This Trash Needs to Be Stopped

[@andrewa6171]

Ads dont even make me want to buy the product. It makes me want to stay away from it.

[@SussyGabrielOFFICIAL]

IMALLEXX IS A GOOD PERSON AND I HAVE PROOF!!!

[@anaalicia5029]

Nobody wants to be easily influenced!

[@terriblecompany1588]

This shit is literally 2077

[@YOUR_NARRATOR975]

Especially targeted ads. Like you don't need to harass me with stuff I already plan on buying.

[@Supernova--88]

Even the bots are toxic as hell now...

[@filipb100]

It should be illegal for them to make it harder to cancel than subscribing.

[@lasody1766]

It's illegal in EU .Also the reply section of every comment really shows how much the internet is corrupted with bots...

[@Goblinboyo162]

@Soundielolbruh1 Seethe

[@ian-flanagan]

@@Goblinboyo162Don’t feed the 🤖 s

[@michaelfisher737]

It will be illegal soon in the USA. The FTC is tackling this problem. It's awful. I've personally obtained debt earlier in my life because the ability to cancel my xbox live sub back in 2010 was impossible. I removed my CC, canceled the service, and they still charged me "Well, we used the last CC on file." "But I canceled" "No, but your subscription ran out, so we paid for it with the last CC on file." "No, I canceled." "No, your subscription ran out." awful fucking shit.

[@firewolf5971]

It's a bot, don't interact with it

[@KelpoTheCereal]

The second a website harasses me to turn off my adblocker, I bail. Don't click the replies there's some brainlet battle going on down there. I have my ways of adblocking figure it out yourselves.

[@SussyGabrielOFFICIAL]

IMALLEXX IS A GOOD PERSON AND I HAVE PROOF!!!

[@NotTh.tCasual]

@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO shut up

[@NotTh.tCasual]

@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO dude..

[@ktgame2640]

​@@NotTh.tCasualdon't reply, just report.

[@JohnDoe-mt1yt]

I reported his comment lmao​@@NotTh.tCasual

[@trappedfan5206]

I detest sales. When I was jobless for a long time and at my rope's end, I applied for a sales manager position in a decently-sized company. It made me sick to my stomach to pester people, forcing onto them products they clearly stated they didn't want or need. And I was instructed to keep pressing until either they cave in and agree or hang up. I felt so uncomfortable, like I was an annoying douchebag hitting on a barista at a coffeeshop. I quit literally three days in.

[@JustaYoutubeviewer78]

That sounds terrible man, hope ur doing better now, I can’t really relate to that specifically, but I can relate to that feeling of extreme uncomfortably. I’ve had some situations kind of like that, the best we can do is just let time heal the wound.

[@kidashihod]

Im a door to door advertiser so I dont neccesarily sell stuff but I have to get people to agree to get sold stuff later on, not as bad but still scummy, my script is a complete lie as to what actually happens (at least enough to where they can't be sued) our 1 time call is actually like 12 calls but different salesmen each time so they each are giving you a 1 time call. I'm currently looking for a New job. I hate it, like I'm luring people into a trap.

[@GReLLz2497]

I used to do sales for a Verizon authorized retailer and they had us doing slimey shit. Shockingly they are no longer in business lol

[@saragarraza2610]

Same! I put my pride aside at work but that type of job is so bad for confidence instead of really boosting it :(

[@soulcats3551]

real asf dude i don’t even do sales just customer service front desk at a swim school, i like it but my last job struggled with retention/profit and started making us call the people who did a 2 week session and didn’t sign up for recurring lessons. and ofc 98% of the time they weren’t interested and i just felt like i was harassing them!! it sucked. and if they gave a vague “need to talk to spouse” or something we had to call them AGAIN a week later omg the worst

[@TheHudson106]

Whenever they make it hard to cancel my subscription I just call my bank and flag the charges as fraudulent.

[@jeancarvalho3930]

​@Soundielolbruh1go suck a fart.

[@gooner7331]

Can't you just tell them to cancel the recurring payment. That's what i do. I don't even call my bank. I just open up the app and go to direct debits and click cancel

[@shelby6745]

​@Soundielolbruh1are these like bots or what

[@Mendaz]

​@@gooner7331Most bank apps don't have that feature built-in directly into their apps, hence why people need to either call or just mark it as fraudulent. One of the few good things about being in a state like California is that it's mandated for these crap sites to let you unsubscribe online from the website, like the New York Times.

[@vodkasion8325]

Yes​@@shelby6745

[@CubicBacon18]

The FTC actually proposed a law to make it as easy to cancel subscriptions as it is to sign up. Would help get rid of this ridiculous interaction

[@bhart3321]

Yeah until the industry lobbyists bribe... I mean "donate" to political campaigns & it gets killed real quick.

[@MattSuguisAsFondAsEverrr]

**cough** adobe

[@itstato]

lobbyists on their way to prevent this from getting passed:

[@deker0954]

Subscription to fish wrap.

[@NunYa953]

The FTC doesn't make laws. They make rules.

[@nathankellogg2640]

Switch your location in settings to California and a cancel button MAGICALLY APPEARS to conform with their laws. It's actually a joke.

[@jacobhayes9992]

rare Cali W

[@schm147]

common Cali W

[@sqrlmonger]

@@schm147 When people are fleeing a state in droves the W's can't really be said to be common.

[@schm147]

@@sqrlmonger outdated talking point. Our population actually started growing again as of last year. Google it.

[@claytonbarnes6644]

@@schm147 big fucking cope, only cali win is the weather. (from someone who lived there for 18 years)

[@MrrQuackers]

This reminds me of Hulu. First, they came out with shows you could watch free of charge online because there were ads (you know, like TV). Then they moved to a paid tier with no ads and a free tier with ads. Still makes sense, paying to remove ads. Then they moved to no free plan. Now you have to pay to access the content and still get ads, then pay even more to remove the ads. Lol. Also, a lot of people are too young to know this, but when cable was first debuted where you paid to access TV channels, literally all of cable had no ads, since, you know, you were already paying to access it. Then they added ads on top of paying for cable. Greed. Greed never changes.

[@JesterAzazel]

I remember this. That's why I no longer use Hulu. Best way to beat piracy is to provide a better service, and they failed.

[@bubblesawesome3284]

Dude I’m so close to just unsubscribe from Hulu the add on that are awful now. I get 3 adds every 5 minutes.

[@Kobe-jz2zz]

I watch everything illegally I'm not sure why more people don't lok

[@JesterAzazel]

@@Kobe-jz2zz For me, it's about supporting those involved with making the stuff I like. But back in the day when I didn't have enough money for that kind of shit, you're damn right I pirated it.

[@Kobe-jz2zz]

@@JesterAzazel good point good point

[@RazmaX]

Best way to avoid half of this, when they ask why your canceling just say "I am going to prison." Your head will spin at how fast they will cancel you.

[@lawliet6910]

LMFAO

[@jeancarvalho3930]

​@Soundielolbruh1go suck a fart.

[@tommylookup]

Better yet "I am going to prison for murdering the previous employee who didn't cancel my subscription immediately"

[@mutestingray]

@Soundielolbruh1did you take your Depakote today?

[@hardkur]

even better if someone make a call for you and tell they work as prison counselor or something

[@Baldeur]

They're right, their ads are thought-provoking. Because they provoke thoughts of anger in the reader.

[@mikehunt4797]

@Soundielolbruh1 loser

[@ThatC1official]

​@Soundielolbruh1 get a life kid

[@loganferriera1294]

Its a bot, dont interact with it​@ThatC1official

[@gumbywithagun4293]

​@@ThatC1official just report the bot and move on

[@fdk7014]

It provoked the cancellation of the subscription

[@Zebedee777]

Top tip: if you ever have any issues unsubscribing just cancel the payment in your banking app, or phone the bank. They deal with this stuff all the time and will be happy to help you cancel. Also if enough people are complaining to their bank about a particular company or service, sometimes banks will start treating that company as suspicious or even pressure them to stop scamming people.

[@Tentegen]

🎉 some banks are awesome

[@spiralsausage]

And use revolut disposable cards for free trials. Companies recently started to crack down on this but still works occasionally.

[@PepsNotAHero]

Banks, in my experience, have the best customer service of all, they are just like "Hi whats your problem, oh sorry to hear that I´ll take care of it" 5 minutes later that problem it´s solved.

[@charlesfe]

This sort of works, it depends on where you live [specifically, in the US] as to whether you also must notify the merchant of cancellation. Chargebacks cost the merchant money so... if you can arrange a cancellation in writing - in good faith - PLUS a chargeback - if the merchant changes you again after receiving your cancellation notice - from your credit card company then this tactic can work. It just doesn't scale, unfortunately, and isn't going to change the behavior of these sorts of schemes. The problem is if you live in a state [in the US] that doesn't protect consumers, you can end up getting recharged after the merchant disputes the chargeback. Or if you've agreed to some terms of service where you have to pay out some contract for some set period of time (Adobe) or something else more draconian. In regards to a bank with an ACH transaction, yes you can stop it at the bank (or, preferably a credit union) but depending on where you live [in the US] the merchant may be able to show that you received a service and in fact owe the money they were attempting to debit your account for, and the bank will pay that amount from your account unless its contested. This could happen *months* after you've thought you've won and you've washed your hands of that subscription service once and for all.

