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This is why I will never pay for YouTube Premium. Imagine having a recurring charge that you can’t terminate because your account was deleted for some unrelated

This is why I will never pay for YouTube Premium. Imagine having a recurring charge that you can’t terminate because your account was deleted for some unrelated service, and you have no phone number or office to contact. Limit your interactions with Google to only the services you most need, and you will probably be safe. It’s too dangerous to go all-in on Google, because you could lose your entire digital footprint from an AI bot with no recourse other than HN and Twitter.

CydeWeys 3y ago
I don't think your hypothetical scenario is possible.
- capableweb 3y ago
  It very much is. I haven't personally been affected by Google charging any account after being suspended, but I have been affected by Facebook suspending my account while not pausing running ads on Instagram and Facebook, leading to charges still being made after I had no way of turning them off. We're at least two people this has happened to :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35836221 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35836221
  - CydeWeys 3y ago
    All of those anecdotes are about Facebook though. Does Google have this bug? The two software stacks are completely different.
madeofpalk 3y ago
> Imagine having a recurring charge that you can’t terminate because your account was deleted for some unrelated service Has this actually happened - does Youtube Premium still charge for accounts that have been terminated? Or is this just FUD?
- Tao3300 3y ago
  If it was happening, what would be your recourse? Call customer service?
  - aaomidi 3y ago
    A chargeback? Lol
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - madeofpalk 3y ago
    It's an unproved hypothetical situation. What would be your recourse if your uncle started reporting false debts to your name whilst you were travelling around Italy? In the past I have contacted YouTube Red support in the past when I didn't cancel my subscription after I moved counties and they easily refunded a few months of charges. Unsure how that would play out if your account was cancelled. I would probably just contact my bank to get the charges blocked + reversed.
  - metric10 3y ago
    Call your credit card company. They can block a merchant, perform a chargeback, and/or issue a new credit card number. I don’t know the rules for a debit card, but you’ll at least be able to get a new debit card number.
- ModernMech 3y ago
  This happened to me. The only way to contact customer service is after you log in, so the only thing you can do to cancel is to cancel your credit card or report the charge as fraud... which says a lot about the service.
suddenclarity 3y ago
You can always block your card. Takes a few days to get a new one and might be a bit of a hassle to update PayPal and other services where you have it stored. Not ideal but I don't think anyone should lose sleep over it.
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  I don't know if this advice is for yhe only, or it's for companies that won't go after you for small fees. Otherwise there's always recourses for a company to recover the fees that were due and couldn't charge through your credit card. You'd then have to dispute a court order to recover it from your employer for instance. You can of course battle it then, but it's a lot more hassle than to have the charge disputed in the first place (the dispute goes back to the company, who has to prove their point)
  - HumanOstrich 3y ago
    > You'd then have to dispute a court order to recover it from your employer That's not how any of this works. A company doesn't just send someone over to the courthouse to speak to the manager and get a court order to garnish some random person's wages over $20 in declined subscription charges. Lol.
    - makeitdouble 3y ago
      I actually experienced this first hand on a random invoice that got lost after moving to another town. As a company you file an official claim that goes through a court, usually the other party won't show up, and you're awarded a judgement in your favor. That judgment allows you to request recovery of the funds in many ways, including asking the person employer to pay you first before paying them, repossessing their godds, houses whatever the court allows you to do of there's no other option. E.g. in NZ: https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/chapter-26-credit-and-debt/guarantors/how-debts-are-recovered-through-the-courts/ https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/chapter-26-... > lol For people baffled by all of this, many countries will have stronger laws to protect lenders and service providers than just telling them "tough luck" when you refuse to pay for received goods/services.
filleduchaos 3y ago
Do you not have a bank? Why would you be unable to terminate a recurring charge on any payment method you actually own?
- msla 3y ago
  If you stop them from debiting your bank account, wouldn't they just send your account to collections?
  - filleduchaos 3y ago
    I don't know how US collections works since I don't live there, but none of the financial systems I've ever interacted with give merchants any entitlement to future money for a service they are no longer providing
- browningstreet 3y ago
  Banks don’t always let you cancel a credit card charge if you’ve authorized it but then can’t get ahold of the charging entity. It happened to me. I couldn’t get my credit card company (Wells Fargo in this case) to stop a recurring charge but they did let me cancel my credit card account and move my banking accounts away to another bank. That said, I do pay for YouTube Premium.
  - filleduchaos 3y ago
    Ah, I'm not an American and that's very wild to me. I have never had trouble getting my bank to honour an order to stop payments, although it takes a few business days to process
- hedora 3y ago
  The charge is tied to the continued existence of your gmail, gdocs, third party login with google account, gcp, and anything else you trusted google with.
  - filleduchaos 3y ago
Obscurity4340 3y ago
Also there's several apps on various platforms that are more private and free

