JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I was listening to an episode of either The
Indicator or Planet Money (because everything I know comes from NPR)
and they were talking about SaaS - software as a Service. It started
with big companies, who found it more expedient to subscribe to the
software they needed rather than build and run it on their own. (The
current state of this? All those damn AI chatbots and summaries we
can’t escape from.)
Of course, we use the same SaaS, even if that’s not what we call it. We don’t own movies, or music, or sometimes even books anymore. We subscribe to them. We subscribe to credit monitoring agencies, and email platforms, and productivity software, and cloud storage (the digital version of those self-storage units gobbling up real estate everywhere.) We subscribe to auto-ordering, so the dog kibble and paper towels arrive right on time without us having to think about it.
Not to mention the “memberships” that renew annually and monthly - Costco and Sam’s Club, Amazon Prime and Netflix, AAA and House Beautiful magazine. (Those last two are me, byw.)
It’s become so prevalent there are businesses whose sole purpose is to go through your financial records and eliminate all the zombie subscriptions you never use, but faithfully pay for. And - you guessed it - you can subscribe to the anti-subscription service.
How
about you, Reds? Do you know everything you’ve subscribed to, or
are some of the services lost in the fog? And have you ever had to
jump through hoops to get out of a subscription? (I’m looking at
you, New York Times.) 
Genuinely evil
LUCY BURDETTE: Oh lordy no Julia, if something happened to John, I would have no idea what television applications we’re subscribed to. What about Substack? That is complicating my life even further. Everyone wants you to be a paying reader, which I get. Writers deserve to be paid! But then how to keep track of who you’re paying what? And, what about all the apps on my phone? I’d like to go through and delete the many I don’t use, but I’m still a member on their site, right? I’ve lost track of those too!
Ps
It’s Crate and Barrel I can't get rid of currently, and I’m quite
sure I didn’t buy anything from them!
RHYS BOWEN: I like to think I know everything but every now and then I get a message saying “Your subscription to x will renew” and i’m surprised because I didn’t know I had it. I try to write them down in my agenda to make sure they are part of my taxes: Lifelock and Norton and travel evacuation and password storage and Zoom professional and Calm and Dropbox etc etc etc. It certainly adds up, doesn’t it. Not to mention Netflix, Britbox, Peacock, Prime…
I’m smiling today because my travel cancellation insurance finally paid up after months of wrangling after John couldn’t travel in September. They wanted to see tickets when all i had was online confirmations. They wanted to see railroads writing to say that my ticket was non-refundable when it says so on their site.I tried pointing out that since I was showing them the cancellation of the flight across the Atlantic John could not have taken any train trips or flights within Europe! Finally I got so frustrated I told them that if I didn’t get paid now I’d write to the CEO of Chase and the Better Business Bureau. Got paid the next day!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Good for you, Rhys!! Julia, it was just this morning I actually had to think about what streaming services we subscribe to! Too many, I’m sure. And to many on Substack–those $5 a month subscriptions add up, but I somehow haven’t managed to find the time to cancel the ones I don’t read. (Or to read the ones I really want to read…) I’m patting myself on the back for finally not renewing our subscription to Rolling Stone, because we never read it, and I have no idea who most of the artists are. But every time I cancel a newspaper/magazine/substack, I think about how important good journalism is and how I should support it.
HALLIE EPHRON: I keep a pretty close eye on my expenses in general, and subscriptions are just one piece of it. I stick to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Britbox for streaming. And would drop one of them if I decide to take a ride on HBO Max or Disney. It adds up. Plus, how much TV can you watch??
ACK: Substack. I keep thinking I should be more conversant with what’s there but I’m not.
Am I the only one who’s noticed some up-to-now “free” news aggregators are now making you subscribe and pay to stay tuned in?
JENN McKINLAY: Hub and I recently discovered we had TWO Amazon Prime subscriptions and have had them for years. Also, the Hooligans have subscriptions tied to my accounts that I have no clue about and am afraid to cancel - what if they need it for school? And of course, I keep forgetting to ask. I think this answers your question. I am the WORST. I am going to end up in the poor house over a $19.99 monthly subscription I forgot about - I just know it!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What a great topic, Julia. But good grief, I am the WORST! I have no idea. I am sure it is TRAGIC–like, I have Disney Plus. Do I watch Disney Plus? Heck, no. But what if I wanted to?