[@KaranaiaPlaysGames]

Yeah careful with that I had to pay up 200 extra when I did this with Vodafone.

[@King-Squid-99]

something similar happened with me and Audible. I love reading and audiobooks, but I'm a slow reader in any format and $15 a month was just too much of a money drainer for me. I went on my laptop to cancel it and had to SCOUR almost every single part of my profile and account settings to find the cancellation button and eventually I just couldn't find it. It was super easy to UPGRADE my membership, but it felt impossible to cancel it. Eventually I went onto the live chat feature, and when I told the questionnaire that lets the representative know why you're reaching out that I wanted to cancel my membership, they kept me on hold for literally 30 minutes. I tried again, and I was on hold for ten before I decided to go back to the questionnaire and say my reason for a representative was "billing issues." I got a rep right away. I told him "Please cancel my membership. I have no billing issues. I cannot pay for this anymore and I don't want to be talked out of it." and he cancelled it right away. What a joke.

[@lemonywater2979]

I had this exact issue with audible too

[@Vexarax]

That's weird it's really easy to find on my account :o I just suspend for 3 months when I can't afford it, so I get to keep my saved credits etc. Could never go without my audible

[@danicakelly2242]

I recently cancelled my Barnes & Noble membership. And it was the same thing. I could not find a cancel botton or any info about how to cancel anywhere on the website. I literally opened the Membership Management tab, and there was no option other than switching to their new, more expensive membership (a button to give them more money but no way to stop giving them money). There was just no info, not even in the Q&A. Ultimately, I had to leave the website and google how to cancel and THAT'S when I found the page on the BN website with the info to cancel. I checked, and there was no way to organically navigate to this page from anywhere on the home page or my account. I actually think there's no way to get to this page without leaving the website and googling it. And what were the instructions on this hidden mystery page? That I had to EMAIL them and ask them to cancel for me. No button. Screw Barnes & Noble.

[@ivanivanovichrasputin3098]

It’s literally standard practice for most American companies and it’s disgusting. They intentionally make it next to impossible to cancel subscriptions so you give up on doing it.

[@sebastianrodriguez8692]

Imagine wanting to make money by holding people's money hostage rather than actually making a good fucking product.

[@SealX_Gaming]

This is sad how you have such an underrated comment and all you get are bots, this comment needs to be seen more

[@zaxh6484]

so other bots r copying utp bots now?

[@LordoftheDice]

Sadly, that's pretty much how our society is these days. Why make a quality product or service when you can scam or trick people into buying trash.

[@jonathanabgrall6075]

Sums up the state of modern journalism pretty well.

[@sebastianrodriguez8692]

@@SealX_Gaming Thanks man. Its the internet. Sadly nothing we can do.

[@ProjectGladiatorWeather]

The fact that they tell you how to feel about the ads is insane. No one feels like they are in a “elite club” when they have to pay for ads

[@Altharionn]

It's genuinely one of the most delusional pieces of text I've ever read

[@Gloomire]

Such a dystopian nightmare! Well, shouldn't of expected anything less from something called "The Economist"

[@19ate4]

People who worship money will tell you anything to get yours

[@T1NF01L]

Speak for yourself! When I pay to have more Ads I feel like an elite individual allowed into a special club for only the most gullible of idiots who enjoy Ads more than the content I subscribe to. It makes me feel like I have no idea of the value of money and am willing to waste it on the most trivial of things rather than a usable budget in which to live off of.

[@CantTellYou]

I feel so much smarter & more informed than everybody else when I see an ad for Ford trucks. I have this great opportunity that nobody else has to drive a Ford!

[@billbill6094]

"Ads help pay the journalists" is such a stupid angle when the subscriber is directly paying the website. Pay the journalists with the money I'm giving you.

[@thegamer_dued6650]

@@SharpasaVineAUTTP-mc9mfok

[@pixlhound]

@Soundielolbruh1 if I wanted to scrape the bottom of the barrel, you still wouldn't be good enough to get on the list of creators to watch

[@skyethenerd1054]

@@pixlhound yall that reply to the bots are actually more annoying than the fucking bots at this point

[@specializedchemicals6669]

​@@skyethenerd1054f r the amount of times they've probably seen people tell others not to reply to the bots, too.

[@lostgiirl]

@@pixlhoundits an automated comment, so many are left the creator will never see your reply... youre only feeding their engagement, even if you think youre sticking it to them somehow

[@acid_milk]

The news industry never figured out how to make itself work on the internet. When I was a journalism major I decided to quit because of my intro to digital journalism class teacher who ran one of the states larger online news agencies said, "you'll get nowhere if you do not learn how to brand yourself." Mind you, up until that point, the whole thing was basically - no one should be able to tell who wrote the article because it only covers the facts. So yeah, journalism is a dumpster fire.

[@wesshiflet2214]

because it shouldn’t be a business. business interests are incompatible with journalism

[@Caradocg]

@@wesshiflet2214 That's a bit of an odd and meaningless statement my guy. People need to be paid for any industry to exist in any meaningful capacity.

[@lemonywater2979]

​@@CaradocgThat doesn't mean business should be a central component. That's how they treat healthcare in the US, and look how well that's working out.

[@wesshiflet2214]

@@Caradocg It should be publicly funded lol

[@Caradocg]

​@@wesshiflet2214 In an ideal world. That's why the BBC exists, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation exists etc. But because of the internet it's impossible for journalism to be completely publicly funded

[@AuroraFlakes]

Adblockers are literally the only thing that keeps the internet useable.

[@jeremydale4548]

And that just highlights how much of a fucking problem it is. How the hell have world leaders NOT step- Oh wait I know. Stupid, pathetic. Worthless Lobbyists that are on the company’s payroll. The only lobbyists that should be allowed to exist are lobbyists that lobby for laws to BETTER our lives. Not just feed greed.

[@theultimatelifeformiguess.]

@Soundielolbruh1 We can tell...

[@theultimatelifeformiguess.]

@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO Prison is just a room, so fuck a child, will ya?

[@theultimatelifeformiguess.]

@AuroraFlakes Yeah...without it WWIII would happen

[@theultimatelifeformiguess.]

And I'm sorry your comment section is filled with bots

[@kriswestfall2616]

The worst cancellation I ever went through was with Regal Unlimited. You have to email them telling them you'd like to cancel, then 2-3 days later they email you back asking if you're sure and that if you don't reply they are just going to assume you changed your mind and continue to charge you. How shady is that!?

[@user_kH9bw3ns1]

If they didn't ask u if it is okay to charge you for 3 more years , they aren't professionala ;p

[@charlesbolton8471]

That’s sounds pretty bad. Without going into all the details of my worst cancellation ever I’ll just say DO NOT ever move to someplace out in the middle of nowhere where your only Internet provider option is HughesNet. It will be the worst customer service experience you’ll ever have, and then when you finally come to your sense and move back into civilization you’ll jump through more hoops than you could ever imagine to end your service with them. To add insult to injury, you’ll get monthly phone calls from other Internet providers who are “constantly expanding their service areas” trying to get you sign up for their service only to be told that their service isn’t currently available in your area.

[@SnailHatan]

Huh? That’s not “shady” at all. You just suck at life.

[@tossoutacc9241]

@@Kc-ib8hzI’ve noticed almost anything sponsored by KZbinrs is gonna be predatory. The only KZbin sponsorship I think was good was Raycon, mine lasted like 4 years

[@sorayaya3080]

I've read a story from an ex-employee from a cable service that she got _fired_ after not trying all their avenues possible to convince a costumer to stay on their service during a phone call after this costumer called to cancel The costumer in question was a grieving daughter who was trying to cancel the cable service that her recently-passed mother was subscribed to

[@Tentegen]

.....it was Spectrum wasn't it?

[@Eragonfrost]

Cable companies are the worst with canceling, prepare to be on the phone for like 1 hour with them it's so bad.

[@Sam-bz5zf]

Comcast?

[@tristanlwkns]

That ex-employee has a good heart! We can only hope she got some good karma.

[@azmalguthek4502]

@@Sam-bz5zf when I cancelled comcast I actually had to scream at the lady to stop upselling me. lol

[@ry4hhhh]

As a college student studying Journalism (with hopes to work in broadcast, while maybe writing my own personal ad-free articles and publishing them for free access), I was thrilled when I got to write an op-ed for one of Orlando’s biggest newspapers. Except I had to pay to read it. The article I wrote. I had to pay for a monthly subscription. I couldn’t buy one copy. I HAD to subscribe. And then they called me forty seven million times after I cancelled to see if they could get me to come back.

[@megorex630]

I’d bet it was Orlando Sentinel… I’m in Orlando and am always frustrated bc they have good articles that I can’t read.

