As part of my ongoing effort to bring you interesting and informative personal-finance information, I subscribe to several magazines, including Smart Money. Smart Money isn’t my favorite money magazine, but it has some useful articles.
In 2005, I paid $20 to subscribe to Smart Money for two years. In 2007, I paid $20 to subscribe for another two years. Today I received my latest issue, which included this wrap-around “cover” announcing that “as part of our Continuous Service program, your subscription will be automatically renewed unless you tell us to stop”:
This is annoying, but it’s an annoyance I can live with. Some periodicals (especially newspapers) automatically renew subscriptions. For a variety of reasons, people are more likely to accept the state in which they are required to do nothing. If the default is “the subscription will expire if you do nothing”, people will generally let the subscription expire. But if the default is “your subscription will automatically continue if you do nothing”, people will generally let the subscription renew.
Dumb money
As I say, this is annoying, but I can deal with it. What made me cranky, however, was this bit at the bottom of the renewal notice:
Smart Money wants to automatically renew my subscription for one year at $20. But I was previously paying $20 for a two-year subscription. They want to use this automatic renewal to double my rate. This is bullshit.
I did some research to see if subscription rates have increased since 2007. They have not. At the official Smart Money subscription page, I found the following deals:
- One year for $12
- Two years for $18
Apparently my reward for being a “preferred subscriber” is that I will pay more for one year of the magazine than new subscribers pay for two years. That sounds like dumb money to me. It gets worse. Using Google, I found an even better deal, also from the official page:
- One year for $11
- Two years for $18
- Three years for $24
And Amazon has an even better price: 24 issues for just $14!
Out of the frying pan
Armed with this info, I prepared to unleash my righteous indignation on a customer service rep. I dialed the phone number on the wraparound cover. But I couldn’t reach customer service — only an automated answering system, which offered two choices:
- Stay in the “continuous service” program and renew the subscription.
- Be removed from the “continuous service” program and cancel the subscription.
I didn’t want either one. I wanted option three: give me back my lower rate. I gave up and tried the web.
Smart Money actually has a website that purports to let you manage your account. Fine. I clicked on the link to renew my subscription and saw this:
This clearly says: “Fill in the form below to access your subscription account.” I understood this to mean: “When you enter your information, you will be able to perform various actions on your account.” But no. That’s not what it really means. I entered my account number and was greeted with this screen:
That’s it. A blank page with the command: “renew your subscription”. Can any of you tell me what this means? Checking a different page on the site revealed that by entering my account number, I had actually agreed to renew the subscription.
I hate crap like this. I hate it when businesses treat me like a commodity. Usually when these things happen, a business loses me as a customer forever. (No joke.) But I can’t just pretend Smart Money doesn’t exist; it’s an important part of the financial media. Argh!
Free magazines!
How much does this bother me? So much that I’ve spent an hour processing images and writing this post. So much that I cancelled my subscription — and then re-subscribed for two years for $14 through Amazon. And so much that I’m going to give away free subscriptions to GRS readers — for Smart Money‘s competitors.
Six commenters on this article (chosen at random) will receive a one-year subscription to the personal-finance magazine of their choice from those reviewed in these two articles:
The only caveat is that if you win, you cannot choose Smart Money. To qualify, all you have to do is share your own tale of financial frustration in the discussion on this post. (Contest ends at 12:01 am Tuesday morning.)
GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.
This article is about Books, Odds and Ends, Real-Life
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.
Discover is a paid advertiser of this site. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the Discover online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards.
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
Several years ago a friend of mine met a guy on Match dot com. She couldn’t see that he was cheating on her and otherwise being a huge jerk, so I decided to perform a bit of espionage on her behalf. I felt pretty guilty about it at first but boy did I get punished!
Anyway, I signed up for a 3 day free trial. They took my credit card and charged $0, but they also clearly spelled out that I had to cancel within the 3 days or my credit card would be charged the monthly rate automatically.
I marked it on my calendar, winked at the guy, he wrote me back and proved himself to be the cheating jerk I thought I was in the first day. Vindicated, I canceled my service online and forgot about it.