And don’t suggest I “get it free for two weeks”because I will never remember, and so much for that idea. I am very tempted by the anti-subscription service, but it has to be a scam, and even if not, I am not giving someone all the info they’d need to do that.
I think I pay about a billion dollars a year for the NYT games, but I can never figure out what’s what so I leave it.
Roku, and New York, and the New Yorker, and how much am I paying for zoom and dropbox and streamyard and masterclass? Oh, whatever.
JULIA: Okay, dear readers, are you also THE WORST?? Or do you keep a tight fist on your subscriptions?
I keep thinking I should check to see what I'm actually subscribed to, but somehow I never quite get around to doing it . . . it's far too easy to subscribe and often far too difficult to unsubscribe so I keep trying to say "no" in order to salvage some small part of my sanity . . . .
ReplyDeleteI went through Substack recently to clear out any remaining subscriptions since it has become a such a Nazi platform. I run through my Patreons a couple of times a year to confirm.
ReplyDeleteI went to cancel Zoom a couple of months ago since we are no longer using it for book club, but then they offered me a much reduced price to resubscribe, so I did. We’ll see what happens next year.
Substack a Nazi platform??? The people I subscribe to on it are strong supporters of democracy. I'm sad to hear they have others who aren't.
DeleteI've cut back on subscriptions, and when I sign up for one of those free trials, I make a note on my planner to cancel it a few days early. Like Lisa, I canceled my Zoom, but will likely re-subscribe at some point. For now, I'm getting by.
ReplyDeleteMy worst experience was when I purchased some undergarments from one of those online sites. Naturally, the quality was only so-so. Not bad enough to return, but not good enough to be a repeat buyer. Then a couple of months later, I noticed a $15/month charge on my credit card from them. In the VERY SMALL PRIINT on the order form, it had stated I would automatically be enrolled in their preferred buyer club. For $15/month! When I tried to cancel, I ended up in an autoreply circle of doom with no way to reach a real person. (I don't think there IS a real person...the company is run by robots!) I finally had to file a dispute with my credit card company to get out of it.
Was that a wireless bra company?
DeleteI generally have a good handle on my subscriptions. Annual ones like Microsoft Office, Norton, NordVPN for computers are permanent. Amazon Prime, Audible, NYTCooking & Games are annual ones.
ReplyDeleteStreaming subscriptions are a bit tricky. When I do a 1 to 3 month free trial of Apple+ TV, Disney, PBS Passport, I put a reminder on my Google Calendar to csncel them a few days before the trial ends. I don't do Substack.
What annoys me more are not successfully unsuscribing to free emails from health product or companies that I tried once. Clicking the unsubsctibe button does not work and there is no other way to contact them. GRRR.
I hear your GRRR, Grace, and raise it to GRRRRRR on those impossible-to-unsubscribe from emails. So annoying!
DeleteGrace, I subscribe to Audible, to Kindle Unlimited, to Prime (and Britbox through Prime) and to Netflix. We have Roku and stream our tv. We now prepay our monthly cell phone service for a deep discount. But still, it's a job to keep track of it all.
DeleteYes, I also pay for my streaming service trials via my Roku or Prime. It is a bit easier to keep track. No discounts on our cell plans. As Amanda says, Canada has outrageously high cell phone rates but my plan is also bundled with unlimited home internet.
DeleteI'm a tight fist. If I sign up for a free trial, I put a reminder into/onto my calendar to cancel before it ends. I have paying subs to e-versions of newspapers because good journalism is a cornerstone of democracy (NYT, Winnipeg Free Press, Toronto Star and the Globe & Mail). I don't pay for any Substacks and I've recently unsubscribed from a bunch of free old-fashioned email newsletters. Too much, too often! I pay for Zoom as I teach some writing courses online and out of that teaching has evolved a monthly writing group that is lovely and we meet online. I don't order enough online from anywhere to pay for a membership, though I did recently spring for a Costco membership. Every month I complain about the cost of our cell phone service (expensive in Canada) and refuse to add more monthly ongoing hard-to-cancel services like streaming. I like to think of myself as smartly frugal rather than stubbornly cheap...
