Amazon Prime is particularly heinous about using dark patterns to confound users into risking forgetting but ultimately you’ve already paid for the month, year
I can confirm this to also be the case with most streaming giants plus the less-giant Shutter
Edit: comments have pointed out some notable exceptions such as services through Apple and HP Instant Ink
Not all. Some end your access as soon as you cancel, normally they let this be known while cancelling, but not all of them do that.
If they don’t prorate a refund then they’re stealing from you. Obviously if this is a trial they can cancel immediately if you haven’t paid but otherwise it’s theft.
I agree, but good luck getting anywhere with it if they choose to not refund you.
That’s what charge backs are for.
Any specific service you’ve seen doing this?
I’ve not experimented as much with cloud providers or non-American companies so not yet sure if this is a byproduct of industry practice, market pressures on public companies or legal requirements and counter examples could help
I should also point out the good: many of them (like Netflix) are very open about how cancelation works once one goes to that section of their site
All subscriptions through Apple do this.
The upside is if you cancel a yearly subscription after just one day you get basically all your money back.
every subscription I’ve had through Apple ends at the end of the billing cycle, not immediately.
and yes if you contact them right away they’ll refund you. had this happen a couple of times when I was a day off on when I thought the subscription was renewing.
Same. I canceled my yearly Apple TV subscription and still had access to it until it was time to renew.
Added
Any specific service you’ve seen doing this?
Napster did this when I went to cancel. They said if you cancel now you lose the rest of the year you already paid for. I set up a reminder to cancel as the time got closer to the renewal, but the service was so bad I contacted customer service and asked for the remainder of my money back that it was unsuable for me. They finally ended up giving me a refund. There have been others, but that one sticks out in my mind.
Yes, this is the first thing I’m doing when subscribing to a trial. As soon as I’m subscribed I immediately cancel so I don’t forget and I use the service for the trial period.
Also not true for HP’s “Instant Ink” subscription service, which I can tell you from experience will brick the perfectly full cartridges already in your printer as soon as you cancel, even if you have not yet reached the next billing date.
Always forget printers exist but can’t say I’m surprised. Added this to the list of exceptions and made the title more accurate
Want to add in a potential extra as well… even if you DO find a service good and worth continuing to use, It’s a good idea to try and cancel it anyway. Why, because a lot have special automations to attempt to retain you by offering you deals.
“are you sure you want to leave, what if we gave you 3 months at half off?”.
this is what my grandfather would have to do almost yearly do get an affordable direct tv bill. The year he switched to fubo is the year that they stopped giving him the discount. He refused to pay 150$ a month for the three channels he watched
as is I still find it rediculous he’s paying 80$ a month for them now.
There are exceptions, but yeah the pro move is to immediately unsub as soon as you sub if you’re not planning to stick around.
Most TV apps end your trials and even paid accounts immediately. Apple rather enforces that they have to give the paid subscription till the end of the term. That’s why I like paying through Apple.
