50 Subscription Scams That Got Exposed By Furious Customers

oh the irony .....

The second a popup appears telling me to subscribe or log in, I just close the tab. It's a spite thing.

Activate reading mode in phone browser.

Um, ok, I guess

Wish I could add multiple upvotes for this excellent precaution. :)

I just don't understand how a company can legally deny you the service you already paid for before it's time to renew the service.

does anybody know how to lock a card as they're describing here?

I just bought a window air conditioner from Walmart. I hired someone to pick it up and install it. When he was finished, I asked him where he put the remote. It didn't come with a remote. The one I ordered was on sale for $144. The one I got was the one normally priced at $144. To get it uninstalled, exchanged, and the right one installed would cost more than the air conditioner.

Wow

Happens more often than you think. They hope you you don't have time to call now and forget about it for a while. When you do call, that you don't wanna wait in the queue for half an hour just to save $4, and then when finally talk to them, they try to convince you to continue the subscription. If that fails you'll get an offer with a discount and so you'll start over the whole process again after six months.

IIRC, in the EU it has to be as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to set up.

there are advocates in the USA for laws that say cancelling a subscription can be no harder than subscribing. If you can subscribe with a click you can also unsubscribe the same way. Not "handwritten certified letter" c**p. I thoroughly agree. I think some places have this. Many do not. Also there are those apps for temporary credit cards so they can't charge you again without you doing it manually.

Planet fitness is the worst for this! You can't even cancel by phone... you have to physically go into the gym to do it! Guess who is likely too lazy to go in to cancel a gym subscription in person? People who are too lazy to go to the gym, that's who! My husband has been paying for a gym membership for about 9 months now... how many times do you think he went? Once. One freaking time. And, of course, we're both to busy or too tired to physically drive over there 🤬

It was the London Times, not the NYT, but I got out by removing my payment information. They kept emailing to say my payment had failed, I emailed back "just cancel it, I won't be phoning you". Never heard from them since!

Oh, so 'free' is no longer free...cooool. Not maddening at all. :)

Free in the 1700s = 5.99 today

No no, wait, we're not lying !!! The trail is free, you just pay an entry fee

Still cheaper than the 7 day trials

The label for the plan does not change after the fees kick-in. They count on the user neglecting to opt-out of the subscription to get the money.

That is not a plan. That is a scheme!

Netflix recently removed the middle-ground plan altogether in Canada. I got an email explaining they had cancelled my subscription starting such-and-such date so I had until then to select a new plan - roughly the same price + ads, or about double the price I'd been paying. I called their bluff and let them cancel it. I got an email about it every single week until it was cancelled. Luckily, nothing since then though. I must say I'm curious how many people downgraded, upgraded, or let it lapse. Did they get what they wanted out of that sh*tty move?

Dropped Netflix four months ago. They have a few iterations of their name, so if you block them from charging at your bank or credit union, they just change the name they use to do it to get past the block. Not just Netflix, but most of the subscription streaming services? Amazon, Apple, YouTube, and Google too.

Just checked mine here in the US and we only have 3 that I can see. No hidden link.

I just checked to see what the options are for me (in Canada) ... only standard (ads or no ads) and premium. No basic.

I got about 5 months for free from Paramount +. They kept giving me a free month every time I tried to cancel. Then I forgot on the sixth month, and got charged $14.99. But I had no problem canceling after that

"Too many ads"? Really? Why pay the subscription fee if there are going to be ads?

This is just wrong. If you paid for the printer and you paid for the ink, you shouldn't have to pay for a subscription to use the ink!

They have already been taken to court by the FTC for this a while back, along with refusal to print with generic cartridges installed. Looks like they're hoping people have forgotten. Send a complaint to the FTC about it, and report it as a violation of their court order. If enough people complain, it'll get stopped again, hopefully anyway. Otherwise don't buy HP printers, and let all your friends know why they shouldn't, either!

This happened to me. I had a brand new cartridge that I could not use because I did not want to continue to pay. I had already paid for that cartridge. Never buying an HP printer again.

I replaced an aging HP printer with a Canon that tried to get me enrolled in an ink subscription scheme. I buy refilled cartridges from a company called StinkyInks (in the UK) and they work fine. The original, half filled, cartridges kept flagging up "you are running low on ink" messages but they lie. I ran those suckers until the black ink was printing in grey! Printer ink is the worst scam - some companies, and I'm looking at you HP, sell ink at a higher cost than high end perfumes.

Only the cartridges you obtain UNDER instant ink won't work if you cancel instant ink. You can always buy your own outside of the subscription and they work completely fine. It's still bs but it prevents people from stocking with cartridges and then cancelling the subscription

They'll probably put you on hold until you give up

Wasnt someone trying to pass law in USA that cancelling a service had to be as easy as signing up ? Whatever happened ?

Remember trying to cancel AOL? It felt like a fight to the death.

Always use PayPal then cancel them form there.....

When this happens, I contact the BBB, so far it has always gotten the job done. Often those go direct to higher level people and they reply by email.

Can I choose both?

I'd choose Sabba, his sad face looks less sincere haha

like this is going to stop me

I'm going for the designer because presumably this popup was his stupid idea

TIM, I vote for Tim because he has such a cr@p beard.

We are just supposed to see the word "free" and assume we are getting a good deal.