[@francisphillipeck4272]

What they are doing is actually illegal. In 2010 they passed the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) "Click to Cancel" provision and the 2010 Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA). It states that if the process to subscribe is as simple as a few clicks, than the unsubscribe process needs to be the same. They are violating federal law by even asking any questions and not just processing the cancel and being done with it. And the reason they passed the law was to stop this exact type of stuff.

[@spaceface124]

A law that is shoddily enforced might as well not exist to these companies. I've even encountered spam 'newsletters' with no unsubscribe option at all, on their site or in the emails

[@shiruotakuno28]

Bump

[@the_furry_inside_your_walls639]

A law that isn't enforced is a law that doesn't exist.

[@derpzone7425]

yea but law enforcement are all senile so these "laws" are actually just "suggestions"

[@MoxMort3301]

To everyone who's saying it's not enforced: even if it's not, if you directly mention ROSCA and "Click to Cancel" to the chat person and specify that they are breaking the law, they will probably fold.

[@jackw3302]

I used to work for a company that told us that we had to have a customer tell me "no" to a type of extended warranty 4 times before I stopped asking. I thought that was horrible customer service and that if you truly want to keep your customers, you treat them with respect. The Economist should be ashamed for that nonsense.

[@inseminggd9435]

damn i feel bad for you, cause id bet you were treated like shit during that time, for a decision you couldnt even take

[@Lawrence_Talbot]

Yeah you should see the mentalfuckry OfficeDepot made us do to try and trap people into their tech and subscription services. The printer ink subscription was an absolute nightmare designed solely to anger the customers at the cashiers who have zero control over the policy

[@Hyde_Hill]

Generally the issue with these situations is how measurable something is. Selling one more warranty 1 out of a 100 times is measurable. The amount of goodwill lost on the other 99 occasions is a lot harder to capture. And if it is captured by like a review systems the blame is put on the employee and not on what the employee is asked to do.

[@Bleenderhead]

seems like the only way to stay sane in such a job is to learn to enjoy making your customers suffer.

[@trappedfan5206]

Your ex-boss graduated from hustlers university no doubt. With honours.

[@SherifNeamatalla]

If a website: - Asks me to close my ad blocker - does not allow me to opt out of cookies within 2 clicks I automatically close it. The internet is HUUUUGE you will find what you need somewhere else whatever it is

[@patrioticcat5768]

Hey, not every place has "big Booty ghetto ass #6" only certain people have that 😒

[@ERECTED_MONUMENT]

Extra trick: most websites load the text an images before loading the pop up scripts, so if you refresh with shift+f5 (which ignores the cache when reloading, making the website load slower) then press esc to cancel before it finishes loading, most of the time you can browse without the pop up coming up.

[@Count990]

@@ERECTED_MONUMENT neat trick, thanks

[@SherifNeamatalla]

@@ERECTED_MONUMENT Holy, am a programmer and I had no idea. My "smart" way was usually to inspect, and delete the overlay tag, but some websites are "smarter" than that, I'll definitely give this a try today !

[@comadragon4916]

@@ERECTED_MONUMENT Funnily when i'm actively searching for a journal website asking me to turn off my adblocker to test your trick i for the love of god cannot find one.

[@aaron8977]

I’ll just cancel my card. I call this technique “scorched earth” 🤣

[@dosediinternet]

I used to have a bank that issued throw away card numbers that you could delete when you wanted. It was great for trials in case you forgot to cancel.

[@Justin-pe9cl]

I did this once. Generally not a good idea because they could send you to collections.

[@paigemosher8697]

I feel like just contacting the bank to cancel the payments is easier. Their policies aren't legally binding, so if they try to force you into anything that doesn't automatically stop the payments, you should also be able to report the additional unwanted charges as fraud. They can't do anything about it without losing a LOT of money even if they win. They'll just give up and bend the knee to you if you put up a fight- or they'll learn to do so the hard way.

[@Camilo19832001]

@@Justin-pe9clnah, is a subscription, not like not paying a bill.

[@Criblo456]

I used to do technical phone support for a ISP. After all tech support getting outsourced to India they moved us to the "Saves" department which is just trying to stop someone from cancelling their service. I've never had a more soul crushing job.

[@RepentAndBelieve43]

🙏🏽

[@nephilimritual-band]

Dude that sounds so fucked. Hope you’ve moved onto something better for your own sake my friend :)

[@bdb89]

I worked in a call center for AT&T. When someone wanted to cancel, we’d have to signal our manager we had a cancellation then wait for them to come over. Meanwhile, we were gathering information from the customer before we escalated. After manager escalation, with her questions and retention offers, they get sent to the retention department where they have to speak to 3 more people (with more offers) before getting put on a callback schedule to cancel with a cancellation rep (who has yet more offers after making you wait up to 48 hours for the callback). That’s why most people just transfer their number to the new carrier rather than just canceling. That and it’s just easier to keep your old number.

[@FoxenPiano]

​@@bdb89That's disgusting, god damn.

[@bdb89]

@@FoxenPiano it is. And that was way back in 2009. I can’t imagine what it’s like now. I read somewhere they were beta testing a switch back program for the customers that switched away but kept their number. First it’s the hoops to get you to stay, then harassment when you finally leave. It’s like breaking up with a crazy person.

[@unluckyaces4350]

As you mentioned!!! A few months ago I got a membership from Planet Fitness and then forgot that I had it. I signed up and was approved from home. I never left my house. Signed up for a monthly payment and on the third month they charged me an extra $50 dollars for yearly maintenance which I wasnt aware of. Needless to say I chose to cancel and called them. The guy on the demanded that I come into the store to cancel in person or mail them a letter. Not an email, mail them a letter. Which I truly havent done in 17 years. He said its policy. We cant cancel online or over the phone. I argued with this fella over holding my card hostage for an hour before he finally asked me "Why cant you come in?" A very simple question. I told him I'd never even been inside the gym. Not even once, why would I come in now unless its for you to try to "trap" me into my membership. He finally caved and cancelled my membership. So much for policy. Dont let these companies bully you. Stand your ground or take it to your bank and have them block payments.

[@PorridgeJohnny]

Planet told me the same. I moved to my college town before I found out they wanted me to be in store. But luckily, when I called my gym they made it super easy for me. I just had to send them an email saying why I want to cancel and they did it remotely. I got lucky.

[@Cookieboy70]

Before Planet Fitness, Bally's had a similar strategy except that you had to cancel within 90 days of initial signup. If you didn't cancel before then, you were held to contract for 2 years. I made damn sure to print in very clear times on fine paper.

[@samc9133]

Ah yeah. I had the same experience. I told them "You've heard on a recorded line that I wish to cancel my membership. Y'all can either cancel the membership or the next communication will be a small claims filing." They didn't send another bill. Doesn't matter if I had a case or not; the account isn't worth the hassle.

[@SerinCloudeye]

I've heard that if you tell them you're going to prison or you can't come in for health reasons they cave pretty quick.

[@CucumberWaterAndBrainMatter]

@@SerinCloudeye i may use this for other purpose

[@tigransafaryan6619]

If a website demands me to turn off my adblocker, I leave.

[@calvinjordan3624]

Sadly KZbin has started doing this in some countries, though the UK has protection laws against it.

[@dragon8me2]

@@calvinjordan3624 they forget the battle adblock did to beat back their adblock bs.

[@meatsauce12]

yeah youtube does this for me. usually i can reopen the video in another tab and it will pass through but not every time. better to do that than watch 2 unskiipable ads

[@MrLoowiz]

@@meatsauce12 I started using adblocks on KZbin like 10 years ago or something, when for some reason there were ads with SOUNDS at the top of the recommended videos. There was no way to turn the sound of the ads off, so it became literally impossible to watch the video without that annoying beep every 5 seconds. Never turned it off ever since, and shortly after, obligatory ads before the video started to pop, which I fortunately didn't witness.

[@SheilaDeBonis]

You can disable Javascript to get rid of those "turn your ad block off" warnings. 😁 Works most of the time. There's a Disable Javascript extension for most browsers and uBlock Origin can also disable Javascript.

[@qcbelzebuth7083]

Trust no one with your money. Predatory practices is becoming more common.

[@Misterreckonize]

24 hour fitness wouldn’t cancel my membership unless I went IN PERSON to talk to the manager who was only there during my work hours. No way in hell I would take time off work to cancel my membership. I got fed up and just called my bank and they put a stop to all future charges and even credited me for like 3 months of payments.

[@exceptionalanimations1508]

yeah I don't understand why more people don't do this, instead of going to who's getting the money to tell them to stop taking money why not tell the bank to not allow them to get anymore money??

[@spinnyboi9951]

@@exceptionalanimations1508 i recall it affecting people's credit score if they used a credit card to subscribe? not too sure how that works, never bothered getting anything outside of my debit card and paypal(before they started charging for inactivity)

[@Timmycoo]

Lmao, that reminds me of the Friends episode when they couldn't cancel their gym membership because they had to do it in person, so the gym got a sexy lady to come in to handle it. Then they tried to cancel their bank accounts, only to have a sexy bank lady going to help them quit lol. But forreal, I had to do the same thing with one of my old gym memberships because they outsourced the company that took payments so I had to go through them and I just said fuck it and put a stop payment to it all.

