May 18, 2012

Automatic subscription fees

I’ve been caught out several times in the past year with businesses and organisations taking automatic payments from my credit card for subscription services.

It always makes me feel a mixture of silly and peeved.

Silly that I didn’t read the fine print when I signed up for the service and peeved that I didn’t knowingly authorise it and wasn’t notified.

I’m talking big names here like McAfee and Ancestry.com.

Oh, I know they haven’t broken any laws and the automatic payment information is probably as prominent as other text on the sign-up page.

The lesson I’ve learned is to read all the subscription detail more thoroughly.

I really think though, they should make the automatic payment opt-in, rather than opt-out. There are plenty of other service providers who operate that way.

And they should certainly send the subscriber a reminder.

Comments

  1. Sue says:

    I agree with you. I’ve also learned this lesson the hard way.

  2. delmer
    Twitter:
    says:

    I especially dislike the practice when it’s promoted as being for my convenience.

    delmer’s last blog post..House Sounds

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