It was a couple months later that I finally carefully looked at my credit card bill. This was back before I had my credit cards under control, recorded every purchase, and paid in full every month – my credit card was near the limit but I hadn’t worried because I wasn’t making purchases and my interest rate was low.
I don’t remember now, I think it was $39.99 or something like that. Anyway, my credit card was now overlimit, my interest rate had been jacked up through the roof, and overlimit fees had been assessed.
I called the credit card company. I called match. I complained and they said it would all be taken care of. The next month I called the credit card on the date the charges were being made – and a new charge from match was there!
I called, complained, wrote letters… but still the charges remained and new charges from match appeared each month. This happened the next month… and the next…
6 months after my initial complaint it was finally decided that I had canceled the account and they shouldn’t have made the charges. I was refunded all the money, the overlimit charges were cleared… but my interest rate was left at the higher rate.
I’m a lot more careful now!
loading....
My financial tale of woe is the reason I refuse to own or use a cell phone. We got a phone from AT&T specifically for driving across the country, and made this perfectly clear to the rep. He assured us that we had 30 days to return it and cancel if we were unhappy. We noted that day 30 was a federal holiday, and he assured us that the following business day counted and we were fine.
Well, the phone didn’t work once we were out of the state, much less on the opposite coast. We got back ready to cancel, and as mentioned the 30th day was Labor Day and AT&T was closed. We went in the next day and were informed it was day 31 and they would do nothing. We were also informed that the rep who made all those promises “no longer worked there”.
When I got no satisfaction, I called the 800 number from the store and the woman actually laughed at me and then hung up on me.
This all culminated in me staging a two-hour sit in. I plopped onto the floor, Indian style, and told my tale to anyone who walked in, and actually got two people to leave and vow to change companies. Finally, they canceled the contract so I would go away. Since then, I have not touched a cellular phone.
loading....
My financial fight is always with Comcast. They always add some sneaky fees in and up goes my rate. I then have to call them and they always give me a 10.00 rebate after some discussion. Sometimes I have to call back and talk with someone else. Great blog.
loading....
My biggest fight was back when MCI did long distance. I noticed that there was an $8 a month charge on the bill regardless of how much long distance I used (which was typically <$8). So I called them up to see about switching plans. I talked to a helpful agent and we found a better plan for me.
After a couple of months, I get a message on my machine from my father to call him. He rarely does this so something must be up. I try to call him and am told my long distance service was canceled. I call MCI and they say that since a bill they sent was returned to them, they cancelled my service. We agreed that the bill was addressed correctly, the post office must have made a mistake.
Well they’ll start up my service again, but I have to be treated as a new customer and it will take 24 hours. Arrgh, I had a phone call to maket then. Well I had a calling card so I just used that.
Fast forward a few days and I still had no long distance. I called them back and went through the whole song and dance again. “No problem, you’ll have long distance in 24 hours.”
24 hours rolls by and still nothing. I call them up and they say since the bill was returned they cancelled my service. Arrgh.
I told them to just forget it and cancel all of my services. I realized I could just buy a 500 minute calling card at Sam’s Club for $30 and that would cover my long distance needs for over a year.
Later I talked to a friend of mine who worked for MCI and he said he never had their long distance because they were so incompetant. And look where they are now.
loading....
At an advertising seminar I attended, a speaker explained that most major magazines only need to up their subscribership to be able to show the advertisers a large audience and justify their ad fees. So, those of you commenting about paying your “fair share” so the mag doesn’t lose money on you needn’t worry: that’s not how the game is played.
loading....
JD, I subscribe to, and have reviewed the following magazines per your original request:
Smart Money. I let my subscription lapse after a couple of years because I wasn’t really picking up any good ideas. It seemed more like articles that summarized brokerage house puff pieces on companies. Maybe because they are owned by The Wall Street Journal? Anyway, thumbs down (and voted with my subscription dollars).