[@EddieWelch-hk8vs]

"I WANNA QUIT THE GYM!"

[@letmedream111]

same for planet fitness. afterwards i went out of my way to tell anyone looking for a gym to avoid pf

[@palewhiteperson]

i always take a mental note of what ads are unskippable because i will selectively avoid those products per month that i see an ad about it

[@clintonleonard5187]

The more money a company spends on advertising, the more costs they cut with their product. There is an inverse relationship between how often you see a product advertised and it's quality. I literally avoid anything I see in an ad, anywhere. I look up what the good version of said product is.

[@Local_Skinwalker]

When I was working for a call center for a phone service we basically got penalized for customers calling to cancel services. They basically told us TL “remind them the benefits of the services they’re cancelling.” Not only that but upsell them on other services too to keep them interested, and if we didn’t we would get “in trouble.” A lot of people had to cancel shit to save money, there was no way I was going to try to talk people into keeping stuff they were calling to get rid of in the first place.

[@mmrchive]

That sucks. I used to work for a company that did this until they realized it fucked up the metrics. I really hate trying to upsell a service that I know for myself, having worked for the company that provides it, sucks balls because the stuff they make you say isn't genuine. Plus, trying to upsell only irritates the customers most of the time, and who gets the brunt of that? The agents, that's who. Call time is extended, you get negative survey scores, and you get low call completion rates because for sure the customer will come back for another round to have the issue settled with someone else. It's a complete waste of time and energy.

[@Highimdadtwo]

I would like this comment but you have a pretty nice number of likes, so I’ll just leave this here. 👍

[@fakenamesam7453]

I also have a story to share. Albeit this one feels genuinely illegal. At the Customer Escalation Desk, I call up a customer wanting to get a refund of an accidental renewal of their grocery app wallet. The dude mistakenly transferred 30k instead of 3k to this grocery app wallet, and I was given no authorisation to actually tranfer it. I tried to convince him that this will be resolved and submitted the relevant information. 2 week later, the money is still there.

[@creepjax]

I like how they try to make it seem like it’s your fault they are cancelling and not for any other reason.

[@SmokeyChipOatley]

I made the mistake of paying for a corn subscription once that was part of a multi-site “thing”. They sneakily didn’t make it clear when signing up that they automatically signed you up for ALL of the sites instead of just the one you wanted AND charged you more because of it. What I didn’t know at the time was that the site i subscribed to was the only one with straight guy/girl content. All of the other ones were LGBTQ-focused mostly guy/guy which I have no problem with but not my preference. When I called to cancel, the lady on the other end said verbatim “Uhhh you want to cancel?! Why!? Did you NOT sign up for [proceeds to rattle off every gay affiliate site one-by-one in the most condescending tone in order to embarrass me into hanging up]?? Are you not into GAY CORN!?” I was absolutely livid. First because I actually was getting embarrassed but then I snapped and yelled back “THIS IS THE WORST GAY CORN I HAVE EVER HAD THE DISPLEASURE OF J*RKING OFF TO! CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION NOW OR I’LL HAVE MY BANK SETTLE IT!!” Never made that mistake again.

[@LtWait4itDan]

My go-to for these types of situations is that I threaten to go to my bank and claim the charge as fraud.

[@Shoes8969]

My favorite thing is when a website pops up about my adblocker and they ask me to “Disable adblocker” or “Continue without supporting us”

[@canyonohara1764]

I grab the picker and block the message too lol

[@VelaScares]

For real, and let me tell you I cannot click on that "Continue without supporting us," any faster whenever I see it.

[@ChanneI_Username]

@@canyonohara1764 holy shit i genuinely never thought of this, thank you so much

[@nightynightlayla374]

I swear, they play the world’s smallest violin for it, and every time I drink their sad, salty tears. It’s just pathetic.

[@eva.valo.00]

I have literally had websites crash my phone's web browser before, because they were loading in so many video ads, all at once, and each one was breaking the article up into small paragraphs of maybe 5 line (not sentences, lines) sections.

[@pandanugget2343]

Same, I can't even get on some with my damn computer without nearly freezing. It's bad.

[@directorjones]

I want to try to get on the website. When I first logged in and started scrolling my phone froze. That website was loading so many ads it bricked my phone for like 10 minutes well I desperately tried to shut my phone down and restart. It’s just unbelievable.

[@David280GGantiuttp1]

A reply bot has been detected on this comment please ignore it and report it. Don't interact with the bot it feeds off your attention! 56255

[@SerebiiWarrior]

I remember back in the late '90s you had annoying shit like fake windows popping up where the X in the top right corner was just a link to some pay day loan bullshit or some other scam. Feels like the internet is going back in that direction, but without as much of the cool content as there was back in those days.

[@colon44]

@@David280GGantiuttp1 anti uttp bots(?) are so based

[@Koubiak]

SiriusXM is one of the worst offenders. You NEED to call to cancel and then they hold your leg for an hour.

[@emilyfernyhough]

YES! SiriusXM came to my mind immediately

[@Seaweadk]

lol my mom uses it in a kind of opposite way lol. She calls and tells them she’s gonna cancel and will wait them out until they offer her the lowest rate possible and then she resubscribes😭 she loves her SiriusXM

[@shroomyk]

One of the first things I thought of.

[@thatdberad]

@@Seaweadkthey still send me letters years later. if I actually used it it would be a killer deal what they offer me

[@petrolhead0387]

Call them out on whatever the American equivalent for Disability Discrimination Act is. I've had companies tell me that the only way to cancel is to call them up, I quote the DDA and tell them they need to accommodate for all disabilities, and me being deaf means I can't use the phone. It suddenly gets cancelled in a single email, just by suggesting that they could be in violation of a basic human rights act.

[@gerharddamm5933]

Reminds me of gym memberships. They would purposely obfuscate the process, have no links or references to cancellation on their websites, if you contacted them by phone they would put you on hold for a long time after you mentioned cancellation and they would then tell you you have to do the request by snail mail. And on top of that they would want you to subscribe using a direct bank account line (no debit or credit cards). This was most commercial gyms. It only changed recently when California passed a law prohibiting such practices.

[@something636-rr]

This cancelling bs stuff is getting everywhere. I moved from my past renting apartament to other one and i decided to cancel my home internet provider in the last apartament. So i pressed to cancel the service in their site, then i got an email that i need to write a written document and then i got an answer that its only done through calling them. Later I had to repeat 5 times that i don’t need it anymore and there is internet in the new apartament already and no the past renter doesn’t want to take over my plan. Like how cancerous these companies are becoming.

[@cml007]

Cancel it through your bank next time bro

[@elfwyrd]

My ISP also only accepts cancellations via phone despite easy sign-up online. It's absolute bullshit and we all know it.

[@kleberson777]

i paid my internet service manually (or set automatically) using digital wallet instead of paying monthly via credit card these day. it's like our credit card was held captive by these companies whenever we want to unsubscribe.

[@OopsIDidItAgainUh]

Ugh I can relate to this as something similar happened to me with a famous shopping website in our country called Myntra. This is going to be long so if you have a short attention span, keep scrolling. A few years ago, I ordered a top from Myntra for which I had to register on their website with my phone number and email. Before creating the account, I forgot to uncheck the box that said that they'll send promotional stuff to our registered number and email. I was getting bombarded with their stupid sales ads 4 or 5 times a week. Considering I don't purchase new clothes often, let alone online, those ads were completely useless to me. So, I tried finding a way to turn them off on my Myntra account, and that's when I learnt that the only way to do it was to email their customer support ID, have them call me twice on separate occasions to confirm whether I want the promotional emails and messages cancelled, and then cancel it finally. The day after I sent the email, I got a call on my way to work, so I was able to pick it and confirm my cancellation. But they will cancel only after the second confirmation call, which came the next day during my work hours, so I couldn't pick them. It happened the day after also and again I couldn't pick them. So, they stopped calling me and continued bombarding my email and number with ads. So, I sent them a follow up email, suggesting that they call me during 1 pm to 2 pm lunch hour or after I got off of work at 5 pm. Their call timings are anytime between 9 am to 6 pm, so those timings were workable for them. Idk whether they were joking with me, because after sending that email, I began getting calls right after 2 pm and right before 5 pm, and never called me anytime after that. I got so furious that I sent them a strongly worded email, highlighting the time they were supposed to call me. I still got calls right after those timings. I couldn't care less anymore and sent them a few emails with a lot of insults. I got one more call during work hours after that and then they stopped. I think they finally got the clue because they stopped the promotional ads without any confirmation calls. It's crazy how all it took for me to get promotional emails and messages was not unchecking the consent box (yeah, it came checked and we had to uncheck it if we didn't want it) but to have them stop, I have to follow all these unnecessary steps.

