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2007-06-06 10:52:40
Just Cancel the @#%$* Account!
It's hard to find a Web service that doesn't offer a free trial. But just try
canceling. We did, and the results weren't always pretty.
Tom Spring
Friday, December 22, 2006 03:00 PM PST
It took me less than 5 minutes to sign up for a NetZero dial-up Internet
account. But after canceling that account, I spent a week trying in vain to
reverse a charge that the service levied after my cancellation request.
I had to call NetZero a total of five times, holding for several minutes and
then enduring long and fruitless conversations with company agents every time I
called. According to the NetZero representatives that I spoke to, I needed to
talk to a supervisor to arrange a credit, but none was ever available when I
called. In the end, I gave up and let NetZero keep the money.
To evaluate how difficult canceling an online service can be, I signed up for
and then canceled 32 accounts, each at a different site. About a third of the
services in my sample made the seemingly simple goal of canceling very hard to
achieve (see the "Big Hassle" entries in "Want to Cancel That Service?").
Not all of my experiences were negative. Services such as a monthly New York
Times TimesSelect online subscription and a monthly Consumer Reports Online
account took only minutes to cancel and without lingering strings. But some
others made me feel as though I'd joined the Sopranos' family business: Once I
signed up, there was no quitting!
How Much Hassle?
I subscribed to the services beginning last July, and I canceled--or tried to
cancel--them all between August and October. Afterward, I considered several
factors in assessing how hard it was to cancel each service and to receive any
promised trial-period refunds. For example, I downgraded companies that failed
to provide a way to unsubscribe through their Web sites. I also dinged
merchants when they continued to bill me after I had canceled, and if they made
me feel like a Net gumshoe searching their Web site for clues on how to
unsubscribe. And I penalized sites whose customer service personnel pressured
me repeatedly to continue my subscriptions or even buy other services. Finally,
I took into account how long the various companies kept me on hold, and whether
they continued to send me e-mail after I had canceled.
Of course, hassle is to a certain extent in the eyes of the beholder. A
10-minute call with one company might be fine if the representative is polite
and helpful. The same amount of time with another company might be highly
annoying.
Companies labeled "No Hassle" made severing ties relatively easy. For instance,
some of them let me cancel by filling out an online form or sending an e-mail,
and then they left me alone. Companies labeled as "Some Hassle" received
unsatisfactory marks on one or more criteria. Companies that earned the "Big
Hassle" rating failed on several measures; they made it so hard for me to
cancel that I regretted having signed up with them in the first place. For a
detailed list of the criteria I used in rating the various services, see
"Thirteen Strikes"; and for more about the particulars of my experiences with
each service I tried, see "Service Cancellation Woes."
Not-So-Free Free Trials
Weeks after a NetZero agent told me that he was canceling my account, a charge
for $14.95 appeared on my credit card bill. So I called back, providing my name
and my old NetZero account information. The customer service agent told me that
I would need to supply a "transaction number" from my credit card account in
order to obtain a refund.
Half an hour later, I called back with a transaction number. Another NetZero
agent told me that the transaction number I had supplied was wrong, and said
that his supervisor would call me back within half an hour. When no supervisor
called, I called back. There was still no supervisor available. The next day, I
received a voice-mail message requesting that I call again. I did, but there
was still no supervisor on hand. I finally decided that it wasn't worth the
effort, and I gave up on getting the refund.
NetZero said later in a written statement that the company "sincerely
apologized" for the trouble I had encountered, but it did not indicate to me
whether the company planned to change its practices.
I had a hard time canceling my $5 monthly Gold Classmates.com account, too. I
couldn't find any information on how to cancel until I entered the word cancel
In the site's search engine. Classmates.com spokesperson John Uppendahl
confirmed that there is no other way to find cancellation information. But that
was only the first hoop I had to jump through to cancel my membership.