Money. I still subscribe because there is some useful information in it (and I like reading about money), but I suspect I can get all the articles simply by reading CNN/Money.com and feel cheated because I pay for the paper copy of what’s free online.
Kiplinger’s. The best of the lot, although the editors are a little loopy with their political opinions. I pay for subscriptions to Kiplinger’s for my four kids because it gives the best practical advice. I guess this makes my vote clear.
Forbes. There is a lot of in-depth editorial content in Forbes that makes it worth reading, although I’m not as interested in their annual lists of billionaires and top companies as they seem to think I am. I will continue to subscribe, because I want to learn more about how successful capitalists think.
Consumer Reports. I pay for both the print copies and the online service, and I use them to make buying decisions. Previously, when I needed a vacuum or digital camera I would just start walking into stores and buy whatever appealed or was on sale. Now, I avoid the clinkers and usually buy online where people compete for my business on price.
AARP. The AARP publications provide quite a bit of good info on money – but they’re so liberally biased toward “give me more federal benefits for old people” that they have lost sight of the fact that they’re not advocating what’s best for the country (which IS what’s best for old people – a group to which I obviously officially belong, so my opinion is just as valid as any). If I could get their publications without supporting their money-grubbing political campaigns, I would.
So, Kiplinger’s is my clear winner, and I hope others will be able to use this review to choose wisely. (No, I have no financial connection to Kiplinger’s of any kind.)
loading....
I just went through this with National Geographic’s Green Guide. Right after I signed up for a yearly subscription they decided to call it quits.
They did give a few options though. Get a refund or get the National Geographic until your initial subscription runs out.
I opted to let it ride. I was tired that day and didn’t want to go through the hassle.
Come to think of it Parents magazine is just as annoying. They keep sending subscription renewals even though I JUST signed up for a 2 year subscription.
loading....
I totally understand. Reunion.com did this to me…after using deceptive tactics to get me to subscribe for the initial year in the first place. (They said people had been searching for me, etc. which turned out not to be true when I actually registered).
I hate auto-renewals of ANYTHING, just because generally they try to get more money out of you without your knowledge. :/
Amanda
loading....
I appreciate you taking the time to write this. Poor customer service should result in lost customers. This post also reminds me of the letter I’ve been meaning to write about poor service I’ve experienced elsewhere. Thanks for the reminder.
loading....
Great idea, JD!
So my hubby was a Capital One customer for years and they were charging an annual fee to him each year. He called to ask them if they would waive it for him because he had never been late, etc. They waived it for one year and then said that’s all they could do. Instead of cancelling the card and lowering his credit score as a result, he left it open. The next year they charged him again and he never got the bill. They then charged him a late fee on top of that and said they were sending him to collections. Very frustrating! He called, got the fees refunded, and closed the card. It probably hurt his credit score a little, but at least we don’t have to deal with crazy Capital One!!
loading....
This is bullshit. The same thing happened to me with my fiance’s Sports Illustrated magazine. I can’t recall the exact prices, but at renewal time they wanted $30 more than what we paid when we ordered our subscription. I cancelled and then just went online and re-ordered a new subscription in my name. Now when renewal time comes around again, if they try to give us a higher price, I will just cancel and go online and re-order a new subscription in my fiance’s name
loading....
Here’s one for you ( I have so many to choose from, but this one came to mind first…)
I live in an area where I had a choice on who to receive cable TV from. A tip from one of my neighbors when I first moved in saved me a bunch of money by contracting with the smaller company – CableAmerica. We were very happy with the service and the price was cheap for internet and cable TV.
Then Cox comes along and devours CableAmerica, and so I no longer have a choice. Cox is now the only provider. (How this is legal is beyond me – can we say Monopoly?) They raise my rates substantially in the first few months, and their service is spotty. I occasionally work from home, and one day my cable modem lost service for something like 4 hours. (this was a while ago, so the numbers are foggy)…
Anyway, I called to complain, and they told me that they couldn’t do anything, yada, yada, yada. I asked to speak with the manager, and you know what??? They prorated me, but only on the discounted internet fee based on 24/7 usage.