[@TheFallinhalo]

yup this shit is getting rediculous at this point, and this is precisely why we need regulation to comabt this shit. but sadly in america most of all you have bloody morons who are "nurrr we need smoll Guberment.....anything more is Communism!!!!" but sadly some of this shit is begining to bleed into other countries.

[@potatosordfighter666]

Here's what I've done in this situation: I call my bank and say that company is refusing to cancel my subscription, and my bank can forcibly halt any payments they try to take regardless.

[@calvinjordan3624]

Hopefully things on this front get better. About a month ago, I hadn’t touched my subscription to the NYT newsletter, and instead of emailing me the next newsletter, they actually auto unsubscribed me and sent out an email saying “We see you haven’t opened our newsletters recently, and will stop sending them.” I was so surprised because I was used to big services like this being horrible about unsubscribing, and this just made it seem so easy. The Email even had a one click way to resubscribe if I wouldn’t have wanted it cancelled. Really, all journalism outlets should do something along these lines, it felt like a breath of fresh air.

[@SealX_Gaming]

This is sad how you have such an underrated comment and all you get are bots, this comment needs to be seen more

[@russelllapua4904]

@Soundielolbruh1 who's this dickhead

[@mountainhouse43]

@Soundielolbruh1 baby boy why you so pressed

[@jeancarvalho3930]

​@Soundielolbruh1I'm so sorry for whoever gave birth to you. Nine months wasted.

[@SealX_Gaming]

@Soundielolbruh1 damn bro why u talking in a mirror 😂🤣

[@MeatsMudkip]

I used to work for a media company focused on 'journalism'. You wouldn't believe what they told retention agents to say when they were faced with a deceased persons account. Many stories from that place.

[@Gilbert_Dice_Gottfried]

What did they say?

[@candy2325]

I bet it was emotionless and little empathy

[@MeatsMudkip]

​@@Gilbert_Dice_Gottfried Aside from the strange ID rules they had (first a relative could alter or cancel the account, then that wasn't allowed, then it was allowed again) but retentions were advised to ask if anyone else in the family wanted the account/subscription and highlight all features/benefits, and argue the point to exhaustion. No refunds were to be offered even if they had paid 3 months in advance if they managed to cancel the subscription. Then again retention was dodgy AF anyway and they would pause subscriptions while telling customers they'd cancelled them to save their retention rate. No one really got brought up on that either. The goal is to make it was hard as possible to cancel to inflate subscription numbers. Someone misspelled their email address and had two accounts because of it? No refund, try and convince them to give the account to someone else. You got charged twice? You can wait 3 months for a refund. The payment system for a subscription service is double charging customers which the company has known about for months? It'll get fixed...eventually...

[@jee0de]

@@MeatsMudkipdamn thats just greedy and messed up

[@McGowanForge]

I have ad blocker on my laptop, and the amount of times ive gotten the message "It appears your using an ad blocker, please disable it" Or "Using an ad blocker removes revenue from our site, please unblock our site.." I mainly have it for KZbin since the ads are TERRIBLE

[@HaydenMercado-nb6it]

But they can share your cookies data with 1000 of their partners for ads in which we don't buy anything

[@Wataheadable]

The worst is a website that pleads with you to turn off adblock to read thier article - but then immediately requires you to subscribe to continue reading. I instantly place those websites on a block list.

[@venusdevotea9378]

there's a trick that works on some sites that require you to pay a subscription or of you "run out" of "free" articles, you can go into the debug section of your browser and turn off javascript

[@FalloutHoss]

The best way to get ride of a subscription that is not allowing you to unsub is to contact your bank and have them block any payments from that company

[@GravitasZero]

Tried to do that once some years ago and the bank told me “we can’t really do that, you should cancel the subscription”… I hung up, called again, talked to a new representative and told them I lost my card and to cancel the entire damn card. Ever since then I avoid subscriptions like the fucking plague

[@gamer-san8923]

​@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO bro wtf?

[@KombatJester]

@@gamer-san8923 Don't give them the reaction they seek. Report and move on with your life with the joy that comes with knowing you aren't them.

[@N3erdola]

​@@GravitasZeroSmart play. Tough when I needed to unsub from a service via bank contact, i was successful. Guess it depends on the service and bank institution.

[@judeelaman1902]

It's a bot. ​@@gamer-san8923

[@mikegiumento2448]

I said it before and I'll say it again: Write your congressman, write your state representatives, write your state attorney general. Flood their inboxes every single day. Subscription services should be as easy as it is to sign up for, so if it takes less than three minutes for me to sign up for a subscription, it should be the same amount of clicks to unsubscribe. The fact that you have to write a registered letter to the corporation requesting cancellation, where it will be reviewed, takes five to fifteen business days and either approved or denied is BS. This is how we got Magnuson-Moss put in place. And we can do it again. We just have to annoy the shit out of our representatives. Don't be mean, don't curse, don't blame any political party over another. They're both guilty for this. Just explain to them why consumer laws that make it as easy to cancel as it is to sign up is the only way for true fairness and fundamentally needed consumer protection. If you can sign up online then you should be able to unsubscribe online with the same number of clicks and no approvals. I mean it's not like these companies. Send me A registered letter 5 days after I subscribe to something and go are sure you want to sign up

[@AvoxPaine]

My grandma had to call, email, and physically mail a letter to her previous security system to cancel her subscription. The call took 2 hours to reach customer support, they asked her why she wanted to cancel, offered $5 off, and then asked if anyone else would be willing to take over her bill. Then, they told her she needed to email them a picture of a bank statement containing a payment towards them to prove she was the account owner. A few days later, they replied to her email, and she was told she needed to physically mail them a letter asking to cancel her subscription. What a nightmare.

[@Brad-ly2wl]

Just call your bank and get them to block payments to them. No need to cancel.

[@Jonny2by4]

unironically this is the easiest method. you may get blacklisted by that website, but if you're trying to leave who cares

[@Handles_are_good_for_holding]

They can / could charge you a fee for breaking your contract. I recommend using a visa or master card prepaid gift card so it’s not clicked to your bank account.

[@toothinm9paste]

@@Jonny2by4if you get black listed by jurno websites, it’s probably the best thing that will happen to you, imagine not ever dealing again with useless metro journalists.

[@danmack7769]

@@Handles_are_good_for_holding As long as you have proof of requesting to cancel i.e. emails, you shouldn't have an issue.

[@measured.kadence]

I hate to admit but I applied with an insurance scam; I thought my house insurance was expired so I signed on with some company that was bombarding my house with letters. $200 a month until my mom told me the insurance is already under the mortgage. The agent that said I can call any time didn't pick up his extention and calling or emailing to cancel was impossible. I told my bank to block payments and learned my lesson

[@juandiego-fg4ok]

Ive worked for customer service and I can tell you that the loyalty (cancellations department) of most companies is all the same, they fabricate excuses, lie to you, they try to shame you, theyll try to do ANYTHING to get you not to cancel, and at times theyll flat out tell you they cancelled your subscription when they did nothing. Thats not the employees fault, this companies will fire them for doing the only thing they are paid to do: cancel subscriptions. So they have 2 options, lie and do theyr job poorly to keep the customer, or loose theyr jobs, Its vile, and should be completely illegal.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

If my job was to lie about cancelling accounts, I would begin the process of escalating the issue in the company and then probably try to go to court. Maybe I could get a few co-workers to join me. These are usually recorded calls, so there's proof of the customer's request. And the reason I'd first escalate the issue within the company because if you don't, they can say in court that they were never made aware of the issue. So, follow the (usually useless) escalation protocols, document everything, and then go to court if need be, and this is for anything related to your job.

[@gnidarap]

​@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValleykay, but customer service are low income/mid at best jobs. People with those jobs can't afford to fuck around with a big company in court, they need to eat

[@airlion1205]

I tried cancelling a subscription for insurance and the lady on the call sounded desperate. She didnt say it, but her tone felt like "please dont unsubscribe or I am going to lose my job" sort of thing. I just kept my subscription for a day or two until I called back and got someone else and then unsubscribed.

[@uglymarigold]

@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley why should it be the responsibility of a minimum wage employee to infiltrate and stop a corrupt company that's scamming people, that's what the LAW is for. It's not the fault of the employee that the government doesn't hold big buisnesses accountable

[@Chrissorox]

​@@airlion1205that is still your fault for not cancelling it ? 😂

[@bradenhenry4867]

I'm so glad somebody is talking about this, it's not just article's. I feel like in the future cars will have ad breaks

[@burp2019]

must have not heard about things like the brand that had subscriptions for basic features

[@Cheri_Blast]

@@burp2019This is why my first car won’t be from later than 2010 - still a lot of really good cars from decades ago that are far cheaper, and any sacrifices are worth not having to deal with an unnecessary tablet while driving

[@StreakyBaconMan]

When I went to work overseas for 2 years I called to cancel my phone plan and had to go through this nonsense. They tried EVERYTHING to convince me to not cancel it - they tried to convince me it was viable to continue using their service after moving (it was not), tried to convince me it'd be worth it for trips back, tried to convince me it was necessary or I'd lose my phone number, and finally when it became clear that none of these reasons were going to convince me they resorted to asking if I maybe had a friend or family member who may want to take up the plan until I returned. I was stunned into silence with that one - I never thought I'd have a place trying to convince me to sell their service to one of my friends or family members to get out of paying for it myself. Eventually they did cancel, but only after I started replying to every question with "have you cancelled my plan yet?"

