(no subject)

[conuly]

Tips for Canceling Online Subscriptions

It’s easy to sign up but not always so easy to stop a service. The F.T.C. is proposing rules to change that.

I read that article so you don't have to, and my suspicions were fully borne out - not only did they fail to mention that the NYTimes won't let you cancel a digital subscription without calling them (and you really gotta click around to figure that out as well!), but they also didn't enable comments.

Comments

[gingicat]

Also true of the Boston Globe.

[conuly]

Probably true of a lot of publications, but it's the NYTimes which printed this.

[bibliofile]

Unusually, I was able to cancel my online NYT sub via chatbot about a month ago. I know, I was surprised too! The last time I considered it (maybe a year ago?), I had to call, and the person I spoke with gave me a deal that I continued with.

Don't know if cancelling the paper version differs.

[frandroid]

Do you live in California? CA has mandated online unsubscription. So if you want to unsubscribe from any recalcitrant paper, load up your VPN, point it to California, and suddenly voilà! Options to unsubscribe online materialize out of thin air! However I suspect that if you're not in California, simply subjecting yourself to a chatbot's attempts at retaining your subscription is enough for them...

[movingfinger]

NYT owns The Boston Globe.

[conuly]

The more you know!

[zesty_pinto]

This was a problem that should have been sorted ages ago, not unlike AOL which was notoriously annoying. Then again, the FTC still is only starting to work on spoofed phone numbers, so...

[oracne]

I guess they were worried their site would crash from all the angry comments, lol.

[conuly]

LOL

[ioplokon]

thankfully that kind of thing is now illegal in my state. the worst was when i needed to cancel my subscription to le monde - i had to physically mail a letter to France.

[silveradept]

All that preparation makes me believe they were aware of the hypocrisy and trying to not to give anyone the opportunity to point it out.

[shadowkat]

Exactly - they failed to mention how to cancel the NYT subscription, which I'm still trying to figure out how to do.

[adafrog]

Oh, very interesting.

[captainsblog]

Google "NY Times library login." There are several that offer patrons a cheat code good for a few days of free unlimited reading (but not puzzles or other premium shit). WaPo, likewise. My hometown paper refuses to take my money for a discounted trial and I refuse to pay them 40 bucks a month for crap content, so I open every article in private or incognito mode and it goes right to it.

[dorchadas]

Reminds me of all the screenshots I've seen of articles complaining about ads ruining the web surrounded by flashing ads, or a opinion columns about how fake news is taking over slowly fading away into a paywall message.