So if my bill was like $80 cable TV and $35 internet, then they took the $35 internet and divided by (24*31 days in the month) and gave me a whopping $0.19 credit! (even though the TV was down too, but we won’t go there)… As if the hours during the working day are just as valuable as 2AM. Ugh!
Anyway, I couldn’t believe the nerve. At least give me like $5 for my time! Ugh! I promptly took my business to DirectTV/Qwest and have been much happier. Not to mention Sunday Ticket.
loading....
Oh ya, here’s another one… Citicard…
I opened a 0% interest Citicard to move some short term debt to 0%. I had never used a credit card in this way before (and never since). Anyway, I paid 1/12 of the balance each month to ensure that after the promotional period it would be paid off. I set it up with my CU that the payment would be sent electronically on the due date.
Apparently during that time, the citibank website was redesigned, and the payment from my CU was rejected, triggering a whole avalanche of fees and backed interest. I talked them out of the fees, but didn’t realize they had charged me $80 in backed interest until later. I closed the account immediately and will never again do business with Citi. What a trap they lay for you! And I wholeheartedly believe that it IS a trap because I am NEVER late on bills, so it is something they did to intentionally make me default.
loading....
I’ve got two:
When I was 18 and got my first credit card the company messed up my address (they crossed my street address and mailing address). When I realized a month later that I hadn’t gotten a bill and straightened it out they wouldn’t refund the late fee. I wasn’t as forceful as I am now, so my mom called pretending to be me and badgered the customer service rep until they gave me the fee back. I quickly cancelled that card.
My second annoyance was getting slammed by MCI. Slamming is when they illegally transfer your phone service without your consent. I had to pay the local server for the long distance carrier transfer fees to MCI and then back again when I found out what happened. I will still not do business with MCI.
loading....
@ joy and amanda
I really recommend using a “masked” credit card number whenever dealing with a company like Reunion or Match. I recently got a 3 month subscription with some online hair style try-on thingie, and I knew they would try to take my credit card for a ride, so I went on Bank of America’s website (where I have a credit card) and got a temporary credit card #. It still pulls from your real #, but you decide the expiration date and credit limit for the temporary #. I gave it 1 month and $20, the exact amount I was going to pay. And now no worries about them charging unauthorized “renewals”.
loading....
I bought 3 suits at Joseph A. Banks the other day because there was a big sale. Much to my surprise, and chagrin, they did not include in the stated price of the suit the required alterations, which were expensive. The suit-pants come un-hemmed so alterations are required and in my view should therefore be factored in the cost. I bought the suits and took them to a different local/independent tailor who made the alterations for a significantly lower cost.
loading....
OK, here’s another beef… I was having a flat tire replaced at Les Schwab Tires in the Seattle area. As I watched from the lobby, the technician was going to take my car for a “test drive” (is this normal? anyway, I was young and naieve at the time and thought it would be OK). I watched someone back their minivan into my car in the parking lot. Not major damage, but a dent and scratch nonetheless. So I file a claim with the other party’s insurance – Allstate. They offered me a bottle of touch up paint! That was it!
Yes, I could have pressed the issue. Yes, I could have (should have) pursued something against Les Schwab. But again, I was young and naieve. I was so mad I didn’t even get my touch up paint!
Now that I’ve dealt with car insurance a number of times, I find that they usually try to make things so dang difficult and lowball your damages and just plain ignore you in hopes that you’ll eventually go away.
loading....
I like the comments on the cell phones. Why do the “new” customers get the better deal than the “current” customers? So if I want a good cell phone deal, I have to switch companies every couple of years. Remember the commercials they had dealing with this? They were making fun of the situation. “Why can’t I get the same deal?” Answer: “Because you’re not special enough.” Sillyness!
loading....
JD,
I think you hit a bunch of very raw nerves here. I now hesitate to add mine as it is at this point same old/same old, but reading your post, it read almost word for word the same as my experience with PC Magazine. The only missing part, and this is perhaps something you have to look forward to, is the dunning letters that I received from PC Magazine for several months after the cancellation threatening my credit status for not paying for the renewal that I didn’t want and had cancelled with a registered letter.