Classmates.com also forced me to click through several Web pages reminding me
of the benefits I'd lose. Finally my clicking ended at a generic Member Support
e-mail contact page containing a blank 'Your Question' field. Though the form
said nothing about cancellations, I used it to request that the service cancel
my subscription. The next day I received an e-mail message confirming that the
service had accepted my request.
When I asked Uppendahl why canceling my account took so many steps, he replied
that this was the way that Classmates.com handled cancellations. He declined to
answer further questions.
Easy Sign-Up, Hard Cancel
"You can't annoy someone into liking your brand," says Harley Manning, vice
president of research at Forrester Research. But some companies certainly act
as though they think he's wrong.
In January 2006, America Online agreed to pay $25 million to settle a
class-action lawsuit brought against it in the St. Clair County, Illinois,
circuit court. The suit alleged, among other things, that AOL had billed
customers for services that they had tried to cancel. The company settled a
similar suit brought by the state of Ohio in 2005. In both cases, AOL denied
any wrongdoing.
Sixteen days after I signed up for an AOL 90-Day Risk-Free dial-up account in
Massachusetts, I decided to cancel the account. When I called AOL to do so, a
representative peppered me with questions as to why I was unsubscribing and
reminded me that I could maintain a free AOL e-mail account. I declined the
offer, and the rep finally told me, "You will not be charged any monthly
membership fees." I had similar experiences canceling the other two accounts.
But even though I canceled my 90-day trial after only 16 days, I was hit with a
charge of $25.90, the monthly AOL fee, on my credit card. I also signed up for
similar AOL accounts in Colorado (using a friend's address) and New York (using
a relative's address). In both of those cases, my credit card was charged the
monthly fee.
Later, when I called back and questioned why I had been billed, another
representative told me that I had to ask for a refund, or else I wouldn't
receive one--odd, given that the first rep had said that I wouldn't be billed.
An AOL spokesperson confirmed to me that members must request a refund in order
to get one, and said that its customer service reps had erred each time I
cancelled over the phone. Instead of telling me that I wouldn't be charged "any
fees," the spokesperson said, they should have indicated to me that I wouldn't
be charged "any additional fees."
MSN Internet billed me twice after I had closed that account. Likewise, Netflix
charged me after I had canceled there.
These were honest mistakes, according to the companies involved. "As soon as
issues like yours are brought to the attention of customer service, they are
remedied immediately," Netflix spokesperson Bronagh Hanley assured me. A
spokesperson for MSN echoed Netflix's statements. But in both cases I had to
call to get the charges removed.
When I called to cancel RealNetworks' Real SuperPass I spoke with a company
representative who kept cajoling me to change my mind. He then tried to sell me
on the benefits of other RealNetworks services. All told, he asked me 13 times
in several different ways to remain a customer.
Carol Rogalski, a spokesperson for RealNetworks, told me that my experience was
a one-time occurrence. Then why, I asked Rogalski, had I encountered similar
exit hassles earlier in the same month when I tried to unsubscribe from
RealNetworks' Real Rhapsody service? According to Rogalski, RealNetworks is now
conducting investigations into both incidents.
Did You Say 'Cancel'?
Thinking that I had properly canceled my contract with the dating service
True.com within two weeks of signing up, I expected to be charged for one month
of service: $50. Two months later, however, my credit card statement showed
$153 in True.com charges. It turns out that rather than canceling my account, I
had merely suspended it temporarily--and in the process, I had also unwittingly
signed up for an additional True.com service to help me improve my profile, at
$1 per month.
Here's where I went wrong: When I went to True.com's Customer Care page to
unsubscribe, I selected 'Cancel' and the programmed instructions prompted me to
type a cancellation request into a text field. After doing as instructed, I
clicked 'Continue'; the next screen then asked, 'Are you sure you want to
cancel?' In response I clicked yet another link labeled 'Click here to cancel
your membership'.