ReplyDeleteJulia, I can't tell you how timely this is! I bought a new computer a couple of years ago, a Microsoft. I didn't realize at the time (why aren't sales clerks telling you this?), it included a $70 a year subscription to Microsoft 365.
ReplyDeleteLast summer, I was shocked at the charge on my credit card. Two days ago, I received an email informing me that the price has increased to $99. I still don't know why I need it, or how to get around it. Do all Windows operating systems now include this subscription? I really just want my basic computer functions, email, Facebook, photos.
Microsoft 365. What is it and why do I need it? The computer before that was a Dell and everything was on the computer. All of a sudden, I couldn't find anything on the computer, photos of our trip to Disney in FL with Rachel's kids weren't in my picture file. Recipes? Everything is so much more complicated and I don't need that.
Oh, one more thing: when we bought the computer, we bought a new hp printer because I couldn't get cartridges for the old one, which still works! When HP wanted to be connected to my printer on a permanent basis, ostensibly to know when to send me ink cartridges (subscription), we returned the printer.
JUDY: I bought a new HP laptop last year and it was nor preloaded with Microsoft 365.
DeleteI only use Word (no more Excel or Powerpoint since those were for work). I keep paying the $79 annual fee for Microsoft Home (not 365) since it includes 1 TB of storage space which I need since all my documents, files and photos are on Microsoft Onedrive which is synced to my laptop/tablet/smartphone.
Not really sure, Judy but I think that HP ink deal is really a scam. It all depends on how many pages you print, no matter what is on the page, one word or a page full of dense text. For what few things I print I quickly realized the so-called convenience wasn't all that convenient for me. But it was a struggle to cancel it.
DeleteYou probably do not need Microsoft 365, If you do not use the provided products. Their web site gives an explanation of this product. I only have a single software product from them, word. I buy it outright, with no annual subscription to Microsoft. They would like you to store all your documents on their one drive product. It is unnecessary, store your documents on your computer. Synching of your various devices can be done without Microsoft. Apple products are easier to use with better interfaces. I have eliminated all Microsoft products except Word for Apple computers.
Delete.
I didn't realize I didn't need the whole package! All I use is Word. Ugh.
DeleteHmmm...I need to scope this out. When I retired, I swore I'd never create a PowerPoint doc again, but there it sits and I psy for it every year!
DeleteI am the family CFO. We subscribe to a number of newspapers/magazines. NYT, Washington Post, Guardian, Atlantic, the NYer. Given Bezos's prostration, the flight of my favorite columnist, and the deep fear that currently grips me and makes it difficult to read ANY news, I am thinking we will drop the Post. However I worry about the future of journalism. (Is it up to me, God?) I read a number of Substacks: Heather Cox Richardson on history/politics; Connie Schultz on being a woman of a certain age/politics; Bill McKibben on climate action, the Contrarian by writers who've fled the WaPo and elsewhere due to political pressure, and Andy Borowitz for humorous headlines. At this time I pay for Schultz and McKibben. I'm not a television watcher so I keep track of that. We have Amazon Prime and Netflix. I'm aware of the downside of Amazon. However, living in a rural area, an hour from shopping, Prime has been a lifesaver for me for almost 30 years. When we want to watch something on a different television service -- SLOW HORSES, for example -- I sign up for a month and put a sticky note on my computer to remind me to cancel.
ReplyDeleteI remind myself to check my auto-renews on my credit card every few months. We had a terrible time when our credit card was hacked and unbeknownst to us, the hacker had wormed himself into the auto-renews. As a service, Citibank alerts your auto-renews to your new number. So when I was issued a new card, they helpfully gave this number to him. I had to spend many frustrating hours on the telephone with Citibank before a manager conceded that I was correct and gave us a third new number. I was headed to the hospital two hours away for my second knee replacement and we had no credit card, just this number on a Post-it note, and a bank card as a backup. A huge headache. So now I check. (Selden)
I have always been subscribe-averse and it doesn't seem to matter. I get subscribed to things without my permission which forces reading email instead of just discarding it. NOw I am off to check three things which I thought were just "sent" to me and might be hidden subscriptions ... yikes!
