OMG I discovered a subscription I didnt know I had

[Scott Ames]

Call me sloppy, but I have been charged every month since Nov 2007 for a subscription site that I've never seen until today. The only way I discovered it was by looking through my statements and trying to understand who was charging me for something each month. I had to Google the name to get a clue.

Have you ever done this?


I suppose I signed up for a trial at one time or downloaded something that had a subscription attached. I really don't remember.

[Todd Walker]

Dude... last year I cancelled 13 membership sites that i paid an accumulation of $4,700 for the year, and I had no idea ....

Those damn $1 trials

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by Todd Walker

Dude... last year I cancelled 13 membership sites that i paid an accumulation of $4,700 for the year, and I had no idea ....

Those damn $1 trials

Yikes! I feel better now.

[Todd Walker]

Talk about bad management HA!

Last year I took on a consultant that looked at my business, my statements, and he was just like, Todd what is all this crap for $390 per month!

I was just like, you know business expenses, hosting, and stuff...

Wound up I was apart of 5 PLR memberships... 3 stock image memberships... a membership about memberships, Elance membership, and three random memberships... (porn)... haha just kidding

[Solidsnake]

This is really disappointing... This is the reason why I am not using CC on my online activities anymore...

[bryce]

Haha, I have recently done the same thing, and there were 4 of them. The thing I found the most frustrating was the fact that 2 of the 4 were very vague, even at Paypal, and needed a bit of investigation as to who they were. 1 of the four managed to convince me (at least temporarily) not to cancel, and the 4th was able to be cancelled straight away.

Think about the people that must do this, and midway through, change computers, without backing up old data

Anyway in a way it was a good thing, and I suppose from every bad thing, a good thing is born, "It created an idea for abrand new product". I had shelved the idea for at least a week ir two because of other projects, but if anyone on this thread (Warrior to Warrior) is interested PM me and maybe we can share workload and rewards I think it will be a very cool product!!

Bryce

[Andrew Dillon]

I think we have all done the same thing before and maybe we still are and don't know it. I will be right back just going to check my accounts. LOL

[pwebbiz]

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

Call me sloppy, but I have been charged every month since Nov 2007 for a subscription site that I've never seen until today. The only way I discovered it was by looking through my statements and trying to understand who was charging me for something each month. I had to Google the name to get a clue.

Have you ever done this?


I suppose I signed up for a trial at one time or downloaded something that had a subscription attached. I really don't remember.

Scott,

Send the bill to Mike Filsaime - that's the cost of forced continuity

....
.....
hahahahah sorry - I couldn't resist!

Michael

[Scott Ames]

Ok.. I can't be too smug. I just found two more subscriptions that I didn't know I had. Holy smokes.

pwebbiz : Do you think Mike would pay ?

[Daniel Molano]

Damn... now you got me thinking, time to check everything...

[valerieSONORA]

That happened to me. I signed up for something for 1 month (or so I thought). I never even went back to the stupid site. Looooooooooooong time later I realized I was being charged for it all this time.

[2bwealthy]

yeap. paid $50 a month for a year and didnt even know it. until I went through the cc bills and thought "what is this?". $600 mistake.

[samcarson]

Me too. Cancelled a couple recently costing $50 a month

[kevinw1]

When I sign up for one of these trials, a note goes into my tickler file for about 25 days later, to check and see if I want to continue, and cancel if not.

But even without that, don't you guys balance your CC/Paypal accounts? Check the statements? Keep the books for your businesses?

I've heard that people do this, but I found it hard to believe. Now I believe. Time to set up some more membership sites

[Lance K]

Originally Posted by kevinw1

Time to set up some more membership sites

Can I get an AMEN?!?!

[Michael Silvester]

Damn...I keep getting charged month after month by
this company called Hostgator?

Anyone heard of them?

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

[Asher]

Heh, Frank Kern talked about this and he said this in one of his videos "works like a charm"... Guess it did!

Asher

[Jelasco]

Doesn't anyone pay attention to what they are signing up for?

[GuruGazette]

Originally Posted by Lance K

Can I get an AMEN?!?!

Oh Yeah!! Quick guys! What can I sell ya?? []

[Michael Lee]

Originally Posted by Jelasco

Doesn't anyone pay attention to what they are signing up for?

I guess people are just too busy (or too rich) nowadays to even notice what they are buying.

[Elliott]

Would anyone like to subscribe to my "Subscription Reminder Service"? You register your subscriptions in your account, and every month you get a reminder of the subscriptions you have and the date you subscribed etc.