On the next screen, instead asking me again if I wanted to cancel my
membership, the routine asked me if I wanted to "suspend" my subscription. At
the bottom of the window was a big 'Continue' button, and below that--in gray
(not black) type in the smallest font on the page--was a link labeled 'Cancel
my subscription'. I clicked the 'Continue' button, not realizing that by doing
so I had merely suspended my account for seven days.
When I called True.com to ask why I had been charged, a customer service
representative named Jeff noted that there is a difference between suspend and
cancel. I complained about the cancellation process and pushed for a refund.
Jeff agreed to reduce the outstanding charges by $50.
I might have faced additional hassles if I had disputed the charge with my
credit card company. When I belatedly examined True.com's terms-of-service
agreement, I found a section stipulating that if I were to "fraudulent[ly]
report an authorized charge by True.com" as "unauthorized," I could be held
liable for $1000 per incident in damages. I call that tough love.
True.com's president, Ruben Buell, told me that if I had followed the trail of
cancellation links for one more page past the 'Suspend' turnoff, I would have
been prompted to call the company's customer support line. So after all that
effort, I still would have had to pick up the phone.
Why Make It So Hard to Cancel?
According to Jared Spool, founding principal of market research firm User
Interface Engineering, some Web site proprietors imagine that the easier they
make it to sign up, the more customers they'll get. And pursuing the same logic
in reverse, they may also suppose that the harder they make it for people to
unsubscribe, the more customers they'll keep.
But the companies that made it easiest to unsubscribe are ones I would consider
doing business with again. As for NetZero and True.com? Not on your life.
Hall of Shame Award: A Really Big Hassle
Canceling True.com was bad--but botched billing, long and frustrating
conversations with customer service reps, and supervisors who were never
available when I called made NetZero my worst cancellation experience.
Breakup Tips: Best Ways to Unload an Online Service
Breaking up with an online service doesn't have to mean an ugly divorce.
Avoiding hassles just requires preparation and some postnup plotting.
allow you to monitor all of your subscriptions from one statement.
can't find a cancellation page on the site, ask the service how to find it.
credit monitoring service requires a three-month minimum commitment.
cancellation complaints are against the service you're considering subscribing
to.
customers who request one; EarthLink and ESPN say that they issue refunds on a
case-by-case basis to customers who ask.
to resolve my refund dispute with NetZero by reversing the charge.
Want to Cancel That Service?
We field-tested 31 companies to see how easy or difficult they make it to
cancel their services. The companies within each category are listed
alphabetically.
BIG HASSLE
SOME HASSLE
NO HASSLE
Service Cancellation Woes
To research this story, I signed up for 32 popular online services and then
attempted to cancel them. In grading how hard it was to unsubscribe, I used a
point system based on 13 factors (see "Thirteen Strikes" for a complete listing
of the criteria). Companies earned lots of hassle points if their Web sites
provided no information on how to cancel or if they continued to bill me after
I canceled. They got fewer points for less objectionable (but still annoying)
behavior such as sending me e-mail messages after I'd quit.
Of course, not all of my experiences can be summed up in numbers alone. Lots of
companies urged me to reconsider, for instance; but some were polite and took
no for an answer, while others were infuriatingly persistent.
Here's the nitty-gritty on what happened to me with each of the services I
canceled.
Big Hassles
AOL
I signed up for a 90-day AOL trial account in Massachusetts in late July. I
also signed up for two other ones at roughly the same time, using a friend's
address in Colorado and a family member's address in New York. In each
instance, I signed up over the phone and waited for two weeks before canceling.
The cancellation process wasn't difficult, though when I unsubscribed for the
Massachusetts account, the company's rep peppered me with questions about why I
was unsubscribing and reminded that I could keep my AOL e-mail account for
free. I declined the offer, however, and the rep finally told me, "You will not
be charged any monthly membership fees." I had similar experiences in canceling
the other two accounts.
Despite the reps' assurances, though, AOL charged all three accounts the
monthly fee of $25.90 after I had canceled them. When I called later to ask
why, AOL reps told me that I had to ask for a refund or none would be given.