If chosen, I’ll take Kiplingers please.
thank you,
bobk
loading....
I experienced a similar, though not nearly as frustrating, situation with Oprah magazine, sometime last year. I received a renewal bill for $22 for one year. The bill made it sound like the $22 was a special discounted rate. However, the current issue I had was loaded with postcards offering one year for $18. Why would I renew for $22 when I could start a new subscription for $18? I canceled my automatically renewing subscription and did not send in the $22.
Forced automatic renewals are basically a scam. Magazine companies who participate in this ploy are obviously intentionally making it impossible for people to opt out of automatic renewals. I would suggest that you do not pay for any magazine subscription with a credit card. Send in a money order along with a letter stating you want a one (or two or three) year membership, and would like the membership to end on a certain month and year (specify the date). If they brazenly send you a bill after your membership is up, send it back to them and write “CANCEL” on it. Include a copy of your original letter along with it.
loading....
Wow… good on you for doing what you did. I did not realize that renewals could get you quite so screwed. I cancelled my unneccessary subscriptions, and I’ll keep an eye out when it’s renewal time for the mags I am still subscribed to.
I guess the worst financial experience that comes to mind is when I got my first cell phone. This was years ago, but basically they kept on screwing up my bill, overcharging me, and I ended up spending about 10 phone calls and 6 hours on the phone with their customer service department to get my bill sorted out. I ended up getting large credits for the next several months.
I almost wanted to give up, but I was able to win the battle. Cell phone companies are notoriously difficult, but persistence pays.
I used to work in customer service for a large furniture/electronics company here in Canada. I dealt with a TON of complaints. My top advice – don’t EVER finance, and always have the salesperson go over your invoice with you BEFORE you leave the store. That would save people a zillion different financial headaches.
loading....
I moved apartments and didn’t update my address for my Banana Republic Store Card (my fault). Within 2 months a $5 balance ballooned to more than $50 from 2 late fees assessed. A phone call from BR informed me of the situation and one of the outsourced customer service representatives assured me that I would be credited for both late fees, but I needed to pay my balance immediately. I made a follow up call a few days later and found out that the first representative lied to me and since I already paid there was no way to get my money back. I have not been to Banana Republic since.
loading....
What a mess! Companies don’t seem to realize how much they are disenfranchising their customers with stuff like this! Here’s to hoping this makes them realize the error of their ways. Oh, and I would take Consumer reports in a heartbeat if I won
loading....
I have to post a positive example of an auto-renewal…
I subscribed to the Washington Times newspaper, and agreed to an auto-renewal at $65 per year. When my paper stopped coming, I called and reminded them of the auto-renewal but they said I didn’t have an auto-renewal so I had to subscribe anew.
I went online and found a discounted subscription for $30 per year.
We’ll see if I’ve been a nonsubcriber long enough, or if some other problem exists with the discounted subscription, but at the moment it seems like their lack of auto-renewal has worked in my favor.
loading....
I went to pay my mortgage account online. Their website would not accept my log-in (even though I feel as though I have registered my info three or four times already).
The next day, their site was completely down. I attempted to make a payment by phone, whereby learning they would be charging me $15!!! First off, it’s already annoying they charge a minimal service fee for using online services/payments, but triple that just to speak to a person?
Upon learning of their site problems (and the company rep was aware as well), they STILL would NOT waive the phone fee. Or “couldn’t” as the rep put it.
I didn’t want to take a chance in a late mortgage payment, so I sucked up the $15 fee. Irritating.
loading....
Just called Smart Money customer service at 800-444-4204 and they renewed my subscription for 2 years at the $14 amazon rate. Hope this helps.
loading....
