Credit card subscription problem

[kerry]

Decided to buy a 3 mo subscription to NYT for a relative last December after seeing a little ad card in the paper. When I called up to do it, went thru the whole process including giving them my credit card number and at the very end, clerk says, this charge will repeat on your card every 3 months. WHOA. No way, I said, I only want to purchase a single 3 mo subscription with no repetition. Not possible she says. I say, cancel the transaction.
After looking on the net for a couple of days to find a place to buy a single 3 month subscription I call customer service to complain that it's not possible. Guy who answers the phone says it is. It's a higher price but you can buy a one time three month subscription, no problem. So I buy it.

Now, come to find out they have been charging me at the 3 month subscription price EVERY SINGLE MONTH since last December. My wife pays the bills, we have our own monthly NYT subscription charge and they were moving the additional charge around to different dates of the month, so my wife never caught it. What a scam.
NYT will refund 3 months but no more. I'm disputing it with the card company but I may be out of luck. So be careful if you have an ongoing charge on your card.

[SwampYankee]

I think the papers are so desperate to get their circulation numbers up that they'll try just about anything to keep an account active. I know that when I was delivering the Hartford Courant, there was always a handful of people on my route that would cancel their subscriptions every year and then ream me out when I delivered a copy to them [because they were still on my "active" list, because they were still getting billed for it even though they (thought they had) cancelled]. It would take 3-4 irate calls from them until they were finally removed from the active subscription list and the billing stopped.

I'm not saying the NYT is any less screwed up than the Tribune Corp... Or maybe I am? I think it's the nature of their business right now.

It's not right, but you'll have to be persistent.

[Brian Carlton]

The deal with the recurring charge every X months is getting pervasive.

IMHO, they figure that the average person will forget to cancel the subscription and, if they do, they will fail to recognize that it was never cancelled by the vendor.

This case is a perfect example. The charge appears on the credit card but went unnoticed. It must generate millions in revenue.

It's a sad state of affairs when the vendors must resort to deception to gather revenue.

Personally, like Kerry, I never agree to any recurring charges due to the difficulty of removing them at any time down the road.

In this case, they simply overcharged for the product and hoped nobody would notice. Sadly, they were successful.

[Stretch]

You could always "loose your card" - you get a new number and the $^&%*ers can't charge you anymore...

[compress ignite]

The Bastards are liable to "Backlink" your New Card # to the Old,
or transfer the recurring balance to the New Card #.(To Be:"Helpful")
(Even though that's supposedly not kosher)

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by compress ignite

The Bastards are liable to "Backlink" your New Card # to the Old,
or transfer the recurring balance to the New Card #.(To Be:"Helpful")
(Even though that's supposedly not kosher)

That should be classed as fraud - lock 'em up.

[TX76513]

Its incredible how much merchant deception is going on -You could probably do a new thread on all the "gimics" that are in play. sigh

[Rafi]

I had similar problem. Changed card numbers and renewals kept coming, I called the CC and asked what was the point of changing cards, no answer.
In the end, I canceled that card and do not do business with the CC co.

[Hatterasguy]

Yeah it happens that's why I watch my CC bill like a hawk.

Newspaper? Whats that.

[tyl604]

I renewed my subscription to PC Magazine near the end of the year a couple of times at a fantastic price. About nine months ago they decided not to publish it in hard copy any longer and force readers to get it on line. I called in to cancel my subscription and found I had five years of subscription. So I guess they just kept sending me offers about eight to ten months apart hoping that I would forget I had already signed up.

It worked.

[Medmech]

Simply report it to the bank/credit card company and they will halt the charges and credit you for the arrears.