hm. how do customers feel about you changing the pricing without their input? I mean, it sounds like the guy is clear ahead of time, but if he thinks he will lose customers if he reminds the user that they are paying, uh, doesn't that mean that he is basically acknowledging that he is not providing a service the user values at full price? that he is just hoping they forget to cancel?

It's related to something I've struggled with; I mean, I make users take active action every bill... I don't support recurring billing, just 'cause I feel weird about just hoping you won't remember to cancel your account. And yeah, I'm probably loosing out on a lot of trailing months... but what do you think that does to customer goodwill?

I'm not saying I know the answers... however, my opinion would be that long term, you are better off providing enough value that the customer is willing to take active action to stay.

On the other hand, I've had several customers ask me for recurring billing, so it's quite possible that the convenience factor is the operative issue here, rather than the value provided by the service. It's possible that the service is worth the money, but not worth the hassle of positively acknowledging another bill.