Hi J.D.,
I had a problem not too long ago with a magazine salesman. I am not the type to order anything from door-to-door salesmen, but I was thinking of getting a Runner’s World subscription anyway, so I said why not? When I turned around to grab a pen from a dearby desk, the salesman actually came into my apartment, walked across the room, and sat at my dining room table. This made me slightly uncomfortable but I felt strange asking him to get back up and talk to me from outside the door. He filled out all the information for my subscription then I found out the price…$52 for a 2 yr. subscription. Probably twice the price if you get it straight from Runner’s World. Then the other small detail, a $15 Processing fee. So a total of $67. I didn’t want to do it but I felt extremely pressured with this guy in my apartment alone when I am a young female so I just went for it knowing I could cancel within 3 days anyway.
I ended up cancelling the very next day, I was assured that I would get my refund without any problems within 4 weeks…it has now been about 4 months and they will not return my e-mails or phone calls and won’t even respond to the BBB.
I will never let a salesman come past my front door ever again!
loading....
Boy do I have a tale of financial frustration!
I took out a perkins loan from my university (Temple University in Philadelphia) for $320 (I mostly paid my way through my undergrad degree). The loan accrued no interest for 6 months after graduation. In January I sent a payment from ING Direct (an electronic check) for the full amount $320. It took 27 days for an electronic check to be received by Temple. During which time I got dinged with late fees and interest. Then, to add insult to injury, the check was sent back to ING because of wrong address (I had forgotten the floor number, but the only place in the building where payments are processed is on the second floor, but the payee name and the rest of the address was correct). So since the payment was sent back to ING, I got dinged with a “bad check fee” for $25. Neither ING nor Temple is accepting responsibility for either sending the payment that took 27 days, nor for sending the check back. No one is budging on reversing the fee.
loading....
When I am in a store or waiting room I gather those pesky insert cards for new subscriptions. If my renewal is more that the new subscription, I may wait a month or so and than subscribe as a new subscriber.
For trial offers, make a copy of the offer for your records and send original in. I like to get free magazines and pass them on to charitable organizations. If I don’t like the magazine, I cancel and have my records of their original offer.
loading....
My most recent financial frustration was with Jiffy Lube. My wife took our minivan in for an oil change and much to my chagrin they convinced her that she should pay $80 to have the cabin air filter replaced. It did need it, and she agreed, but I still found it annoying when I can buy the filter for $12 and replace it myself.
The kicker was when I went to open the glove box a couple days later and the box fell on the floor. Yep – they broke it. So now I get to spend an afternoon taking it back to them to fix. Granted, they did fix it. I took advantage of having the manager as a captive audience and gave him a lesson on ridiculous mark-ups. Everyone deserves to make a profit, and I could see if they wanted to charge a high rate for their labor if they felt it was justified, but to have a 300-400% markup on parts? And then labor on top of that? Please.
loading....
I once used a 2 free trial subscription to a magazine. I canceled after the 2 issues, however, several weeks later I got a letter from a credit collector regarding the magazine asking me to pay for subscription. I thought that was a shady strong arm tactic to scare you into paying up. Luckily I called and sorted it all out.
loading....
Soon after I was born, my parents got me my Social Insurance Number (in Canada) and then signed me up for my first bank account. I have had the same account at the same credit union for 24 years now. I have resisted all temptations to switch despite free i-pods out of loyalty to my bank. I also have never paid a fee on my account as my account is considered a Junior account and is free until my 25th birthday.
Well I’ll be 25 next January, and so I guess I can be expecting my first banking fee. I asked my bank if they have special rates or accounts for those who have been loyal to them for so many years….the answer is NO.
Not only does this make me feel totally un-valued as a loyal customer…but it’s completely illogical as well. I do not owe a mortgage, loan, or line of credit to this bank. All my assets are 100% liquid (like most 25 year olds I know). I have absolutely nothing tying me to this bank, so WHY would I continue to stay with them when there are other banks who will provide me with 100% FREE banking? You think they would figure something like that out, especially to keep a customer who has been them for 24+ years!
loading....
Entered.
loading....
WSJ does this consistently. Sends out offers to subscribe to paper AND on-line for a year for $99. However, existing subscribers pay $179/year for print and another $59 for on-line (up from $49 previously). They should consider loyal customer discounts after prolonged subscribership, but when requested, I was told “they would get back to me” and never did. Anyone else have any luck on this front?
loading....
