has enough info on you, they can send you to collections as some others have pointed out.
- rwha 4y agoYes, but if a social security number wasn't provided then the collection agency can't do more than call and send some letters; it won't impact a credit score or anything.
- josephcsible 4y agoBecause then they send you to collections and your credit score suffers.
- irjustin 4y agoIn the US this is implemented on a per card issuer basis (i.e. Citi, Chase) and it's up to the issuer to provide the service, which most of them don't. The only way to do it is as a chargeback but chargebacks are after the charge and come with a whole mess of pre-requirements as well as if you do it too often your provider will kick you off.
- jamesmishra 4y agoThat is not guaranteed to terminate your obligation to pay a vendor.
- hackernewds 4y agoWhy should it? If you have an obligation to pay for a gym membership, does the gym not deserve fair payments?
- jamesmishra 4y agoI don't disagree with you. You should argue with the comment I replied to.
- tshaddox 4y agoAs far as I know, this generally doesn't work. A few years ago I attempted to cancel a gym membership, and after 15 minutes on hold on the phone I hung up and tried looking into banning a certain transaction or vendor from making another transaction. As best I could tell with my bank at the time (Bank of America), there is absolutely no mechanism to do this. The only similar thing they provide is contesting transactions, but that's only appropriate in the event of fraudulent transactions (which a recurring gym membership arguably is not).
- escapedmoose 4y agoI was able to get out of a similar situation by threatening to contest the transaction. Basically told them “alright, have fun duking it out with my credit card company” and they immediately backed down.
- Shank 4y agoI'm not sure how it works with all processors, but at least many of the ones I'm familiar with have a flat fee that's assessed for each chargeback. Stripe, for example, charges a $15 dispute fee (https://stripe.com/docs/disputes https://stripe.com/docs/disputes). For many companies, incurring disputes is something to be avoided, and threat of one is enough to warrant bypassing many normal process that exist to stop cancellations / keep people committed.
- hn_user2 4y agoThat stops the payment from happening. But it does not stop your contractual obligation to pay. So it really depends on the business and how much information they have about you, and if they are dirty enough to send you to collections for it. A gym is likely going to send you to collections. An online SaaS is more likely to just cut you off and cancel the account.
- webmobdev 4y ago> But it does not stop your contractual obligation to pay. Can't you Americans just send a certified letter informing a business of your intent to cancel and asking them to send you a final bill (if any) to settle payments within a specified time limit? That should cover you legally?
- lovecg 4y agoThe problem is generally in the contract you sign when agreeing to the membership in the first place. There’s a lot of fine print stipulating how cancellation will work exactly.
- withinboredom 4y agoCan’t you just strike that from the contract, initial it, sign the contract and return it? If they refuse the/any edit, can’t you say they negotiate in bad faith and void the entire contract?
- CogitoCogito 4y agoIf the contract is void from the beginning, how do you ever plan to use the gym? Aren't you just in the same position you were before you contacted the gym in the first place?
- orev 4y agoIf you don’t agree to all provisions in the contract, then you can’t become a member. Nobody’s negotiating a custom contract for every customer who walks through the door.
- kingcharles 4y agoLOL. I called my bank once to dispute a transaction and they terminated my account as it was easier to them than dealing with the support issue.
- ResNet 4y agoWhilst asking your bank/CC company to block a merchant is possible, it's not a reliable way of ensuring you aren't charged by the same company again — they could make use of a different payment processor (e.g. going from Stripe to BrainTree) or merchant account, and from the bank's perspective, a different entity made a charge and the ban would not be respected. That's not to say that asking your bank to block Merchant X isn't useful, but the bank can't guarantee that the merchant won't be able charge you again via a different payment processor/etc., and is why some banks are hesitant to offer this functionality.
- klabb3 4y agoThe American personal banking experience feels so shady and insecure. Afaict companies often have the ability to pull money out of my bank account or credit card, that's just the way subscriptions work here. I just have to trust they don't abuse it. In my home country we've had a national system for electronic invoices for ~10 years which allows you to receive invoices to your bank account. You can remove any such entry at any point in time. You also see all scheduled payments ahead of time and need to sign them before the due date, using a 2fa system that isn't tied to the bank itself. It's not perfect, and even feels a little aged today, but it's so much better than here in the US.
- prashantsengar 4y agoSame here in my country. It feels so weird that the service provider has the ability to just charge a card in the US if you enter the three things printed on the card. That would cause a lot of frauds if it happened here. Fortunately, the central bank has strict regulations here and we need to authorize a payment by using a password or an OTP.
- kube-system 4y agoRather than having strict regulations to require password or OTP, the US has strict regulations that require banks to reimburse consumers for any credit card fraud. I’ve had it happen a couple of times. It’s a minor inconvenience to switch over any subscriptions to a new card, but it has never cost me a penny.
- viscountchocula 4y agoIt causes a lot of fraud in the US, too!
- srcreigh 4y agoOne local gym chain in my area doesn't accept credit card for monthly membership. You have to give them direct access to your bank account EDIT: Fit4Less is southern Ontario
- tintor 4y agoAnd does anyone give them bank account access?
- kube-system 4y agoI opened a new bank account just for my gym subscription. Took me about 30 seconds to do with my existing bank’s app.
- srcreigh 4y agoI paid for 1 year membership up front 2ish years ago (this lets you lay by CC) but I'm not gonna do it again