ReplyDeleteWhile it is entirely possible that there is some subscription out there I have forgotten about, I do keep a pretty tight rein on things. I know the streaming services I subscribe to and use. I know the author newsletters I've subscribed to (though there are some that seem like they send out more emails than a spambot). Even the sites I've bought stuff from. I get a bunch of emails from Teepublic (a T-shirt website I bought a Conan T-shirt from) but they aren't offering me much except annoyance so they'll be getting cancelled, just like I did from Societees (another T-shirt site) who seemed to only send emails and never followed through when I was supposed to receive a free shirt.
ReplyDeleteAs for ownership of movies, TV shows, music and books, this is where my allegiance to physical media comes in. Of course, finances play a part in what I buy, but I still purchase CDs and books. And when there is a movie or TV show I want to keep because I loved it so much, I buy the DVDs. Yes, streaming makes it easier to watch movies and TV shows that I might like but not want to "keep". But when I do...off to the DVD racks of the closest store.
I am still getting re-subscribe offers from Sports Illustrated and Yankee Magazine. I had a subscription to SI for decades but between the high cost and scandals they've gone through recently, I couldn't afford it. Which brings up the question, if you can offer me a deal to re-subscribe for $20 instead of the $115 regular price, why are you charging the higher price like it is writ on stone from on high?
Exactly, Jay!
DeleteJAY: I agree with you about the value of DVD/Blu-ray. Being a Star Trek, I wanted to watch ST: Prodigy Season 2. I saw Season 1 on Paramount+. Prodigy Season 2 is streaming on Netflix in many countries since July... except for Canada. WTH! Oh well, I am glad I found out before signing up for Netflix Canada (which I cancelled in 2018).
DeleteSolution: I bought Prodigy Season 2 blu-ray in Decembe4.
Jay, I agree, buy DVDs and get many from library even ibterlibrary loan. Buy many books allin print and used and new and again use the library. We have deal with a friend that when we have to buy many mysteries that library doesn't have that she takes them to the food pantry She is connected to put out and they get reused. Marjorie
DeleteI'm glad to know I'm not alone in buying DVDs of my favorite movies and great series. My sons snd grandsons look at me with pity! I also buy classical CDs because it's almost impossible to hear a complete piece of music on so-called classical music stations, which offer bits and pieces in some kind of deranged rotation!
DeleteGreat topic, Julia! I think I have a pretty good handle on what all I have subscribed to but I have learned the hard way how hard it is to get out of such arrangements. Wasn't a law just passed that was supposed to make it easy to cancel things? Or was I dreaming?
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I signed up with a new internet provider. They said they would pay what I still owed on my old plan. Hah! The hoops they made me go through! Since there was more than a hundred dollars at stake I persevered. I* told them I would be getting in touch with the state attorney general. They didn't even blink, so that is what I did. The hardest part was writing a clear and concise explanation of my problem. Within a week of sending that I received a check from the offending company! It never would have occurred to me to do that but a few years before that my son had a problem that he resolved that way. I was pretty sure he would not have any luck, but I quickly found out I was wrong!
I was delighted when the Biden administration decided it was time to do something about the con game called "unsubscribe" perpetrated on consumers. 'To unsubscribe, please go to our website.' Website: "Haha, sucker, now see if you can find where we've buried the instructions on how to unsubscribe!" Unsubscribe form: "Haha, you are now 5 seconds past the permissible unsubscribe date. Pay up, loser!" As you might guess, I try very hard to keep track of subscriptions, frantically unchecking boxes before I sign up, leaving myself notes for dates to unsubscribe, and yet, I still run into problems at times.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I need to buy a subscription to software on my new computer? For some software that I use so infrequently that the present edition will work just fine for me for the rest of my days?? Greed. And I do have free subscriptions to some substacks--all of which would like my money but recognize that not all of us have budget to give.
I confess to subscribing to far too many Substacks (they do add up). I just subscribed to Jennifer Rubin's new project, the Contrarian, but that's okay because I canceled my WaPo months ago. My history with Netflix is kind of sad. I only subscribed because my Spanish teacher wanted us to watch and discuss a movie in Spanish, with the implication that we would do it regularly, which hasn't happened. However, I started watching and enjoying The Crown. I only made it through to Diana's wedding and then i got out of the habit. Last year, I opened Netflix and got a message that my browser is too old and I wouldn't be able to use it. I installed all the software updates I could, but it wasn't good enough. The thing about this was that I couldn't even get in to cancel Netflix. I couldn't use it and I couldn't cancel, and no phone numbers in sight. I waited til my son was home and had him do it on his laptop. My other streaming service was Peacock (I subscribed because Leeds United was briefly in the Premier League) and the same thing happened. This time I finally figured out that I could use my phone to unsubscribe. MLB seems to work fine for me (so far) but perhaps it's time to get a new computer.