Please try to include what worked when resolving your horror stories. It’s one thing to let us all know what happened. It’s quite another (better) thing to let us all know how you successfully resolved the situation so we can learn from the situation. Thanks!
loading....
That is Smart Money
Similar frustration led me to cancel/expire my subscription
The bill that comes from Hearst corporation has no Contact telephone number…so if there is a mistake there is no good way to resolve it.
Imagine if they have your credit card number…
loading....
I’m sad to say that my frustrating story centers around my workplace union. I like unions, I believe in unions, and I appreciate my union. That is, I did appreciate it until I started getting landslides of mail from the local and national affiliate (sometimes in duplicate) and found that no one could accommodate my “no mail” request. The last straw came with weekly insurance sales pitches from our union’s “partner” company — meaning they sold our names to the insurance company, who promised the best price to union members but was actually about 40% higher in price than my current auto and home policies with Progressive. (To make matters worse, our local union office asked members for testimonial quotes about how much they’d saved with the insurance company, so folks could see the benefit of joining the union. Argh!)
I haven’t decided how to solve this problem yet, since I can only unenroll from the union once a year, and my politics may get the better of my passions by that time. We’ll see how well the union focuses on core employment and HR issues during the current “restructuring” of the university system.
loading....
Please enter me in the contest.
loading....
I just had this problem with Magazines.com. I had subscribed to two magazines over the course of last year using a Mypoints.com promotion and a gift card I was sent from Smartbargains.com. About a year has passed and I noticed a Magazines.com charge when checking my Chase credit card online.
I immediately freaked and thought someone had stolen my credit card information. Then I thought maybe I should login to my Magazines.com account and take a look. Sure enough it had renewed my subscription. I spent about 10 minutes on the site trying to determine how to remove automatic renewal and the only method I could find was to delete my credit card info. What a pain!
I immediately emailed Magazines.com and later followed up with a call. Within 5 days I was refunded the money. It just goes to show, watch your subscriptions and check your credit card accounts regularly. I had no idea Magazines.com automatically renewed, and I’ve ordered from them off and on for years. I guess I either forgot or this is a new policy. I find it odd that it is so hard to remove automatic subscription from my account.
When I do run into a service that I know does this, I always cancel or email them to cancel right away so I don’t have to deal with issues (no pun intended) when the subscription runs out.
loading....
My own tale of financial frustration came from my previous auto insurance company – Allstate. I had had them for 4 years, but when I moved to the DC area that changed. I signed up just to move my policy across state lines, and instead of just making simple changes they had to rewrite the whole thing. In the process, they made everything wrong. Took out my discounts, changed my address, changed my coverage, and increased the percentage of driving my fiance (male, higher rate!) does on my car. I had to call them like 6 times to get that sorted out. Finally, I was satisfied and paid my bill in full. In the middle of my 6 month policy, I start getting collection notices for about a $70 amount I somehow owed them. It turns out they decided to change my premium in the middle of my policy period (nothing at all had changed, I swear. It was out of the blue). That took about a week to sort out, as I kept calling, they kept telling me I had to pay, and I kept saying “Well, I won’t. So it looks like we’re going to have a problem.” Now I had been a customer for a long time with them, but this was too much for me. Finally they credited my account the amount I was suppose to pay them – but they never told me! So I kept calling to be told off that it had already been paid. Finally when my policy came due to renew, they raised my rate again. On my renewal policy, they had (again!) increased my fiances driving percentage and “lost” my discounts. I called several times and told customer service flat out that if they didn’t please me somehow, that I would be taking my business elsewhere. They didn’t; so I did. Geico has been good to me so far!
loading....
