I used to work as an editor for my city's metro newspaper.
As someone who wants to see local journalism succeed, I would be willing to subscribe at a reasonable rate.
But the only subscription plan they offer is {ridiculously low rate for first 6 months} then {ridiculously high rate after that).
And I know what a hassle it is to cancel. No online option. You have to phone in, endure 20-30 minutes on hold, then resist a retention specialist's multiple efforts to get you to reconsider.
No thanks. I want to support local journalism, but this is not the way.
The FTC recently announced that it's ramping up enforcement of subscription services cancellation rules:
"Marketers should provide cancellation mechanisms that are at least as easy to use as the method the consumer used to buy the product or service in the first place."
I hope that these efforts do make a difference with news subscriptions.
Absolutely true, and this is where i found subscribing to those through Apple’s App Store helps. This way, i am subbed to a bunch of newspapers, and i can always easily cancel them with a single click from a single UI in the “My Subscriptions” section of the app store.
I did that experiment with NYT (note: not a California resident), where i signed up regularly through their website first and tried canceling, and then did the same through App Store.
With the first one (website), i had to call or email them to cancel, no way to do it through a UI. Took me a few days to get it done. With the second one (App Store), all it took was one click from “My Subscriptions” page that has all my subscriptions from App Store.
I use privacy.com for those kinds of services. Always works like a charm. The WSJ ends up chasing you when the card declines (gets turned off), often with continued low monthly plans.
Definitely a concern unless you're in CA. I do wonder if the newspaper industry as a whole would not be better served by allowing CA-style easy cancellation nationwide. Sure, you get more cancels, but you also get more people signing up initially, and a bunch of those probably don't bother cancelling.
jawns|4 years ago
As someone who wants to see local journalism succeed, I would be willing to subscribe at a reasonable rate.
But the only subscription plan they offer is {ridiculously low rate for first 6 months} then {ridiculously high rate after that).
And I know what a hassle it is to cancel. No online option. You have to phone in, endure 20-30 minutes on hold, then resist a retention specialist's multiple efforts to get you to reconsider.
No thanks. I want to support local journalism, but this is not the way.
The FTC recently announced that it's ramping up enforcement of subscription services cancellation rules:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/10/ftc-r...
"Marketers should provide cancellation mechanisms that are at least as easy to use as the method the consumer used to buy the product or service in the first place."
I hope that these efforts do make a difference with news subscriptions.
filoleg|4 years ago
I did that experiment with NYT (note: not a California resident), where i signed up regularly through their website first and tried canceling, and then did the same through App Store.
With the first one (website), i had to call or email them to cancel, no way to do it through a UI. Took me a few days to get it done. With the second one (App Store), all it took was one click from “My Subscriptions” page that has all my subscriptions from App Store.
abendy|4 years ago
erehweb|4 years ago
more_corn|4 years ago