Don't Subscribe So Casually

https://thebestworstcase.substack.com/p/dont-subscribe-so-casually

34•shmublu•1h ago

Comments

sa-code•42m ago

I would go a step further, cancel as soon as you subscribe. It's still valid for a month because you've paid for it!

If you ever need to use the service again just re-subscribe (and re-cancel)

In fact, what is stopping you from cancelling all your subscriptions right now? You can always buy back in when you like

orsorna•41m ago

Some don't treat months as discrete units. Uber revokes your membership immediately.

jLaForest•38m ago

Do they also give a prorated refund? Otherwise that seems to be blatant theft

malfist•31m ago

Uber would never take any immoral action like that. They've always been upstanding citizens.

dylan604•26m ago

What money did you give Uber in advance? Why would you have a balance needing to be refunded if you have not taken a ride?

SauntSolaire•22m ago

Uber one exists as a subscription you pay with certain benefits for frequent users.

3form•23m ago

Also a common practice for free trials. Adobe does that if I'm not mistaken.

Love seeing companies worth tens or hundreds of billions acting like they couldn't spare a cent from underhanded shit like that. Scrooge McDuck type of behavior, except he also had some redeeming qualities.

noja•40m ago

Because for some subscriptions the price goes up.

jerf•33m ago

But the entire scheme here is to not have them continually. It's better to pay month+$2 in six months when you need it, than 6*month for the months you don't.

If you rotate subscriptions sensibly, they're much cheaper than the old cable model. If you're not looking, they can really bleed you out and be much more expensive than the old model.

toomuchtodo•26m ago

You can also pay ~$20/month for an online locker that'll pull the torrent for you and serve to your devices, if that's within your philosophical tolerances. People need to get paid, but I do not much care of the enterprise value of media conglomerates and the resulting enshittification. I don't mind paying for Nebula.tv (~$36/year) and PBS Passport (~$60/year), for example, to directly support those media creators, as well as sending creators fiat directly or via Patreon (Coffeezilla, for example).

sublinear•37m ago

The core value for most subscription services is their convenience. There's usually another less convenient way to get the same thing cheaper or free.

Most people are literally paying so they don't have to set all that shit up again and the cost is trivial to them.

If that's not you, fine, but my point is that nobody is "right" about this topic. Services exist because they make money.

Semaphor•32m ago

When I actually use a service, it's more work to resubscribe. But money is also tight enough for me that I'm on top of my subscriptions and don't have any I don't need (and when I'm unsure, I set reminders to cancel)

BloondAndDoom•31m ago

Recently cancelled something early so I won’t forget, they didn’t send my shipment even though I paid for it. They said I cancelled, tried to work with support but given after a point.

So yeah, not all companies do that.

mschild•19m ago

Did you receive your money back?

If not, time for a charge back with your card provider.

umpalumpaaa•16m ago

Charge back usually never works… at least in my case the provider never actually did it because the seller was in good standing.

radlad•12m ago

Counterpoint: I've done 3 and all went through without drama.

ndr•5m ago

With what credit card provider?

I've done it multiple times when a vendor was behaving fairly and it always went through.

I don't recommend doing it to a vendor you plan to have business with again in the future as they might ban you (eg food delivery apps)

iwontberude•5m ago

I’ve never had an issue with charging back when they fail to deliver the product

throwaway2027•25m ago

I saw some small business owner complain about this behavior on twitter some time ago and he mentioned he only saw non-Americans do this and it made him really mad or something and he didn't provide the service and banned them or something. Funnily enough I do think this happens so sometimes I cancel instantly and sometimes deliberately wait until there are a few days left on the subscription exactly out of paranoia behavior that you'll get a worse service or something, that they must have some database field early cancel and mess with you or something.

bji9jhff•8m ago

Why would they salt their own field it's hard to understand

winddude•33m ago

Kinda' ironic posting a service that promotes two types of casual subscriptions, inbox clutter, and "micro transactions"

sdoering•29m ago

Especially when one considers how friggin difficult this service makes it to cancel a (paid) subscription.

shmublu•18m ago

yeah. would love other recommendations for similar services that handle it better if you have any

xg15•29m ago

Can be extended to social media accounts as well.

elzbardico•20m ago

Nowadays I am adopting the "Mom Strategy for Subscriptions (TM)": Eat what is in your plate before asking for more stuff.

IFC_LLC•16m ago

A very simple handling:

Buy a domain. Get Proton, or Apple, or any other custom-domain email service.

Setup catch-all incoming mail.

Every merchant receives an email like merchantname@donotwriteto.me

Then you can either sort those out, or if they are malicious and not deleting you from your email lists, you can block the incoming traffic on that email.

This way you still can verify your email, comm stays private and you can have your own peace of mind, but you don't have to keep the spam in your primary inbox.

cube00•7m ago

Highly recommend this, I no longer need any spam filtering following this approach.

My old Gmail would be loaded with spam which would screw up and mislabel legitimate mail and now no spam at all.

It also helps when your email is involved in a data breach which is becoming the norm now.

Although be prepared awkward in person interactions when a business wants your email. Everything from "no, your email silly" to "I own this business name you can't have it in your email address"

hundchenkatze•5m ago

This is good advice for email/newsletter subscriptions, but that isn't what the article is about.

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