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the site is rigged NOT to allow people to be able to cancel
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Regardless of whatever was promised in this situation, let me take my lawyer hat off for a moment, and put on my Dutch uncle hat...
Don't:
1. Enroll in any "free trial" thing that automatically becomes a billed service.
or
2. Subscribe to any "negative option" subscription program (e.g. Book of the Month, CD clubs, Girls Gone Wild, etc.)
Again, regardless of the terms, these things are designed to make money simply because people forget to cancel stuff on time, or don't follow the crazy instructions required for it.
My favorite example is a "male enhancement pill" program that the FTC shut down a while back. Sold as a "cancel if it doesn't work" program, what the subscriber had to do in order to cancel was to get a letter from a doctor stating that the subscriber has a small penis and it didn't get any bigger.
Now, can you imagine scheduling an appointment with a doctor for that?
Before the US annual credit report system was mandatory on the reporting companies, as a lark I enrolled in one of those "free" credit report things a few years back, knowing full well I'd probably get charged even if I followed the rules to the letter.
Sure enough, when I diligently followed the cancellation procedure, I received a telephone call saying, "We need a reason for you to cancel" and telling me how for a low, low price, I'd get wonderful things for a full two years, so I needed a "valid reason" to cancel.
"My reason is very personal. Please just let me cancel," I said.
"I'm sorry, but I need to have something to put on the form."
"Okay, but I didn't want to tell you this. I've been diagnosed with liver cancer, and my doctor doesn't expect me to live more than three months, so I really don't think I'm going to need the service for two years."
Oh man, the change in tone in that snotty woman's voice was
PRICELESS!
But, again, I did it pretty much as an experiment.
"Free trials" aren't, and "cancel at any time" isn't. Take it to the bank.
These people are scum. Always feel free to play the "terminal illness" card.
I used to get calls from a legal publisher every month trying to get me to buy their latest books.
Finally, I said, "Do you publish in Braille?"
"Ummm.... no. Why?"
"Because I'm blind. So if you don't have a book I can read, stop calling me."