I have done this too, and have a general policy now of buying only lifetime subscriptions. If it doesn't interest me enough to spring for that, then I don't need it. I make exceptions, but very few. Also, I leave the $1 trial offers alone....

And usually, if I can't use Paypal, I just won't subscribe, because Paypal centralizes them all and makes it easy to review and cancel them.

Elliott

[mun]

I've been on an E book aquiring rampage. I better pay more atention or else I'll be selling my clothes to pay bills.

[Kim Standerline]

My credit card expired at PP the other month so it obviously cancelled everything. I was shocked to see what I was subscribing to

I bet we all do it

Kim

[Frank Ayres]

Originally Posted by Kim Standerline

My credit card expired at PP the other month so it obviously cancelled everything. I was shocked to see what I was subscribing to

I bet we all do it

Kim

Isnt that a bit of a sweeping statement Kim?

Just kidding , i havent done this because my wife who is also an accountant wants to know what every penny is that goes in or out of my account

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by kevinw1

But even without that, don't you guys balance your CC/Paypal accounts? Check the statements? Keep the books for your businesses?

I've heard that people do this, but I found it hard to believe. Now I believe. Time to set up some more membership sites

I have this argument with my sister all the time. She is a banker and she balances her checkbook each month. She knows where every penny goes. She can't understand anyone that doesn't pay attention to details.

It's a personality type. I am distracted by everythng. I hate keeping books and pay someone to do it. I mostly look at the big picture rather than each little thing. Continuity programs love people like me.

[Lance K]

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

I have this argument with my sister all the time. She is a banker and she balances her checkbook each month. She knows where every penny goes. She can't understand anyone that doesn't pay attention to details.

My wife's a CPA so she does the bean counting.

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by Lance K

My wife's a CPA so she does the bean counting.

You are lucky there. Everyone needs a bean counter on their team especially if they are not prone to count them.

Accounting to me is like slow torture.

[Tony M.]

Originally Posted by Elliott

And usually, if I can't use Paypal, I just won't subscribe, because Paypal centralizes them all and makes it easy to review and cancel them.

Elliott

Where's that feature in Paypal ?

Also, as a business, is there a feature that would allow me to see all of my curent subscribers ?

[Kim Standerline]

Originally Posted by SpudDS

Isnt that a bit of a sweeping statement Kim?

Just kidding , i havent done this because my wife who is also an accountant wants to know what every penny is that goes in or out of my account

I think most of the marketer's I know tend to have subscriptions they forgot they had.

I could do with being married to someone acountanty, hmm maybe not lol

Kim

[Jermaine Tabor]

I've done this several times but
not for more than 2 or 3 months.

Definitely need to get into
membership sites since I've
sent well over 100k in sales
to one.

[bauger]

lol
I have done this too after looking at my paypal or even my credit card statements.

[kuterdan]

Yes those trial offers can get you. I've been caught like that before myself. The best thing to do is after you sign up is to immediately go to the processing company website and cancel right away. Also look for the trial offer from other sites that might be automatically checked during the checkout process. Be careful with the site that you give your credit card information to. There has been an increase in fraud by others getting a hold of your card information and charging bogus fees. zeldasupport and downloadavail are a couple to name a few.

[Yogini]

I just cancelled hosting today that was billed quarterly and the domain expired last December! I guess I didn't study my cc statement too well.
Another host had tried to rebill me but fortunately that cc card had expired so it didn't go through.

Deb

[dbarnum]

I'm with Kim. Wait until your credit card expires and see what calls and emails you get. You'll be surprised Been there, done that

[Tamer]

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

Yikes! I feel better now.

Me too!
Last year I *LOST* $670 signed up for 2 FREE months, then forgot to cancel (and I even forgot that I've signed up)...
Then 10 months later I discovered that I've been charged $67/month!
(after the 2 months free period).

Am not upset from anyone but myself!

Tamer

[nobodyspecial]

Originally Posted by timtim2500

Me too!
Last year I *LOST* $670 signed up for 2 FREE months, then forgot to cancel (and I even forgot that I've signed up)...
Then 10 months later I discovered that I've been charged $67/month!
(after the 2 months free period).

Am not upset from anyone but myself!

Tamer

Simple solution:

Go to your local grocery store and buy $25/50/100 VISA/MC gift cards. Use these to purchase items that have forced continuity you don't care for or from sites you don't want to entrust with your real cc number.

If the purchase is $97 plus $47/month continuity *which you don't want* use a 100.00 gift card.

Do not abuse this and purchase stuff you don't intend to pay for. That is fraud and is stealing.