CydeWeys 3y ago

I don't think your hypothetical scenario is possible.

capableweb 3y ago
It very much is. I haven't personally been affected by Google charging any account after being suspended, but I have been affected by Facebook suspending my account while not pausing running ads on Instagram and Facebook, leading to charges still being made after I had no way of turning them off. We're at least two people this has happened to :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35836221 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35836221
- CydeWeys 3y ago
  All of those anecdotes are about Facebook though. Does Google have this bug? The two software stacks are completely different.

madeofpalk 3y ago

> Imagine having a recurring charge that you can’t terminate because your account was deleted for some unrelated service Has this actually happened - does Youtube Premium still charge for accounts that have been terminated? Or is this just FUD?

Tao3300 3y ago
If it was happening, what would be your recourse? Call customer service?
- aaomidi 3y ago
  A chargeback? Lol
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  It's an unproved hypothetical situation. What would be your recourse if your uncle started reporting false debts to your name whilst you were travelling around Italy? In the past I have contacted YouTube Red support in the past when I didn't cancel my subscription after I moved counties and they easily refunded a few months of charges. Unsure how that would play out if your account was cancelled. I would probably just contact my bank to get the charges blocked + reversed.
- metric10 3y ago
  Call your credit card company. They can block a merchant, perform a chargeback, and/or issue a new credit card number. I don’t know the rules for a debit card, but you’ll at least be able to get a new debit card number.
ModernMech 3y ago
This happened to me. The only way to contact customer service is after you log in, so the only thing you can do to cancel is to cancel your credit card or report the charge as fraud... which says a lot about the service.

suddenclarity 3y ago

You can always block your card. Takes a few days to get a new one and might be a bit of a hassle to update PayPal and other services where you have it stored. Not ideal but I don't think anyone should lose sleep over it.

makeitdouble 3y ago
I don't know if this advice is for yhe only, or it's for companies that won't go after you for small fees. Otherwise there's always recourses for a company to recover the fees that were due and couldn't charge through your credit card. You'd then have to dispute a court order to recover it from your employer for instance. You can of course battle it then, but it's a lot more hassle than to have the charge disputed in the first place (the dispute goes back to the company, who has to prove their point)
- HumanOstrich 3y ago
  > You'd then have to dispute a court order to recover it from your employer That's not how any of this works. A company doesn't just send someone over to the courthouse to speak to the manager and get a court order to garnish some random person's wages over $20 in declined subscription charges. Lol.
  - makeitdouble 3y ago
    I actually experienced this first hand on a random invoice that got lost after moving to another town. As a company you file an official claim that goes through a court, usually the other party won't show up, and you're awarded a judgement in your favor. That judgment allows you to request recovery of the funds in many ways, including asking the person employer to pay you first before paying them, repossessing their godds, houses whatever the court allows you to do of there's no other option. E.g. in NZ: https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/chapter-26-credit-and-debt/guarantors/how-debts-are-recovered-through-the-courts/ https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/chapter-26-... > lol For people baffled by all of this, many countries will have stronger laws to protect lenders and service providers than just telling them "tough luck" when you refuse to pay for received goods/services.

filleduchaos 3y ago

Do you not have a bank? Why would you be unable to terminate a recurring charge on any payment method you actually own?

msla 3y ago
If you stop them from debiting your bank account, wouldn't they just send your account to collections?
- filleduchaos 3y ago
  I don't know how US collections works since I don't live there, but none of the financial systems I've ever interacted with give merchants any entitlement to future money for a service they are no longer providing
browningstreet 3y ago
Banks don’t always let you cancel a credit card charge if you’ve authorized it but then can’t get ahold of the charging entity. It happened to me. I couldn’t get my credit card company (Wells Fargo in this case) to stop a recurring charge but they did let me cancel my credit card account and move my banking accounts away to another bank. That said, I do pay for YouTube Premium.
- filleduchaos 3y ago
  Ah, I'm not an American and that's very wild to me. I have never had trouble getting my bank to honour an order to stop payments, although it takes a few business days to process
hedora 3y ago
The charge is tied to the continued existence of your gmail, gdocs, third party login with google account, gcp, and anything else you trusted google with.
- filleduchaos 3y ago

Obscurity4340 3y ago

Also there's several apps on various platforms that are more private and free