An AOL spokesperson said that, instead of telling me that I wouldn't be charged
"any fees," the customer service reps should have indicated that I wouldn't be
charged "any additional fees."
BlueMountain.com
BlueMountain.com, an interactive greeting-card site, does not provide any
information on its Web site about how to cancel the service. Finally, to pull
the plug, I sent an e-mail request--and promptly received a reply telling me
that I'd have to call to cancel. When I did call, I had to listen to a
representative plead with me to stay.
Another annoying aspect of the BlueMountain.com's cancellation process was that
I continued to receive commercial e-mail messages from the service after
canceling. And when I tried to unsubscribe from receiving further e-mail, the
unsubscribe link on the customer service page failed to function properly on
several occasions.
BlueMountain.com says that it will give its customers a better way to cancel
online very soon.
Classmates.com
I had a hard time canceling my $5 monthly Gold Classmates.com account. In the
first place, I couldn't find any information at the Classmates.com site on how
to cancel until I entered the word cancel in the site's search engine.
Classmates.com spokesperson John Uppendahl confirmed that there is no other way
to find cancellation information.
But that was only the first hoop I had to jump through to escape my membership.
Classmates.com also forced me to click through several Web pages consisting of
reminders of the benefits I'd lose by canceling.
Finally my clicking ended at a generic Member Support e-mail contact page
containing a blank 'Your Question' field. Though the form made no mention of
cancellations, I used it to request that my subscription be ended.
The next day I received an e-mail message confirming that the service had
accepted my request. When I asked Uppendahl why canceling my account took so
many steps, he replied that this was the way Classmates.com handled
cancellations. He declined to answer further questions.
Like a number of other services, Classmates.com continued to send me commercial
e-mail even after I had unsubscribed from its service.
ESPN
I signed up for a $6.95 monthly ESPN Insider account, and then tried to cancel
less than two weeks later. I could not find any way to cancel on ESPN's site,
so I sent ESPN an e-mail requesting that my account be canceled. The company
did not recognize my request, however, and it charged my credit card twice.
According to an ESPN representative, if I had visited the 'Contact Us' link at
the bottom of every page on ESPN.com and gone to 'Insider Services', I would
have been prompted to call to cancel. My mistake was in clicking 'Member
Services' instead.
MSN Internet
I signed up for an MSN Internet dial-up account for $17.95 monthly and
attempted to cancel it within the same week. MSN told me that I would not be
charged, but I received two charges for $17.95 on my credit card from MSN. When
I called to ask why, the customer service representative apologized and
promised a refund within days (he also took the opportunity to urge me to
switch to a different MSN account for broadband, which I declined to do). To
MSN's credit, I received the refund within the promised time period.
Napster.com
I was a member of Napster for less than three weeks before canceling. Napster
gives subscribers no way of canceling online. Instead you must cancel on your
PC via Napster's software. I had to do an extensive amount of clicking before I
finally found the Customer Service menu, which informed me I needed to call to
cancel.
NetZero
Severing ties with my $14.95 dial-up account with NetZero Internet access
service and receiving a promised refund ranked as the most loathsome
cancellation experience in my tests.
When I was 24 days into a 30-day free trial of the NetZero Internet access
service, I tried to cancel online. In searching the site for cancel options, I
found directions to call a toll-free phone number to cancel. After a 4-minute
wait, a customer service agent canceled my account and said I wouldn't be
charged.
Weeks later, a NetZero charge appeared on my credit card. I called and gave my
name and old NetZero account information. The customer service agent insisted
that I was Tom Spring of California--not Massachusetts--despite my denials. He
then told me that the billing information had been removed from my account and
that I would need a "transaction number" from my credit card number to obtain a
refund.