[Tuzic]

hi,


you should always be careful & check everything on your accounts & you never know how much you will be paying out before its too late.

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by nobodyspecial

Simple solution:

Go to your local grocery store and buy $25/50/100 VISA/MC gift cards. Use these to purchase items that have forced continuity you don't care for or from sites you don't want to entrust with your real cc number.

If the purchase is $97 plus $47/month continuity *which you don't want* use a 100.00 gift card.

Do not abuse this and purchase stuff you don't intend to pay for. That is fraud and is stealing.

Huh.. never heard of those. Excellent idea.

[Tom Mansell]

This is a classic example of the 5% taking action rule.

Only 5% of your customers will take advantage of what they purchase.

[Greg Cooksley]

Hey Scott,

What a timely thread....

I've just been checking up and canceling quite a few....

These forced continuity schemes catch you out if you don't keep
tabs on them.....

And from what I've seen so far, these hard-copy monthly reports
are actually not worth the paper they're printed on. The information
is very superficial and you can get much more from the forum
right here!!!!

Regards

Greg

[Greg Cooksley]

Hey Scott,

What a timely thread....

I've just been checking up and canceling quite a few....

These forced continuity schemes catch you out if you don't keep
tabs on them.....

And from what I've seen so far, these hard-copy monthly reports
are actually not worth the paper they're printed on. The information
is very superficial and you can get much more from the forum
right here!!!!

Regards

Greg

[Greg Cooksley]

Hey Scott,

What a timely thread....

I've just been checking up and canceling quite a few....

These forced continuity schemes catch you out if you don't keep
tabs on them.....

And from what I've seen so far, these hard-copy monthly reports
are actually not worth the paper they're printed on. The information
is very superficial and you can get much more from the forum
right here!!!!

Regards

Greg

[Terry Ma]

Yeh, I can relate.

It happened to me once, but only for one month at $29.95

One piece of advise, write a list of your subscription payment
and stick the paper on the wall visible at your workplace, I'm
not kidding, failing to do this can really cost you. Especially
if you join the FREE first month trial with 3 - 5 different memberships
at once. You may ask me, why in the hell would you join so
many different memberships free trial at once. Well, if you
had bought the STSE 2, and you want to claim the bonus,
you will know what I mean. I claimed all of the bonuses,
so I have to be very careful to keep track of all the forced
continuity and make well sure that I ONLY stay on them
if I really get to digest and apply their info in the membership,
otherwise, cancel at once!

[Jeff Henshaw]

I thought that I had undertaken a complete clear out, about six months ago. That short exercise saved a lot of money - to spend else where - of course.

Last week though, I got a message from a processor telling me that my "bank" had refused their annual charge for my subscription to a service and could I please update my credit card details.

I'll have to look into that latest one - when I have time!

Regards,
Jeff Henshaw.

[Angela V. Edwards]

I would hate to think that any of my customers were paying each month without realizing what the product was or getting the full benefit of it. If they don't use it (by choice or time contraints or what have you), that's their choice. But I don't want them charged unknowingly.

Can't you set up your Paypal account so that all your notificactions go to a particular email? I know you can have more than one email address attached to your Paypal account. If you did this and then set up the Paypal widget (the software that lets you used Paypal even on sites where Paypal isn't accepted) for all "membership sites" or $1 trials or what have you then you could check that email box for subscription payment notifications on a regular basis. They probably wouldn't get by you this way. People are losing a ton of money on membership sites they didn't know they were paying for.

[seasoned]

Originally Posted by Jelasco

Doesn't anyone pay attention to what they are signing up for?

Well, everyone changes deals, etc... without even any notification! It isn't really legal, but FEW care, and others have little vague disclaimers in their contracts, etc.... That is probably ANOTHER reason paypal keeps chuging along! You get use to some differences, etc...

Until I was in my mid twenties, I kept MENTAL records to practically the PENNY! Until my thirties, about $100. Until my fourties perhaps $1000. And that was PER ACCOUNT, and I kept getting more accounts. Of course, I also had a handle on the approximate total, and kept some control over that. NOW, I check things twice a month, and keep things to about $1000 over all. I check each CC site, and even my credit report. With the crash and all, you can bet I check two of my biggest investments constantly.

When Chase LIED to me, and did a hard inquiry on my account, I found out two DAYS later that they did so through "first usa"!

Steve

[tamilseo]

the only subscription i forget is for one hosting account, i signed for the one domain and forget it.after 1 year i canceled it, not much it is only $5 per month