You must have struck a chord as we are getting close to the 300 reply mark. My experience was with the local Hartford daily paper. They attempted to renew my subscription with a canceled card. Upon investigation, I found that canceling and re-subscribing would save me half of my current rate. BUT I took a different path. I ignored all of their offers. I decided to recycle an existing subscription from a coworker who drops the paper at my desk for lunch time reading. I have less paper to deal with at home and the recycled newspaper is free! Any late breaking news is picked up off the web. If selected, Mother Earth News is my choice. I do keep some beloved paper around. I have a bound set from the 70-80′s from issue number one. I’ve not subscribed for years (and miss it).
loading....
Happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I went and found them cheaper.
loading....
How about Geico auto insurance?
Having recently graduated my early 20′s, I asked to have my fee reduced, so they went down $14 for the 6-month payment. That didn’t seem ideal, so I looked elsewhere, finding a discount of $130 at another company (Progressive).
I like showing loyalty, though, so I called up Geico asking if they could go down any further, and they said they couldn’t. I told them that I would leave, and that they didn’t have to go down the full $130; still nothing. I then asked them to cancel my account, which the rep said he would do.
Story doesn’t end here with needlessly letting their customer go. I then proceeded to get phonecalls for several weeks asking me why I left and if there was anything they could do to get me back. I had already told them what they could do to keep me, but I asked again, and with each “no, we can’t give you an even slightly lower rate,” I asked to not be contacted again.
Three calls later, I’m now free of telemarketers, and with a lower auto insurance rate.
loading....
I moved to a new state and was having trouble with my bank because while it is a national bank, the California and Arizona accounts are handled separately. The only way that I could access everything easily was to open a new account in AZ. I did, but couldn’t cancel my old account because I needed to have my husband sign off on it, and he was unable to go to the bank that week. All of my auto pays were supposed to start coming out of my new account. Unfortunately, my mortgage got paid out of BOTH accounts that week, which overdrafted me and caused me three weeks of headaches to get my money back – just in time to pay my mortgage again. The only good thing I can say for my bank is that they acknowledged their mistake right away and called my mortgage company admitting to their error and I asking for my money back.
loading....
I recently called up to cancel the satellite radio subscription I haven’t been using, and we had to go through this whole thing first — would I keep it for $4.99 a month for three months (instead of the usual $15)? No. Would I keep it for 50% off for the whole year, prepaid right then? No. Would I keep it for two months, totally free, oh, except I’d have to pay the tax, so not really free?
NO.
The result of the call was that I canceled my service and was irritated that I hadn’t called to cancel months ago. If they’d given me the service in the first place for half off, I probably wouldn’t have thought of canceling.
loading....
We have had trouble with mag subscriptions too. We have bought them to help with relative’s school fundraisers and it is promoted as being a great price and sometimes it is. The mag I just subscribed to is cheaper than at Amazon but the one my husband previously subscribed to was cheaper through the company. You just can never tell–have to do your homework on everything. I hate when you are a loyal customer and they don’t give you a price break.
loading....
I have two stories of frustration with emusic.com. The first incident occurred when I cancelled a subscription. Two months later, I discovered that I’d been billed twice for the $9.95 subscription fee (yes, I should have discovered it sooner). The second incident occured about a year or so after the first one. I bought a DVD player that offered a coupon for 50 free mp3s from emusic.com. The music service did not allow me to redeem the coupon because I’d been a previous customer. Very frustrating.
loading....
I had the same problem with Runner’s World. I’ve been a subscriber for 2 years and I really like the magazine. I received a renewal notice in the mail, one year for $21.94. I put the notice with my stack of bills but then I was reading the magazine a few days later and one of those new subscriber cards fell out. It was one year for $12! I’m going to let my subscription expire and I’ll sign up my wife for the $12.
loading....
Thanks for bringing this up– I catch auto-renew scams quite often . . .
loading....
I have noticed this with many magazines as well. I very much enjoy having magazines to take with me on planes, on errands, to relax at the beach with, but I refuse to pay more than $10/year unless it’s outside magazine. 80% of the magazines I subscribe to send me renewal notices at a higher price than what I pay to cancel, and then subscribe again. vogue wanted to charge me around $20. forget it. I opted not to renew. Yesterday I got a letter offering my the “industry discount” of a subscription for $8.
loading....