ReplyDeleteI do want to check out The Contrarian - "Owned by Nobody" - and support it.
DeleteI am getting The Contrarian for free at the moment. My first impression is that there are too many videos. I am not a video/podcast person, I am a reader. However I am also a big fan of Jennifer Rubin (amazing to consider that pre-2015 she was the Post's conservative columnist!) so I will stick with it and may upgrade to paid if the bumps are ironed out. I just have a limit on how much I can support... or read. (Selden)
Delete"RHYS: Finally I got so frustrated I told them that if I didn’t get paid now I’d write to the CEO of Chase and the Better Business Bureau. Got paid the next day!"
ReplyDeleteOh Rhys what a smart move.
Like Selden, I am the family CFO. Like others, we have way too many subscription services, all of a sudden.
ReplyDeleteLucy, you can easily figure out which subscription services you have, because they are listed on your monthly credit card bills. That's how I recently trimmed out a couple services we weren't using. But added more than I trimmed, aargh.
It's hard to get rid of some, like Apple+, because they have shows all the cool kids are talking about, and I always feel left out. But we have never had cable--I was opposed to paying for channels we would never use. (And remember the original premise of cable, pay for NON-COMMERCIAL TV? Ha. Now it's MORE commercials.) Now we are actually spending more than if we had cable. The backlash is coming on that one, just like it came in the form of the "cut the cord" movement several years ago. Some services, like Acorn, started out super cheap, but everything is creeping up, isn't it? Even Costco, which I've had for 20 years, is now a whopping $130 a year, just for a regular membership. And we looked into what kind of service we would need to view the Super Bowl, and the FUBIO sports channel is $80! A month!! no way.
NYT used to be affordable, too, but I'm trying to decide whether to bail. The slant and bias is too disheartening, and paying so much for it is salt in the wound.
Cutting the cord & switching to Roku was the best move. There were so many cable TV channels I was not watching. Streaming services free trials & then cancelling seems to work for now since I binge watch the one new show I wanted to see like SLOW HORSES or ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING.
DeleteAs for watching the Super Bowl, can you use a HD antenna in the US? I can't do that in Canada since they discontinued analog antenna channels, so my antenna is useless.
DeleteI just realized we can watch the Superbowl on digital broadcast through our antenna. It's not on a pay channel.
DeleteWhat do I know? I am definitely not a sports person!
I think my subscriptions are under control, but this week, I got a thank you email from an organization I was sending a MONTHLY donation to. I have no recollection of giving them a penny, but it can't be a scam, so I must have made what I thought was a one-time donation and clicked on the "monthly" button instead. One of my research projects this weekend is to figure out how to cancel it. This is NOT an organization I have any desire to support, and I've been sending them money for over a year. I'm ashamed not to have caught this immediately.
ReplyDeleteAncestry – cancelled 2 years ago and they keep billing me. I do not exist except for their billing. “yes, I deleted your account. No there is no reason you should be getting billed…”
ReplyDeleteI say thank heavens for libraries. All our libraries offer free access to magazines – open for all issues all the time, no expiry date. That is how I read what I want to from all over the world, and the really nice thing is that you can up the font, print screen to capture a recipe, and read it on the computer. Tough to take to the reading room tho…
Television – use the usual suspects, but we don’t have Netflix – too much to watch on Prime, Britbox, Acorn, BBC Select – BUT for only usually 5$, we can view a movie from Netflix or others for one night only. Cheaper than a movie out, and you don’t have to remember to cancel the subscription.
What really bugs me is the number of newspapers that won’t let you enter without a subscription, again except through the library. That includes all the recipes offered that are supposedly good, as all I want is the recipe, not to read the comics. The only one that for some reason doesn’t is The Guardian, so that is our international news.
Don’t even ask about the jumble of passwords.
