If you thought cancelling adult memberships was hard..try mainstream
 

So I've been trying to cancel a couple of on-going memberships, one for Xbox that I dont use any more and another for real estate investments/foreclosures.

My Xbox was a yearly membership from like 4 years ago and finally decided to cancel it 3 months ago. I didn't have any of my account information except my cc and personal info. After a few long attempts holding on the phone, I finally got a hold of a rep that barely spoke coherent English and gave me the usual scripted BS speech for people who want to cancel, offering discounts, lower rates, 'special deals', etc. 30 minutes later, I was told the membership was cancelled and I would get an email. So I forget about it and my cc statement comes the next week, low and behold, I was charged for another year and never got an email. So I go thru the same process all over again and cancel yet again ask for a credit for the yearly charge. After another 15-20 minutes, I am told it's cancelled and a credit has been issued. This month rolls around, and I still dont see a credit on my cc statement for the yearly charge :mad:

And I'm going thru the same crap for the real estate investment website, I cancelled on their site and yet I'm still being billed for the last 2 months.

Is it just bad luck or are mainstream memberships just as bad if not worse than other industries?

I've cancelled a number of cc to get a new number because of this. One reason I never pay by checking account for online services.

Yeah im seriously getting to that point where I'm just gonna claim the card lost or something...

File a billing dispute.

time for a chargeback.

yeah, call up your cc company and they'll investigate and get it resolved.

I'm gonna do that but that's yet more calling, filling out forms and waiting the customary 30-45 days for the dispute to be resolved. I guess they just hope people just submit to it and give up...

yeah fucking microsoft dial up membership you need to be a fucking investigator to cancel. i had to contact my bank and charge them back to get it to stop.

Sounds like the kinda situation the chargeback system was developed for.

aol screwed me out of like 3 extra months... im charging those fuckers back

+ it takes about 15 minutes with an EXTREMELY frustrating voice recognition system before you can finally speak with a live indian that won't be able to do shit to help you anyway but SUGGEST you dispute the charges with your bank

fantastic!

Anyone remember back in the day trying to cancel your AOL account? It was easier to donate a kidney.

If you guys have an amex, some citi card, bofa / mbna try using there virtual card #'s for your online subs..

You can get a # online and it's only good for a certain dollar amount, time, etc.

PayPal now has random CC numbers good for a single use.

just do a chargeback

Try decaf

:2 cents:

yeah that sux, im sure it'll work out for ya.

ive done the same thing. its a lot easier. However one company pushed thru a charge. they submitted proof to the bank and they continued to charge my account

Same experience with Dell Financial -- they overcharged me for my laptop, and then I was actually berated by some indian dude who barely spoke english telling me I had to pay the charge first in order for them to investigate it. Umm...yeah, right. Had to physically write TWO letters to Dell in Texas in order to get someone in the US on the phone.

Healthclubs are the worst. My friend works for Bank of America, and he says that 24 Fitness is nearly impossible to cancel, the bank can't stop it because you sign a contract, and if you try to stop the payments they will change the amount by a cent or two to allow it to look like a different payment. People actually have had to close their bank account and open a new one.

Guess alot of people have a mainstream horror story :(

That's what I got a lawyer for...it's amazing how fast cancelling works with a simple letter, well worth the $$$

At least with the credit cards I have (chase, discover, amex) you can dispute a charge online.

AOL was brutle! I went through the same shit. :disgust

Good to know though I'll use the Amex from now on..

Ive changed my card about once a year to stop random charges that I dont even know what memberships they belong to anymore, some sites just suck when you try to cancel

had msn when I had dial up a nightmare to cancel

I remember aol getting sued and settled for having an "insisting" customer service.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08...service_probe/

Up until my Paypal card expired, I had two different services rebilling for ~$10/month simply because they would only take cancellation requests over the phone.

i also signed up with Xbox around 4 years ago and remember that it was a fckn nightmare trying to cancell.