A half hour later, I was back on the phone with a transaction number. A NetZero
agent told me I had the wrong transaction number and said that his supervisor
would have to call me back. He promised that the callback would come within a
half hour. No supervisor called me back, so I called again; no supervisor was
available then either. Ultimately, the supervisor didn't call back until the
next day, leaving a message on my voice mail requesting that I call NetZero
again. I did so--but again, no supervisor was available. I finally conceded
defeat and let NetZero keep the money.
Real Rhapsody
With Real Rhapsody, I had to weather hardball sales tactics to break free of my
subscription. After requesting numerous times that I stay with the service, the
agent switched gears and tried to get me to sign up for other RealNetworks paid
services.
The agent asked me twice to participate in an exit interview, but I declined
twice. The rep also told me that I would have to remove my billing information
from the RealNetworks system manually; otherwise, RealNetworks would keep it so
that--if I decided to buy something from the company later--I wouldn't have to
input my billing information again.
Real SuperPass
My experience with RealNetworks' RealSuperPass resembled my dealings with Real
Rhapsody. When I called to cancel RealSuperPass, I spoke with a company rep who
kept trying to get me to change my mind. When he eventually gave up trying to
get me to stay, he tried to sell me instead on the benefits of other
RealNetworks services.
All told, he asked me 13 times in various ways to remain a customer. Carol
Rogalski, a spokesperson for RealNetworks, told me that my experience was a
one-time occurrence.
True.com
I took advantage of a free three-day trial of True.com, an online dating
service, and canceled on the 13th day of membership. I fully expected to be
charged for one month's service, at $49.99 per month. But I received a bill for
$153--a hefty $103 more than that.
I was charged three times for "True Life Coaching," which was supposed to help
me improve my online profile; I had never knowingly signed up for this add-on;
however, in agreeing to the terms of service, I learned, I had automatically
consented to the charge.
True.com does not offer a clear way to cancel service through its Web site. I
resorted to going to the "customer care" section of the site, where you can
send a message to the company by using a form. The drop-down menu where you
select your subject offers a "cancellation" option. I filled out the form
requesting to cancel. After I hit 'submit', a customer care page appeared with
the question, "Are you sure you want to cancel?" I responded by clicking a
button labeled 'Click here to cancel your membership'.
Another screen then appeared bearing a message in a large font that read,
"Suspend your subscription." Below it was a large 'Continue' button. And below
that (as I later found out), in faded gray text in the smallest font on the
page, was a 'cancel my subscription' link. But when I first visited the page, I
didn't even notice that link. Instead I hit the 'Continue' button, which causes
my account to be suspended for seven days and then reinstated without my being
notified.
When I called to ask why I had been charged, the customer service
representative told me that there is a difference between "suspend" and
"cancel," and he pointed me to the section of the terms-of-service agreement
about "resigning" my membership. In the "resigning" section of the TOS
agreement I found an explanation on how to "expire" my membership.
Notwithstanding the written explication, I felt confused about the difference
between canceling, resigning, and expiring.
I complained to the representative about the confusing terminology and about
what I thought was a misleading cancellation process. After spending 40 minutes
with me on the phone, the rep said that he would refund me one of three billing
cycles.
I also found a section of the TOS contract that read: "You also agree not to
dispute any authorized charge by True.com or its authorized agents." And "if
you fraudulent[ly] report that an authorized charge by True.com or its
authorized agents is unauthorized, you shall be liable to True.com for
liquidated damages of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per incident."
Some Hassles
EarthLink
I had been a customer of EarthLink's dial-up Internet access for less than 30
days when I attempted to cancel. Discovering the necessary procedure required
some sleuthing on my part of EarthLink.com's customer service section. After
clicking around the support section and finding nothing about canceling, I
choose 'get live help'. After typing in my request, the Live Help
representative pointed me to a drop-down menu with 'cancel' as an option at the
bottom of the list. The page that appeared when I clicked the link directed me
to call a toll-free number.