[@bigafroman4277]

I used to have an Economist subscription. After trying to unsubscribe, they called me twice asking why and trying to get me to stay subscribed.

[@mcgeebag1]

As of this year the economist podcasts are behind a pay wall, knowing how much hassle it is to cancel, I definitely won't get a subscription now!

[@dnb5661]

@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO Get a life bot

[@RealEgamingYT]

@@mcgeebag1 Same. And it doesn't help the cancelling that subscription is literal hell on earth

[@Figgy20000]

Anytime i cant cancel easily the company gets to pay a nice juicy fee from my bank charge backs in response.

[@miscme7116]

I had a problem getting rid of a gym membership I had back then. I resorted to faking my death certificate and my 'next of kin' contacted them and sent the certificate. Bam - my membership was immediately cancelled without any questions. What are they going to do than cancel at this point? Start checking am I really dead or not and suing me for document forgery? No, they will just cancel and problem solved. Over the years, this gym was not the only place where I had to use this method. So I have a death certificate ready, I just open it in Photoshop, write a new date and I'm 'conveniently dead'.

[@danielleowens6443]

I had to do something similar 🤣🤣🤣🤣 some gym memberships are the WORST to cancel

[@timcronin1854]

Planet fitness has the worst cancellation. You either have to mail in your cancellation or have to walk into the gym and tell them you don’t want it anymore. Most people don’t wanna go through the trouble so they just never end up cancelling

[@Willimann]

5 bots in 3 minutes, impressive

[@CloudBlorb]

Wtf is tour reply section lmfao

[@iancardwell2382]

loophole is closing your bank account, and getting a new one later. The reason they ask for your bank details is so that the customer can't just cancel their card(how I cancel most subscriptions) I just get a new card and it can't charge the old one anymore

[@jakobe856]

Sorry you have to deal with the UTTP people. Yeah that’s stupid on how you have to cancel planet fitness.

[@ShoeTrees223]

Commenting this in case anyone needs it, California has a policy that prevents companies from doing this. If you change your PF home club to one in Cali on their website, you can cancel it online 24 hours later

[@hillwin10]

If Adblock is ever discontinued, I'm leaving the internet.

[@memeslife-wq2tx]

Unlikely and they know it Which is why they keep doing this stupid stuff

[@ScibbieGames]

Chrome's Manifest V3, including KZbin's new experimental server-side inserted ads, itll likely be quite a bit worse for a little while.

[@Romalainen]

Pi-Hole guys! easy and the ultimate solution! (especially as DNS on local network)

[@cats9994]

​@@Romalainenu-block is easier and better

[@ANG3LOFDAD3AD]

Do you have an extension or something? I wanna get an adblock but lots of em don’t work.

[@papascronch]

Utilization of ad blocks is a moral obligation at this point. If the only way you can monetize your website is to cannibalize the content with over abundant advertising then your website does not produce enough value to exist in the market. At the point that they start making it harder to unsubscribe, That's where you was the consumer should just go call your bank and freeze all transactions with that company, flag them as a predatory service who is making unauthorized transactions. They have no grounds to argue with your bank when you explicitly ask for cancellation and they leave you on read.

[@Fnafan97]

The FBI even recommended you use an adblock

[@Louis13XIII]

@@Fnafan97 mmmhhhhhhh

[@conehero2941]

0:02 The movie: The Lorax.

[@bigdapramirez6157]

Paying for a service and still getting ads is a disgusting example of corporate greed. I don't care if it's $1/mo or $1k/mo. If you pay them you should see zero ads period

[@KatherineAcosta20]

It used to be like that, but late stage capitalism

[@jeffcapes]

yeah for real "ads help pay our journalists", no my subscription helped pay your journalists, which you are now losing, because of ads.

[@JC-de1ik]

Why don't companies understand, consumers hate ads. They get in the way of what we want to do. Whether watching tv, or streaming, or reading, driving, you can't escape it. And they have the gall to call them witty, We detest them.

[@NuchiAsaki]

They know. They don't care.

[@NickDroid_]

@@NuchiAsakiand they never have

[@RealEgamingYT]

They're just hungry for money.

[@roymarshall_]

How should companies pay for the things they are providing you?

[@ellierivers8053]

​@@roymarshall_ By selling those things?

[@shrandesign]

I worked as a support agent at one of the largest newspaper company in the US and I'm super familiar with their scheme. It is illegal to make it harder for customers to unsubscribe but the loophole is that on the website it'd say that the feature is being worked on (ie. not available "yet"), so you'll have to call support to even have any chance of cancelling the account. The thing is they are not working on the cancellation feature on the website at all, it's intentionally made to be difficult to cancel the account. Even then once a customers calls in to cancel with a support agent, they will be met with another roadblock since all of the agents are trained to doublespeak and borderline con the customers to keep the subscription, what's funny is that most of the agents either doesn't know that they've been trained to do that or if they do they just think that "it is what it is", it's vile and it's not even the worst thing that's happening in the company.

[@darthxellaa912]

My favorite is when you try to cancel online or via frontline support call and they force you to speak with another department to close your account. Drives me nuts.

[@kyledouglascox]

What's worse are the "articles" that are actually just ads disguised as an article

[@GravitasZero]

When a “news” website tells me “turn off adblocker” I just close the tab. I wouldn’t mind if there were some ads… but the sheer number of them isn’t even the biggest problem, in many cases they place the ads certain ways to make you click them or have videos playing which not only are distracting but also force you to look where the hell the video ad is playing to then mute it (because you often can’t even close it).

[@Nib_Nob-t7x]

well Im sure they want you to do that also. If you have adblock on and also have no sub, all you do is cost them money.

[@TheTuttle99]

​@@Nib_Nob-t7xwhat

[@Marcokalendileo]

@@Nib_Nob-t7x oh, you unironically defend multi million dollar companies, lmao

[@dychostarr]

​@@Marcokalendileo read their name, hivemind indeed.

[@Nib_Nob-t7x]

@@Marcokalendileo Why wouldn’t I defend the ability to charge for your own work? They blocked you from the website because they don’t want you there if your not paying. I don’t see it as an unreasonable request to be paid for the content you made . It cost money to host the website and create the content, people have to make money to live. Without one of the two (ads or subs) the site simply couldn’t exist and therefore the content also.

[@IchigoAshiya]

I uses to work for a paid car radio service and most of the customer service were retentions, the trick is that the clients forget about the subscription and we start charging them full price, then if they complained we offered a year discount so next year they forget again… it was despicable and very uncomfortable having to make the cancelling process more difficult

[@heatherjackson3890]

This is exactly why I never take the free subscription when I buy something like a car or when I got a new phone and they offered 1yr Disney+. No. It's impossible to break up with those companies later and they auto renew

[@EliveaVRBD]

This is my exact experience with SiriusXM (also paid car radio service). It was a 6 month trial plus a Google home mini or something and I stupidly accepted. I never used so I went to cancel and they had me on hold for I kid you not 4 hours then they say oh you do it online so I go online, off hours. I wait the next day they say do it on the phone. Call the phone wait 3 hours - they say oh we’re sorry and then make me go through 30 minutes of a checklist to confirm I want to cancel then they say “well we can’t cancel because you need to stay subscribed for a year”: how about a free subscription extension I say okay sure whatever. Then the extension ends and I forgot and went to cancel again after months then they tell me I need to do a full PAID YEAR to cancel. Then I was like can I confirm that with someone else so they put me back on hold for 2 hours and then they HUNG UP ON ME! I was so livid I canceled with my bank instead for fraud. I tried to cancel with my bank before but they said I had to at least make an attempt to cancel through the company first. Was brutal. I spent the entire length of all of the LOTR extended movies on hold.

[@emilyfernyhough]

this screams sirius xm. the website doesn't work so you have to call to cancel your membership, then they offer you discounts over the phone offer everything except cancelling the subscription. i warn everyone i know not to use their service because of how difficult it was for me to cancel!

[@YoureSoCreezy]

Yeah I fell for this. Tried to cancel mine a few years ago, I kept repeating "no just cancel" to every offer she made until she beat the price down to like 80-90% off for a year and finally I buckled and was like ugh fine just keep it for another year at that price. 3 years later just cancelled my credit card to cancel the subscription instead of calling them again. So she swindled me out of another 2 years of full price. They just don't take no for an answer and it makes it unbearable.

[@SkyloTylo]

With some banks you can just tell them you unsubscribed but they fraudulently charged you. Bam now they can’t charge your card and you get your money back.