I like to be in control of my finances. I systematically refuse automatic payments. I usually don’t subscribe to streaming services and if I do for a free trial, I cancel in time. As I read more than watch TV, it doesn’t bother me not to be up to date with the series that are currently popular.
ReplyDeleteIt helps being a reader and not a professional writer, I don’t need to subscribe to lots of things .
I had no idea what was Substack before reading this post and the comments .
I use Internet for my needs but I’m fearful of what I don’t know well or don’t understand and I try to avoid getting in trouble
Danielle
Wow! I finally cancelled my subscription to Disney Plus because in the beginning, we were able to watch movies on Disney Plus. However, in the last few months, every time we tried to watch a movie (any movie), we got "error message" and were unable to watch a movie. I decided it was not worth the aggravation paying $$ monthly when we were unable to watch anything!
ReplyDeleteWe watch carefully because all of the subscription dollars add up. If we can watch, then we keep it. If not, then we cancel. We subscribe to several streaming services. And Substack.
I’m sure my husband has a spreadsheet listing everything, how much it costs and when it is up for renewal. And I am sure when each item comes up for renewal he will call them and try to get it cheaper and weigh whether or not to cancel. This is why I am never exactly sure what we have access to on our TV. I believe currently we have YouTube TV and Netflix on our TV and Sirius XM in the car that he can also play from his phone in the golf cart.
ReplyDeleteI don’t have any apps that I pay for.
Brenda, Sirius XM was the biggest nightmare of all! I live in an area where there are dozens of families with the last name SINGER. A woman whom I know, also Judy Singer, must have bought a new car around the time we got ours. THree months of Sirius XM was included but I did not want to pay for radio (TV is bad enough!) I tried to cancel but they insisted that I still had their service and billed me, then sent a collection agency after me. They phoned constantly. They emailed until I blocked their emails. I told them that I did not live at the address that they had for the account, but I received written bills here, too. I had one agent listen and discontinue it only for it to resume a short time later. This went on for at least 3 years, maybe longer. I threatened to call our AG. Finally, I got one last phone call asking if I had an Audi (whatever model) and I said I had never had an Audi. THey couldn't accept that there were 2 Judy Singers in the same zip code (there are 5 Judy Singers and at least one Jody Singer in the Hartford area.) I told them to cancel the Sirius XM on the Audi. (It wasn't my car.) They never called me again.
DeleteMaybe you can add your maiden name to Singer? A relative had to include her maiden name because there was another person with the exact same names!
DeleteDo add something - I added the middle initial of my name because there were 2 other Susan Sheas in my small town and someone on FB!
DeleteI finally cut back on certain magazine subscriptions once it became apparent there were way too many advertisements rather than actual content. Plus the price became too steep. After many years of subscribing to Architectural Digest I reluctantly let my subscription lapse because I could not justify the cost vs. the content anymore.. If there was a particular issue I was interested in having during the year I would purchase it because I still loved the magazine. Once it became apparent, however, I was not going to renew my subscription I began getting subscription offers at a reduced rate; i.e., 49.95 suddenly became 10.00 with a "special" thrown in of an extra issue. How is it possible to offer a product at a 80% reduction rate? As tempting as it was I did not renew but still periodically am offered the same deal. The problem was I knew the automatic renewal feature would push the subscription renewal price back up again when the year was finished. It's sad because magazines have always been an enjoyable source of reading but so many of the publications now how to find creative ways to keep their subscribers on board.
ReplyDeleteI have been waiting 30 minutes for Ancestry to send me a code so I can open my account. That is how often I use it. They must know I want to cancel
ReplyDeleteI am like a cloistered person, I don’t subscribe to anything.
ReplyDeleteMy library frequently has subscriptions to certain services such as Hoopla and Kanopy and through them I can see many of the Acorn and Britbox programs. I can also read NYT, New Yorker and other print material. All these are free and don’t put me on anyone’s list.
Last night I realized that I forgot to watch the first episode of the fifth season of All Creatures…
When I went to the PBS website I kept being referred to Passport, their membership subscription series. I thought this was rather strange since past seasons I had been able to watch in real time for no charge.
I finally figured out what to do. I went to the Masterpiece Theatre site and the problem was solved, no Passport, no charge and I saw the first episode.
Good to know. Thank you!