I called the number and spoke with a rep who asked me twice why I was switching
services. I said there was nothing wrong and that I just wanted to get a refund
and quit. She said I was not eligible for a refund. Earthlink's
terms-of-service agreement mentions a "30-day money back guarantee." I called
back and spoke with someone else who said that I could get a 100 percent refund
because I wasn't happy with the service and had canceled within 30 days of
signing up. The rep promised me a refund within the week, and I received it.
Refunds requested after 30 days of service, I was told, are handled
case-by-case.
Equifax
I tried to cancel my Equifax Credit Watch Gold membership after less than two
weeks on board. I couldn't find anything in the site's member services section
about how to cancel my account, so I used a generic "contact us" Web form.
I received an e-mail informing me that Equifax would honor my cancel request,
but also that I would continue to be billed for three months, as there was a
three-month minimum commitment.
Equifax spokesperson Jennifer Costello said, "We make it as easy for consumers
as possible to cancela?|Our cancellation process is clearly stated in the terms
of service." She directed me to a 3903-word document. About halfway through the
document, I encountered a single sentence stating that subscribers must call
customer service to cancel.
Flickr.com
I found no information on the Flickr site about canceling my Flickr Pro
Account. The only information about leaving that Flickr provided was details on
how to delete my account.
My goal, however, was not to delete my account, but to downgrade from a paid
account (at $24.95 per year) to a free, basic one. I called the company and
asked about its cancellation policy. Flickr said that it didn't offer a
cancellation option; and at the end of my annual paid membership, my account
would have to be renewed. If I chose at that time not to renew it, I would in
affect be canceling my account.
GameSpy Arcade
I failed to find any information in the GameSpy Arcade software about canceling
my GameSpy Arcade subscription. When I visited the GameSpy Web site for Arcade,
the cancellation instructions were nearly impossible to find. Finally, I tried
searching the site's "knowledge base," where I managed to locate cancellation
instructions. As I cancelled online, the site nagged me to keep my account.
MLB.com
I signed up for a monthly $14.95 MLB TV subscription and canceled after two
weeks. Finding the cancellation option wasn't easy--and the procedure called
for telephoning the company, rather than canceling online. I canceled over the
phone as instructed, but I never received the confirmation-of-cancellation
e-mail that I requested.
Netflix
On the 14th day of a 14-day Netflix trial membership, I found a notice on the
site informing me that I had to call if I wanted to cancel. Although I canceled
within the terms of the free trial, Netflix charged me $15.74 for a month of
service anyway. I called to contest the charge, and a customer service
representative told me that it was a mistake, and gave me a refund.
RapidFax
On the day that I intended to cancel my RapidFax account, technical issues that
are still unclear to me prevented me from doing so. I was unable to log onto my
account successfully that day at all. Consequently, I decided to e-mail my
cancellation request to RapidFax. The company honored my e-mail request under
the circumstances, but it said that usually it requires customers to cancel by
phone.
No Hassle
Ancestry.com
I signed up for a monthly $29.95 U.S. Deluxe Membership with Ancestry.com and
cancelled after one month of membership. The company's Web site directed me to
cancel online, but then required me to call a toll-free number to confirm the
cancellation.
Audible.com
I was a Gold member of Audible.com for 14 days, and I canceled without ever
having used the service. For this reason, I received a full refund. But the
customer service representative I spoke to pointed out that Audible.com does
not give refunds to customers who have used the service.
Consumer Reports Online
This site posted cancellation information prominently on the site and made
unsubscribing a breeze. First I went to the 'Manage My Account' link at the
front of my Consumer Reports Online welcome screen. Next I clicked a 'Find
Answers' link. The first question and answer on this page addressed how to
cancel an account. Following the directions to cancel required just three more
clicks.
eDiets.com
Cancellation information was easy to find on this diet service's Web site. The
only negatives were having to call to cancel and incurring a surprise early
termination fee of $25.
