Streaming, lesson learned

[donnamp]

I'm sorry to hear that and I'm sorry to hear it was Lisa! I do wish there was a way to manage your subscription on the PBL site without having to e-mail Lisa directly. I enjoy popping in and out of that site from time to time, but I hate having to e-mail her to do so - I am not sure why - she never gave me any grief about it, but I just like the ease of managing things myself with a click of a button!



Donna

[suzannaerin]

Pretty in pink, you are correct. I looked for my renewal date info on the site and couldn’t find it. On SBF and Cathe, you can see when your next renewal payment is coming, as well as payment info. I was tempted to call my card and dispute the charge, mostly because their screw you attitude.

[momofcha]

Originally Posted by Exercise Diva

Most of the subscriptions that I have auto renew - I make sure now to put a reminder in my phone ahead of the date that the auto renewal is coming up. This has saved me a lot of aggravation.

This. I subscribe to several and I don't receive any type of reminder of my payment coming up. I always put it in my calendar when I purchase so I know when the renewal is coming. In my opinion it's on the consumer to know when it's due and to cancel beforehand, not the retailer. I also think it should be clearly stated in your account when it's due to renew though. Sorry this happened to you.

[Usia]

Wow! I'm really surprised it was Pilates by Lisa. I've had nothing but the best CS from her whenever I contacted her.

[suzannaerin]

Originally Posted by Usia

Wow! I'm really surprised it was Pilates by Lisa. I've had nothing but the best CS from her whenever I contacted her.

That’s why I was especially upset. They were so nice when I first subscribed, so I was not expecting the dismissive attitude. I do agree that it was my fault for not writing down when the renewal was coming, but I never anticipated that they wouldn’t let me know or that I would have to track it. Particularly since your renewal date and account info is not available on her website, a first for me (I don’t stream much but even the others I’ve tried and canceled had all the info in my account info on the sites, making transactions straightforward and transparent). I’ll chalk it up to PBL’s lack of business savvy rather than underhandedness. I will not subscribe from her again, even though I think she’s a terrific teacher.

[sillygirl]

Originally Posted by bubbles76

I believe that Chris Freytag's site, and maybe Cathe's, reminds you that your annual fee is coming up. Don't quote me, as I'm not a member of these sites, but I have heard that to be the case in the past.

Yes, Chris’s Get Healthy U TV sends out a reminder email about a month and a half before your renewal date. Really nice to give you plenty of time to call and cancel. Then you get an email letting you know you have full access to the site until the renewal date. I also put everything in my calendar but really appreciate the reminder email they send.

[Vintage VFer]

I had a yearly subscription to a language learning service. I totally forgot when it was to renew and it did the auto-renewal thing. I wrote to the company and told them that, while it is a great service, I didn't want to renew. They were very gracious about it and refunded my money (via iTunes) within a few days. So, it is possible for a company to be decent to another human being.

I'm not sure whether I want to renew Beachbody on Demand in June. I have a note on my calendar to remind myself.

[cherimac]

Originally Posted by txhsmom

Most are an automatic renewal without any notice. In fact, I can't think of a single one that isn't any more. I've started marking them on my calendar about a month ahead of renewal time, after what happened with my Barre3 renewal.

Carol

Yes. Pretty sure SBF does that now too. This didn’t used to be the case but is pretty much standard procedure these days.

[yogapam]

Originally Posted by prettyinpink

You know, normally, I understand this policy. Although some companies, like Amazon Prime, send you a reminder that it is about to renew before they charge you.

But in the case of Pilates by Lisa (whose workouts I love and do subscribe to), I think this is poor customer service, because there is NO place on their website where you can see your account and when you last renewed, and to cancel you have to email someone. I think that until they make their website a little less clunky in that regard, they should have refunded your money. In fact, I contacted them to renew me for a year because it NEVER occurred to me that they would charge me for another year without my specific okay, since it is all done via email.

Is there any way to pay with a prepaid card for some of these sites? It might be worth trying. Using PayPal might also prevent this, but many sites don’t use it.

You should definitely be able to see your subscription status on an account page, that's not right. And PayPal would prevent this because you can cancel automatic payments.

[antbuko]

Originally Posted by donnamp

I'm sorry to hear that and I'm sorry to hear it was Lisa! I do wish there was a way to manage your subscription on the PBL site without having to e-mail Lisa directly. I enjoy popping in and out of that site from time to time, but I hate having to e-mail her to do so - I am not sure why - she never gave me any grief about it, but I just like the ease of managing things myself with a click of a button!



Donna

I feel the same way. I have to check my bank transactions to keep track of the monthly renewal.