[@CMStrawbridge]

Yeah, don't forget to open a new account, because now you won't have access to your money for 2 weeks 🙄

[@sr-7124]

@@CMStrawbridgehuh? I don’t think that’s how it works mate…

[@shawnkemp6775]

I did this with Chegg. After I graduated from college I cancelled my subscription but kept getting charged. I kept trying to cancel but nothing happened, so I called my bank and told them and they immediately stopped all charges. That’s the way to go imo. Screw these companies they are literally robbing you.

[@quinsey9211]

The first gym i ever got a pass for they were rude to me about my weight when i went, so i tried to cancel and they made all this random stuff up and tried to scare me out of it, then they said i had to talk to the gym owner to cancel. Then when i came in to try to they said he was on vacation and i had to send him a letter in the mail to cancel. Yes, a letter in the mail. And they told me thats standard practice at most gyms. Eventually my dad went in and basically threatened them and suddenly they were like "ohhh you wanna cancel? We can easily do that right now" and he did it in a few button clicks. But then i got charged the next month and we had to go in again and he said theres a recurring cancellation fee. Yes RECCURING CANCELATION FEE. we basically straight up said wed burn the place down and they finally stopped. This was fitness 19 btw. If you wanna avoid that hellhole.

[@dominiklukacs7677]

Just found out my bank can cancel subscriptions for me on my behalf. Same gym situation as you mentioned, wanted to cancel after not having time/energy to go, but had to go in person... which I didn't have time/energy to do. Ended up pushing it until I forgot I was still signed up. Turns out I can just go into the app, click on the latest transaction and cancel it. We need more banks to offer this

[@Thisismetman]

What bank?

[@citizenofcorona8783]

If you're with Truist though, you're screwed. I even planned to cancel a gym membership and I changed credit cards but didn't update it with the gym, but somehow they were able to go behind my back and get my new credit card number from the bank without my consent.

[@person80]

@@citizenofcorona8783look into taking legal action against them, and the bank as well if they gave them your card number

[@kenny5355]

recently tried to cancel my gym membership sub and they told me I had to wait another month before they could cancel it, meaning Id have to be charged again before any action could be taken, absolutely outrageous policy that I wasnt told about at all.

[@kenny5355]

the gym is onelife if anyones wondering, steer clear

[@pencilstreak9]

Call your bank and tell them. They should be able to stop payments.

[@kenny5355]

@@pencilstreak9 I tried but they said since it’s through my card all they could do is stop the card if I wanted, but the lady I talked to had a good idea of changing my payment info to an inactive card I don’t use so I just changed the billing info to my chime card which I never use so I sorted it out, was kinda blown away they couldn’t just block the charge but it is what it is.

[@speedstick8981]

@@kenny5355 that sounds very fucking illegal. Dude you should totally go to the local news and say something, I doubt corporate would be happy with bad publicity. Also I’m pretty sure that’s theft as well.

[@fuzzymelon1261]

call your bank and they will handle it

[@bringbackmyspace7112]

Interrupting a video I'm really into in order to try and sell me something is a 100% guaranteed way to make me buy from your competitors who had the courtesy to leave me alone.

[@Smileyhat]

I'd be willing to bet that for the customer service rep you have to talk to in order to cancel subscription, failing to convince someone not to cancel is a metric that counts against them. So not only does the company force the customer to go through a tedious process, but they also put in the way someone whose job is on the line if they let you cancel.

[@dono6474]

a local gym business had “4 dollars for 4 weeks” promotion that requires you prepay 6 months. if you want to cancel you need to write an essay on why you want to cancel and believe you deserve a refund.

[@godfreyofbouillon966]

So? If you want to use a discount given on a condition that you sub for 6 months, of course you can't cancel willy nilly. Pretty normal practice that has nothing to do with how the Economist behaves.

[@dono6474]

@@godfreyofbouillon966should have mentioned the part where the 6 months isn’t mentioned, that they brag about “cancel anytime” membersips and they take 3 months to “process” the cancellation essays

[@jessyfretz5800]

​@@LucidLiuxxhe's not a bootlicker for telling people to be suspicious and untrustworthy of companies and looking for "the catch" in a deal they offer. The conned is as guilty as the con.

[@LucidLiuxx]

@jessyfretz5800 fair enough, i might've misunderstood the comment, have a good day and thx for clarifying

[@redskijao3463]

I've worked recently as a retention chat support similar to this. It's very hard since you need to follow the rules of the "account" you are working with, and you REALLY need to work your ass out just to make the customer stay. It really felt wrong for me, which is why I also left that job.

[@redskijao3463]

Wtf wrong with these replies..

[@VitaTheMerm]

​@Soundielolbruh1bro you joined 12 hours ago shut up

[@VitaTheMerm]

@Scarf215yeah it's just that it is a NEW bot

[@aceproductions43]

@@redskijao3463 they're basically on every comment, it gets annoying to find someone reply to your comment only to find out it's a f**king twat or bot spamming the same 2 or 3 messages for every comment

[@madeniquevanwyk]

What the heck these bots are bigoted and disgusting?? I mean i know it's rage bait but damn is this what the world has come to

[@Whatsthedealsquirter]

They tried to frustrate the guy into not unsubscribing This should be a crime

[@yourgodismean4526]

This is why I refuse to ever have cable tv. Who in their right mind would pay to be tortured by half of your content being ads?

[@mantheman11]

To be honest, cable Ads aren't that bad and eventually at least for me become an entertainment that numbs my brain before the show

[@dim4757]

It's not just cable TV anymore. Pretty much any streaming service is close to 50/50 ads now and for a lot of people they have to buy multiple streaming platforms to watch all the shows and movies they want to watch. It used to be cheaper than cable but the gap is closing, if there's still a gap at all.

[@yourgodismean4526]

@@mantheman11 Wow, what a different perspective. I think it’s the repetition that gets to me so much. I think Hell would just be repetition

[@yourgodismean4526]

Hey can y’all report the troll on this comment section if his 2 comments are still there? Ty!

[@tybraker27]

@@dim4757 Disney+ is a prime example. The sheer greed is unreal.

[@Kaltsit-]

The way the customer service responded to the ads thing is literally 1984. “I’m leaving cuz I hate the ads” “No, that’s wrong. You’re wrong. You’re gonna stay cuz the ads are good”

[@brookelynnwu8016]

Anything that requires an article that’s not Wikipedia is a nightmare. I was trying to read a baking recipe and it was borderline impossible with the incessant pop ups and video ads, I couldn’t even scroll or maintain a position on the article bc the ads were throwing me all over the place. Ik everyone likes to call wiki garbage, but how about a little appreciation they do not use advertising and politely ask users to donate instead? Some people say it’s annoying, but I far prefer that. It’s a far more pleasant experience than having unnecessary ads literally everywhere…

[@MuzikBike]

Wikipedia deserves far, far more respect than it gets these days.

[@blakksheep736]

​@@MuzikBike what is people's issue with Wikipedia exactly? I like it.

[@analyticaltomato]

I’ll always take websites that ask for donations over websites filled with ads. Even the most “persistent” donation askers will still only put one banner at the top of the page once every couple of months for a week or something. Much better than websites with ads.

[@BeeSharp47]

​@blakksheep736 Some people have a belief that Wikipedia is unreliable since anyone can edit the articles. While that is true, there are also a lot of safeguards to keep it as legitimate as possible. You need sources for what you write, and if you don't provide them, it is clearly marked in the text. Plus, Wikipedia has a lot of volunteers who look through edits. Malicious or inaccurate edits usually don't last long.

[@andyasbestos]

@@blakksheep736 Some Wikipedia authors are way sloppier than others in terms of making sure everything is factual. Especially regarding any information which can be politically charged. The main problem though is people who take Wikipedia articles as gospel in situations that require more serious research. But literally all you have to do is go read the sources cited in the Wikipedia articles to see if they look legit, and then cite those sources rather than the Wikipedia article itself. It's a LOT less work than hunting down "real" sources from scratch. I remember one time I found some pretty comprehensive studies on the wear resistance and reliability of flash memory and mechanical hard drives this way. I looked like Mr. Smartypants when I handed in that assignment citing a bunch of research papers as sources, but all I'd done was check specifically where Wikipedia got its information from. It was really easy. Just a lot more reading.

[@MehZehLee]

Back when tv was still popular I would call direct tv yearly to say I want to "cancel" even when I had no intent to do so. They would then offer me some bonus deal like more channels or a better DVR for free just so I wouldn't cancel my subscription.

[@dani.deville]

Lots of companies have a customer retention team like this. It's incredibly annoying to deal with them as a customer; it's even worse to be a retention agent having to deal with pissed off customers that you're probably about to piss off even more by doing your job.

[@QWEEKEN73]

I contracted as a software engineer for a very large financial services company, who were quite similar in both size and content as the Economist, and I experienced a similar state internally. I was very surprised to learn that ad revenue amounted to roughly 80% of their annual income, where as in-house sales (ie subscriptions, consulting, etc) only amounted to ~10% annually. These ad deals that they sign can easily reach 7 figures lasting only a couple of quarters at a time, before they’re up for renewal. This all bleeds into SEO. It’s an all out war zone to reach the top three suggestions in a Google search. It’d be suffice to say that if ads were made illegal overnight, a vast majority of these online publishers would be out of business in a year.