GameFly.com
I had no trouble finding cancellation information on GameFly's site, and the
company never charged my credit card during or after the 30-day free trial. The
only mildly annoying aspects of canceling were having to confirm on a couple of
Web pages that I wanted to cancel and having to take a multiple-choice exit
interview.
GoToMyPC
GoToMyPC poured it on thick with pleas for me to stay when I called to cancel.
I wasn't too pleased by this--but compared to the number and type of hassles I
experienced at other sites, the level of pressure was no big deal.
Match.com
I was a Match.com customer for less than 30 days. Finding cancellation
information on the site was easy. My only cavil relates to the lengthy exit
interview that quizzed me about why I was canceling.
Mvelopes.com
I canceled my Mvelopes online budgeting service less than two weeks after
signing up. The site's clearly posted information about canceling directed me
to call customer support. When I called the number provided by Mvelopes.com to
cancel, I was directed to call a second number--but then I unsubscribed without
a hitch.
Reservation Rewards
Reservation Rewards makes it easy to cancel online or, if you prefer, by
calling customer service. The site's Member Benefits section provides a link to
frequently asked questions. Here, one of the first questions and answers is:
"How do I cancel my Membership?" From the answer given, I was able to jump
directly to a page that asked me to finalize my cancellation by clicking a
'confirm' link.
Salon.com
You never "cancel" your account with Salon; you just stop them from billing
you. As a result, I continued to receive daily Salon newsletters even after I
had stopped the billing. But after opting out of receiving daily e-mail from
Salon, I never heard from the company again.
Stamps.com
Cancellation instructions on this online postage site directed me to call a
toll free number; a representative at that number canceled my account quickly.
The New York Times TimesSelect
The Times let me unsubscribe with four clicks of my mouse, qualifying it as the
easiest-to-cancel service in my tests.
The Wall Street Journal Online
I signed up for a $9.95 monthly subscription to Wall Street Journal Online.
When I canceled after 14 days, I received a full refund under the terms of a
trial offer. The Journal Online gives you two ways to cancel: bye-mail or by
phone. I initially chose e-mail; but when I didn't receive a response, I tried
calling. Customer service reps handled my request quickly and efficiently, and
they didn't nag me to stay.
Vonage
I had to call to cancel this service; and when I did, I had to pay attention
through lengthy voice prompts and an exit interview. But in the end I got a
full refund, as Vonage had promised.
Vongo
I had no trouble finding a cancellation page at Vongo's Web site, which
instructed me to call a phone number to cancel. Though it lasted for 4 minutes,
my call to Vongo was uneventful. It consisted of navigating phone menus and
connecting with a customer service rep, who then processed my cancellation
request. Despite my having canceled, though, the movie-download service still
sends me e-mail messages.
Thirteen Strikes
I used 13 criteria in evaluating subscription services. Each is expressed here
as a negative experience (from most annoying to least) for the would-be
unsubscriber. Obviously, the ideal score would be zero hassles.
1. Found nothing on the Web site about how to cancel the service.
2. Received one or more bills for service after canceling.
3. Found cancellation instructions only after extensive site sleuthing.
4. Had to call for a refund.
5. Experienced long hold times while canceling via phone.
6. Had to make multiple phone calls to get customer service for a cancellation
question.
7. Had to begin the cancellation process online, and then had to call to cancel
anyway.
8. Subjected to an exit interview and/or an agent's pitch for upgraded service
when canceling via phone or the Web.
9. Had to call to cancel.
10. Encountered a fine-print surprise.
11. Experienced moderate hold times while canceling via phone.
12. Found cancellation instructions only after moderate site sleuthing.
13. Received commercial e-mail even after canceling.
In my real-world tests of 32 services, only a couple--Consumer Reports Online
and The New York Times TimesSelect--posted perfect marks. But those two deserve
special praise for making unsubscribing a truly hassle-free experience and for
setting a standard that other services would do well to emulate.
Senior Reporter Tom Spring works out of PC World's Boston office.