DeleteI have a good rein on my subscriptions. Microsoft 365, Norton, Amazon, Netflix and a variety of streaming. I did cancel Disney Plus as I rarely watch it. I keep thinking I want to cancel Netflix but then a good movie is shown. I don't do substack.
ReplyDeleteI don’t recall the name of the person either, but he is a syndicated travel columnist who intercedes between the consumer and the difficulties they are having in getting travel issues resolved. His column appears in the Boston Globe travel section. He tells the person what steps they should have taken and explains who he spoke to and how the situation was resolved.
ReplyDeleteHe only deals with travel related situations, but his advice would be applicable for people who have other consumer problems.
On a totally unrelated note, have a happy Winnie the Pooh day! --Victoria
ReplyDeleteI wanted to cancel my NYT subscription but keep the Cooking sub. I did that for a month or two and then they offered me a reduced price for the Games (which I didn’t take). Finally they offered me the entire enchilada for a year for the cost of the cooking subscription (or maybe a little more) so I caved.
ReplyDeleteWe have Prime, Netflix, Britbox, Acorn and all the “backup-to-the-network-channels” (Paramount for CBS, Hulu for ABC and Peacock for NBC). My husband asked the other day if we could cancel Disney+ “because we never watch it”. I told him I had just watched shows on it last month. I should probably be good and cancel it but then we lose Hulu since we are on a bundle deal. We switched to YouTubeTV which was a lot cheaper than DirectTV, but I wonder how much we pay for all of the extra subscriptions. (My husband, the CPA, keeps track — I think.) — Pat S
PAT S, it was same for me with NYT last summer. I just wanted to keep Cooking & Games but they offered all digital access for a lower monthly price ($3 Cdn vs $5 Cdn). Wonder if the subscription price will go up a lot this summer. They originally wanted to charge $14 Cdn/month!
DeleteCan I just say: I love my NYTimes Cooking and Games soooo much. The actual news is the icing on the cake.
DeleteHappy Winnie-the-Pooh Day to you, Victoria! Who knew? (Obviously you!) — Pat S
ReplyDeleteThis is such a timely topic! This week I plan to go over all my subscriptions and decide which ones I no longer want. Early in the fall I decided to temporarily subscribe to some newsletters from people I didn’t agree with, but I just wanted to see what they had to say about the elections. Some were free. some were not. I’ve since unsubscribed from them.
ReplyDeleteI’ve somehow ended up subscribing to lots of newsletters from people who homeschool their children. I don’t know how this happened, as I don’t even have children! I do have an interest in education, though, so I must have somehow ended up on a mailing list.i’ve been on and off with Netflix, but I think I’m going to keep it! For now. There are other streaming services that I may or may not keep.
DebRo
I know pretty much what I subscribe to, but my husband? No way! He goes through life not worrying about anything financial. That's my job.
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at the number of magazines that will send you a paper letter telling you that your subscription will soon expire. A few of them I already subscribe to and others are just farming. So, I keep a list of my subscriptions with the date last paid, amount paid, expiration date & account number. I also send my brother gift subscriptions to Cook's Illustrated and Tufts University Health & Nutrition newsletter. So, I also need to track those. I refuse to pay for any apps on my phone as I don't want a credit card linked to my phone. As a Verizon retiree, I get a free FiOS TV subscription. So, I take whatever is free and no more. So, in conclusion, it is all about keeping a notebook which as I age is so important if something happens to me and I can't manage this myself!
ReplyDeleteHappy Winnie the Pooh day!
ReplyDeleteYes, the globe columnist is named Sean Murphy, and he is a complete rockstar! Absolutely diligent and knows his stuff. Of course, this is what I did for years as Help Me Hank, and I can tell you the problems he will have our Internet and incredibly tangled..
ReplyDeleteIt is a really complicated and difficult job, and there is no question that for every solution he finds, hundreds and hundreds of people are hoping for help. I was overwhelmed when I did it with consumer requests, it was almost tragic.
Thinking more of about my years as a consumer reporter, and also doing Help Me Hank (see comment above) is that it was so outrageous that people would have to turn to me to help them, and I intern would have to call somebody at whatever corporation and say “you know, what you’re doing is really unfair and here’s exactly the reason and the law why you are wrong, and you should fix it.” And they would! Because I from television called. Why does it take someone from TV or a newspaper to get a consumer problem fixed.? That never ceases to enrage me.