[@joshua.h]

I've literally had news sites where the in paragraph ads block the article below them because they clip out of where they should be contained to.

[@dreamer72]

New York Times: "Democracy dies in darkness" Their Web Articles: "You passed the limit, to see what your local politician thinks of you, subscribe for $12.99 a month"

[@FatCatGarfield]

Anytime I encounter a site that refuses to load anything unless I turn my adblocker off, I go somewhere else. I am not about to be inundated with ads just to read a few lines of text that may or may not be helpful to me.

[@sansmoi4168]

In Germany websites have to provide an easy-to-use cancelation button.

[@Derbedeos]

That applies to all of EU.

[@oldylad]

EU laws are why so many sites in America have the same thing, but for news sites because they’re typically localized shit like this happens. Also, most people don’t use these. If you’re old you buy papers, if you’re young you just read free shit lol

[@the_furry_inside_your_walls639]

It's the same case in the US, but unfortunately the US government doesn't do anything to enforce it unless I'd people bitch enough to them about it.

[@maggie6152]

​@the_furry_inside_your_walls639 um. Yes. That's how law enforcement works. You need to report crimes for them to do something about it. Like the police.

[@phantom_cards8599]

New speed running idea, who can cancel their Economist subscription the fastest.

[@renee5828]

Just got laid off from a place like this and the lengths they will go to so people can’t cancel is insane. They can’t turn off auto-renew on their own either, they have to reach out and ask to turn it off. And this is for a service that’s $70 with ads and $90 without.

[@thevoicestoldmetoagain4627]

If advertisers werent so in-your-face about everything, most people wouldnt even use adblockers. Weird how they dont understand this premise.

[@RubiixCat]

Yeah, its kind of funny. As a way to tackle the loss of views from those with ad blockers, they make the ads EVEN WORSE for those who don't have them, thereby driving more people to use adblockers. Its a very short sighted solution, but I guess that's what happens when shareholders care more about how profits will improve this quarter instead over the next few years.

[@RJRJ]

In the UK, you can just cancel any subscription through your bank account.

[@prod.outtaspxc]

@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO didn't ask + l + no one likes you + your father left to get the milk + stay mad

[@SuperKendoman]

Sky Broadband still asks you to give them notice though. I went with Vodafone and never looked back. What a horrible ISP

[@Joe90h]

@@SuperKendoman Sky are really bad. Ours had weirdly low bandwidth so certain devices would get nothing at certain times of day, and sometimes it would just shut off for half an hour at a time at around 1am. I guess it's maintenance or whatever, but that sort of thing desperately needs to be pre-empted with an e-mail.

[@conorganism]

@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO”Age are just a number” Amazing grammar

[@zorbl8463]

​@@conorganismdon't reply to the bots, it makes youtube think they're real people and thus less likely to remove them when reported

[@ChiefSenseiGabagool]

This chat reminds me of not having enough word count for your essay.

[@danterodriguez03]

My best trick i have seen is when they ask "why are you unsubscribing?" You just answer that you are going to jail

[@kentinson1670]

Does this really work? Or do they ask additional questions?

[@danterodriguez03]

@@kentinson1670 I mean, if they ask more questions you fucking double down, like "I won't have credit cards dude" they only care about money, so if you have none

[@youtubasoarus]

Don't play mind games with these people. Just reiterate you are unsubscribing. You don not need a reason. It is YOUR money. You deal with your money how you want to. They are not entitled to it.

[@Naomi.Robertson]

Golds Gym wanted proof that my work hours decreased and I could no longer afford it

[@stmsly]

hope you told them where to stick it

[@19ate4]

Did you tell them that your work hours got decrease because you’re an illegal and working under the table?

[@bhart3321]

Call the card company & do a charge back or report as fraud. If you got a planet fitness it's only $10/mo & they don't give you static if you cancel.

[@jetsound2338]

That's some hard shit.

[@Naomi.Robertson]

Stopped paying never heard from them again

[@spencer1837]

The internet is becoming its own advertisement for going outside.

[@prod.outtaspxc]

@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO didn't ask + l + no one likes you + your father left to get the milk + stay mad @Soundielolbruh1 sure buddy

[@Zan_Jayna]

Yeah because back in the days before the internet there were no jerks. Like nobody that was like Hitler existed, right? everyone was super duper nices!

[@YuutaTogashi0707]

@@Zan_Jayna It was sometimes worse back then lol

[@pyerack]

I love how right under your comment half of the replies are unhinged bots doing nothing but highlighting your point.

[@SharpasaVineAUTTP-mc9mf]

A reply bot has been detected on this comment please ignore it and report it. Don't interact with the bot it feeds off your attention! 76890

[@gigidavis1268]

Dude I used to work for a massive journalism company (it covers most local newspapers) and while we did physical papers, when it came to cancelling it was impossible. You had to call in and we had to try and save the customer from cancelling and it was hell. People werent getting their newspapers for WEEKS on end, still being charged for it and then when they call to stop the madness, you got greeted with someone asking you to stay for credits for even more papers you wouldnt get! It was ridiculous! And the digital papers were no better either, I heard they barely worked too!

[@fleursicle]

As someone who wants to go into journalism - if I see a story, I tend to research a few other sources to get a better understanding past its headline - the paywalls make it very difficult and only makes reporting/information less acessible to people as a whole, and implies that only people w/ enough money can be informed - a betrayal of what journalism should be at its very core.

[@Dominion69420]

0:10 its called supplemental oxygen for mountain climbing

[@catoniner]

it’s called ohare air

[@Tomdanook]

The reason you unsubscribe? Ads *Begins to sell you an ad to try and convince you to stay subbed*

[@SharpasaVineAUTTP-mc9mf]

A reply bot has been detected on this comment please ignore it and report it. Don't interact with the bot it feeds off your attention! 14523

[@SealX_Gaming]

This is sad how you have such an underrated comment and all you get are bots, this comment needs to be seen more

[@napalmballwipes]

@@SharpasaVineAUTTP-mc9mf not a reply bot im pretty sure its a weirdo with a copy paste bin of filth whos just a degenerate as ive seen them as well as others who have such little in their life they choose to do this actually coherently defending it paraphrasing and all, so even more of a reason

[@jedisteve1313]

That "actually ads are great!" was 100% chat gpt i have never seen anything more obviously written by AI

[@mythical_pizza]

Typically what I do is I state "Please respond with all required care statements at once and then let me know when you're done". The agents are required to say specific things or phrases to meet their metrics. If I can get them to knock some out and then press a cancel button, it helps both myself and them (since they're not at risk for "poor performance" from their call/chat center employer

[@Folfah]

hahah furry

[@mrdraco3758]

​@UTubeTrollPoliceNWO seethe.

[@vankleiss299]

Wow, do you really encounter this so often that you have a procedure for dealing with it? Mad respect for figuring out a way to benefit both yourself and the unfortunate employee, but also jesus christ on a stick.

[@enderkatze6129]

I like your pfp

[@DingleDuck]

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS REPLY SECTION???

[@_Vengeance_]

"Don't you know that getting bombarded by ads makes you part of the elite? Just look at those poor peasants over there who are deprived of ads, horrible!"

[@Louis-tv8bt]

At this point, piracy is no longer a crime. Especially subscription based apps/sites Edit: Not everything needs to be pirated. But most of them, *cough* Adobe *cough* are reasonable.

[@HiItzBella]

yo ho ho

[@randyweaver4985]

Bro the bots are insane. But yeah I don’t feel bad about piracy with certain things not even gonna lie

[@sunkistwaves]

@@randyweaver4985Nah fr, KZbin wants to worry about adblock when they should be worrying about these insepid bots

[@barrag3463]

The thing that particularly irks me is that once upon a time you could just buy the program and use it as it was, without updates, on your computer (in my case not Adobe but CAD programs, which were honestly worse for a time in terms of license cost and are still kinda bad if you intend to monetize what you're making). But no everything now has to be on a license and has to be reliant on a cloud in one way or another.

[@cats9994]

​@@randyweaver4985I don't understand why it hasn't been banned from commenting yet I've reported the exact channel like 5 times

[@Lovinia1]

Tip: You don’t want the reputation of being difficult to unsubscribe. It’s precisely why Comcast died. If enough word gets around, you’ll get no new subscribers

[@steverogers5439]

I don't usually comment, but this EXACT thing was a problem for me just recently. I had a news paper subscription for a local paper in my city, but I didn't want to renew it as it's $20 a month. So after going through tons of hidden links on their sight to finally get to the cancellation option, when I hit the cancel button it gives me a literal error saying 'it can't be processed', and that I have to call a phone number to get it fixed. It's so ridiculous!!!! EDIT (I Finally got it cancelled but I had to call them and tell them why I was cancelling, and then they offered me like 4 different counter offers explaining all the reasons I should keep the subscription service etc... It is such a pain lol)

[@person80]

i hope you got it cancelled

[@alexanderhamilton4258]

Call your bank and tell them to block the transactions from them.