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I subscribe to the economist, and they automatically renew at a rate of $199 per year, I called to cancel and they drop it to $80 per year. Would save everyone

I subscribe to the economist, and they automatically renew at a rate of $199 per year, I called to cancel and they drop it to $80 per year. Would save everyone the time if they started with $80

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
glitcher 4y ago
My previous Internet provider Cox tried this tactic on me when I canceled. My reply to them was ok, so you're admitting to overcharging me all along. I'll agree to stay with you if you also provide a refund for all previous months I was overcharged. They finally agreed to close my account at that point :)
jdeibele 4y ago
My wife subscribed to The Economist but we weren't reading it. I tried changing my address to California, which has worked for some subscriptions because of California's consumer-friendly subscription cancellation law. That didn't work. I tried doing the chat to cancel. I said multiple times that we wanted to cancel and the person (presumably a person following a script, although they certainly seemed robotic) just kept ignoring that. Eventually I said I'm cancelling, if you charge us, I'll charge it back and took a screenshot of that. When they charged me, I charged it back. No need for the screenshot, which was mildly disappointing because this was one time where I felt I had proof that I tried to cancel. We'll never subscribe to The Economist again. If you make it this difficult to leave, better not to start.
- nanidin 4y ago
  During the chat, they kept trying to make conversation, to ask questions, and to retain me. I just copy/pasted "I'm not here for chit-chat, please cancel the subscription and confirm once complete" each time they tried to engage me. Immediately after my subscription expired they started emailing me 1/2 off offers. The whole experience put a bad taste in my mouth and I won't be back.
seanp2k2 4y ago
FWIW Comcast does this too. Just call them every 11 months and make them give you a better price. It’s dumb as heck and I want to live long enough to see them burn to the ground, but it’s one call I will make as it lets us give the only ISP option at our address in Silicon Valley that can actually give us gigabit download speeds (and capped 40mbit upload with a 1.2tb data cap) less money. If the rep you talk to won’t do it, hang up and call again.
- kube-system 4y ago
  My favorite thing to do with ISPs is to schedule cancellation at 1PM and then schedule installation as a new customer at 2PM. "Can I get the new customer rate" "No that is only for new customers" "Okay I'd like to cancel" "Great, anything else I can do for you today" "Sure, I'd like to sign up for new service"

I subscribe to the economist, and they automatically renew at a rate of $199 per year, I called to cancel and they drop it to $80 per year. Would save everyone the time if they started with $80

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

glitcher 4y ago

My previous Internet provider Cox tried this tactic on me when I canceled. My reply to them was ok, so you're admitting to overcharging me all along. I'll agree to stay with you if you also provide a refund for all previous months I was overcharged. They finally agreed to close my account at that point :)

jdeibele 4y ago

My wife subscribed to The Economist but we weren't reading it. I tried changing my address to California, which has worked for some subscriptions because of California's consumer-friendly subscription cancellation law. That didn't work. I tried doing the chat to cancel. I said multiple times that we wanted to cancel and the person (presumably a person following a script, although they certainly seemed robotic) just kept ignoring that. Eventually I said I'm cancelling, if you charge us, I'll charge it back and took a screenshot of that. When they charged me, I charged it back. No need for the screenshot, which was mildly disappointing because this was one time where I felt I had proof that I tried to cancel. We'll never subscribe to The Economist again. If you make it this difficult to leave, better not to start.

nanidin 4y ago
During the chat, they kept trying to make conversation, to ask questions, and to retain me. I just copy/pasted "I'm not here for chit-chat, please cancel the subscription and confirm once complete" each time they tried to engage me. Immediately after my subscription expired they started emailing me 1/2 off offers. The whole experience put a bad taste in my mouth and I won't be back.

seanp2k2 4y ago

FWIW Comcast does this too. Just call them every 11 months and make them give you a better price. It’s dumb as heck and I want to live long enough to see them burn to the ground, but it’s one call I will make as it lets us give the only ISP option at our address in Silicon Valley that can actually give us gigabit download speeds (and capped 40mbit upload with a 1.2tb data cap) less money. If the rep you talk to won’t do it, hang up and call again.

kube-system 4y ago
My favorite thing to do with ISPs is to schedule cancellation at 1PM and then schedule installation as a new customer at 2PM. "Can I get the new customer rate" "No that is only for new customers" "Okay I'd like to cancel" "Great, anything else I can do for you today" "Sure, I'd like to sign up for new service"