Cancelling a Recurring Membership

14 years ago

Hm, I think using the support desk is a reliable way to do so.
I would not have any trouble with that as customer.

Ralf

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Jeremy Kelsall

14 years ago

Can someone else cancel it for you?

I'm not sure how unethical it is to expect the customer to go to paypal and simply click the "cancel subscription" button.

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Christian Sawyer

14 years ago

The problem isn't that I cannot cancel it.

The problem is that I have to go through a support desk that takes a few days to reply, what if charges me the next day?

I understand why refunds must go through a support desk, but recurring memberships? This isn't true with all sites because I have been with some that allow you to cancel within your members panel.

And not everyone knows how to go into their Paypal account and cancel a billing agreement, not necessarily a subscription.

-Christian

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Martin Luxton

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Christian Sawyer

The problem is that I have to go through a support desk that takes a few days to reply, what if charges me the next day?

I understand why refunds must go through a support desk, but recurring memberships? This isn't true with all sites because I have been with some that allow you to cancel within your members panel.
-Christian

So don't sign up, particularly if it's a high ticket item.

Credit Card + Support Desk = harder to cancel = more profit

Paypal = easier to cancel = less profit

Originally Posted by Christian Sawyer

And not everyone knows how to go into their Paypal account and cancel a billing agreement, not necessarily a subscription.

If somebody can't do that then I sincerely hope they are not trying to make money online.

Martin

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Michael Oksa 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Martin Luxton

If somebody can't do that then I sincerely hope they are not trying to make money online.

Martin

You're right, Martin.

But a lot of membership sites have nothing to do with making money online. Therefore, I think the point is a good one.

On the other hand, the subscriber should know how to unsubscribe BEFORE they sign up - that's just common sense.

Also, PayPal isn't the most user-friendly interface around.

All the best,
Michael
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Steve Peters Benn

14 years ago

Then ask for a refund for those few days...

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childtalent

14 years ago

I believe you need to have both.

A convenient link inside your membership are where the members can just cancelled it. You will need a helpdesk as well as somehow someone who want to cancel the membership will miss out the link

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Scott Ames

14 years ago

I don't have a problem putting in a help desk ticket to cancel, as long as indeed it does work. Most are good at getting it done. A few are not.

Even as a customer I don't want a quick link that I can use to cancel. Reason? Sometimes I'm in a hurry and I think I'm clicking on a link to something I wanted and I cancel. I actually had this happen once where once the link was clicked it canceled pronto. I was like "AAHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOO" and had to go through the hassle of putting in a help desk ticket to reinstate.

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Jeremy Kelsall 14 years ago

If it is through paypal...You don't need to check with anyone, do you?

Just log into paypal and cancel...I've never had a problem cancelling.
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- um1001 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall
  
  If it is through paypal...You don't need to check with anyone, do you?
  
  Just log into paypal and cancel...I've never had a problem cancelling.
  
  Sure don't Jeremy. In fact, from the other side of the fence, PayPal can really screw over publishers with their policy on digital products.
  
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  -- Jack Morrison / um1001
  
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Tracy Yates

14 years ago

I agree with Jeremy. If you signed up with PayPal Subscriptions, then you should be able to cancel this yourself from within your own PayPal account.

On my membership site, I offer full instructions on how members can cancel their subscriptions. With screen shots and everything. That way there's no confusion about how to do this.

Although, if I get a member that wishes for me to cancel their subscription for them, I'll do it, and immediately too. Those requests are few, but I do remember what it was like to be new

Tracy

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Christian Sawyer

14 years ago

I totally agree. A set of instructions is a great way to solve this issue.

I do see both sides of the story, but as Michael stated above, it should be as easy to cancel as it is to sign up.

-Christian

Originally Posted by Tracy Yates

I agree with Jeremy. If you signed up with PayPal Subscriptions, then you should be able to cancel this yourself from within your own PayPal account.

On my membership site, I offer full instructions on how members can cancel their subscriptions. With screen shots and everything. That way there's no confusion about how to do this.

Although, if I get a member that wishes for me to cancel their subscription for them, I'll do it, and immediately too. Those requests are few, but I do remember what it was like to be new

Tracy

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talfighel

14 years ago

I don't think that this is UN-ethical. If a person wants to cancel, they can easily email the site and ask to cancel. Everyone is doing this and a person can actually do this manually if they look at Clickbank's email when they joined the program. They have all of the instructions there.

Tal

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ProfessorBob 14 years ago

I have found that a number of support desks don't even acknowledge receipt of your message, to say nothing of ever providing a positive response. Certainly, Clickbank and Paypal are easy ways to go, but if you didnt' sign up thru either of them, it can be a hassle. I have found it necessary at times to go directly thru my credit card co. to force a cancellation.

So, yes, I do agree that the owner of the membership site should make it easy for a member to cancel.
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Michael Oksa

14 years ago

I think it should be as easy to cancel as it is to subscribe.

Michael

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Debbie Songster

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Christian Sawyer

Hi Warriors!

I have a question today regarding membership sites who charge a recurring income. Should a cancellation link be easily accessible to your customers within the members area? If not, please justify your answer.

The reason I ask this is because I am part of a membership site (I will not share the site) that makes you actually put in a ticket into the support team.

I believe that a member should be able to cancel with a click of a button. I payed with Paypal through Clickbank, and yes I can go into my Paypal account and cancel it, but some people do not know how and I find it quite unethical.

What do you guys think?

-Christian

I don't see anything wrong with having the customer fill out a support ticket. Depending how the site is set up it may not be possible to set up a "one click" cancellation process for the customer to use.

Having said that, the support desk should have a designated "billing" option so the ticket goes directly to billing and to be handled quickly. Its not an unreal expectation for staff to honor the request within one business day.

As a customer you should submit your cancellation request a few days before the next billing cycle (don't submit the day your payment is due) You need to give staff enough time to cancel the subscription.
As others have pointed out you can go in and cancel it through paypal.

Personally I hate the sites where you have to go looking for the support desk. All membership sites out there need to have their support desk link displayed prominently in the main menu.

Mine are like that. I believe its good customer service

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Tony Hetherington

14 years ago

As long as the cancel request is efficiently done - it doesn't much matter how it's handled

Tony

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davtom

14 years ago

I use PayPal for my recurring billing site. It is aimed at marketers, and they are advised within the sales page that they can log into PayPal to terminate their subscriptions without contacting me. However, if a message comes to my help desk service from somebody who wishes to cancel and they got charged again in the intervening time, it is easy for me to offer a refund and I will do that.

I like to use PayPal for e-commerce as I think it gives the buyer more confidence. If they have a problem with me, they can take it up with PayPal themselves rather than initiate a chargeback. I think I've had two issues like that, and I've dealt with them both by providing full refunds. I've also had two chargebacks, which irritates me as I always offer a 30-day no-quibble refund guarantee for all of my products. Still, there we go.

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wordwizard 14 years ago

One thing that bugs me is membership sites that leave no trace of charging me in my email account -- and the info they provide on the credit card or debit card statement is so sparse that it takes enormous detective work to even figure out what it's from and track down a way to cancel it again.

I think they should automatically notify me every month that they've charged me so I get reminded and have another instance of their email address.

Of course I ought to keep better track of my memberships I guess...

On the positive side, I have drastically reduced the recurring things I'm signing up for unless they go through PayPal.

Also, I wish Clickbank would include the product name with their invoices.
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Cancelling a Recurring Membership

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