ReplyDeleteThank you for doing that! And yes, enraging...
DeleteI once was wrongly billed for something, called them and threatened them with "Hank" ... and it worked. Secondhand Hank.
DeleteI keep track of all my subscriptions in Excel and also in Quicken so I know what I'm subscribed to, when they renew, how much the cost, etc. If I get to the point I'm no longer reading one or they are no longer worth the price I unsubscribe. This is both of online and print subscriptions.
ReplyDeleteWow! You are so disciplined AND organized! In awe...
DeleteWow, Victoria! What a nightmare. When I got my first cell phone, you could call the company and someone would answer the phone. Now, trying to reach a real person is a trip to Hades. You would think they would try harder to keep track of everything, but all organizations seem to have dropped customer service from their priorities. (My wardrobe may look suspiciously New England-y, but if you call LL Bean, after a brief service announcement, someone answers the phone.)
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd known about your Help Me Hank feature, but as a non-TV watcher, I'm afraid I missed it. I'm sure Sean simply can't help so many people.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar issue with Verizon. I finally just gave up.
ReplyDeleteLuddite here, probably with more than a touch of Keep It Simple Stupid. One online subscription to the NYT that covers with no additional charges Games and Recipes. No Streaming Services… TV has not seemed worth paying for since 1970 at least (never did cable). I have sustaining memberships in KNKX (public radio) and Passport for WPBT (public TV). Cannot imagine needing one thing more. Adding curmudgeon to Luddite and KISS. Take care this weekend, all. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteI had to check on a couple of newspapers to make sure I am still subscribed. So, I have New York Times (just turned down an upgrade), Washington Post, and Atlantic Journal-Constitution (which I plan to cancel after this post). Magazines are Vanity Fair, New York Magazine (which has Vulture as one of its sections, which I seem to use often), The Atlantic, and I just saw where I'm signed up to Conde Nast (which gives me Vanity Fair, so I guess I need too cancel my separate subscription to Vanity Fair). Don't ask me about my substacks. I don't understand what I'm doing there, and I need to check it out post haste. Julia, this was an excellent topic today.
ReplyDeleteAs far as TV streaming, I know I'm subscribed to too much. I'm not even sure what all I am subscribed to. I know there's Netflix and Amazon Prime and Paramount Plus and Hulu, Apple, Disney Plus and Peacock (I think) and within those are Acorn and Brit Box. I think we have a sports channel, too. I think I may be $19.95 away from subscription bankruptcy.
Oh, and I have the PBS plus or whatever it is.
DeleteMy computer before this one, I bought from a local computer store who put free Libre on my computer instead of paying for Microsoft 360. My Word and Excel documents work through Libre.
ReplyDeleteOther thing is that since the new year, Grokker Fitness doesn't have my subscriber options available, only a few free things. I called Comcast already because I pay the $6.99 through them. I'll have to call again next week. Such a hassle to get a person to answer. I do have a text from them to rate their service. I'll put down a 2 and see if I get a call from someone.
Julia I want to thank you for raising this topic. I read this on Sunday morning at a beach house on the south coast of New South Wales Australia and it inspired me to actually make a list of my subscriptions and how they are paid. A bit daunting the result but at least I now have the information in one place. Thanks again to you and all the junglereds for their books. Nicola
ReplyDeleteThanks to those who talked in depth about this, as I found my feelings mirrored in your various comments.
ReplyDeleteThere are classes of annoying subscriptions for me. Worst is the paywall, where I am a member or have an account and still have to pay to read an article. NYT, Irish Times, WaPo are included. I have pretty much settled on The Conversation and The Guardian and occasionally the Sydney Morning Herald for useful bits. AFA streaming, Amazon gives BritBox, PBS, and Acorn, so I can see subscription status quite easily as well as "why do I have _this_?" OTOH, Call the Midwife and for All Creatures.
Substack is its own beast - many excellent writers out there; however, I pay for just one.
The game has changed, and a great number of entities want to monetize everything. I buy books, except the ones on reducing clutter. . . .
Priorities have changed - with the SoCal fires and the rebuilding in North Carolina, as well as local needs one less subscription and one more donation feels right, at least till I have my next magpie event.