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Comment by redwards510 | Hacker News Reader

I can't think of a single subscription service that does not auto-renew. Can you? Companies consider that a "feature" because it provides uninterrupted service.

Is your beef with them because they didn't email you to let you know they were going to bill you for renewal?

Do what I do. Never trust a company. Whenever you sign up for a recurring service or a free trial, add an event to your personal calendar that reminds you to cancel. Or use a gift card with a limited balance.

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Got an email reminder from Jetbrains yesterday about my IntelliJ licence renewal —

"This is a friendly reminder that we are going to charge your MasterCard [last four digits] on October 16, 2019, for the next year of your subscription".

Reminder 3 months out from renewal (& IIRC nearer the time too). Nice to see a company with belief enough in their product that they expect you to renew on that basis rather than through forgetfulness.

I think I wasn't clear enough that this is an annual subscription of significant cost ($300). With that in mind I would absolutely expect them to email in advance reminding me of the charge (other similar services do). I agree that for something that is monthly, I wouldn't expect an email every month.

Adding dates to the calendar and using giftcard/credit card are both good suggestions for the future.

Here’s the way around it as someone who has subscribed:

Cancel right after signing up for annual. Day it will terminate or day prior, can’t remember which, you’ll receive a “hey, don’t let your access expire” email and then you can either sign back up again or let it lapse.

Also, consider using a one-time Credit Card from https://privacy.com/

Thanks. I used to use virtual cards from Bank of America and Citibank but looks like it's just an after thought to the big banks now...

Do you know a similar service outside US?

You can get virtual cards and virtual disposable cards with Revolut but it costs a little fee or it‘s free with the premium/metal subscription

Revolut's disposable card is awesome. I use it constantly.

In New Zealand we have debit cards, so they act just like a normal credit card, except it needs to have money in the account for the transaction to work. So you tie it to an account that you put money into, instead of say, your every-day spending account which could contain a lot more money.

In the UK, the bank will just let the transaction go through & then charge you a hefty fee for an unapproved overdraft.

I have an annual Adobe Cloud membership and receive a renewal warning one month in advance, with the option to cancel.

   Your renewal notice  
  Your annual membership will renew automatically on 07-July-2019 (PT). The terms are outlined below.  
  To manage your subscription or access your invoices, login to your account & click ‘Manage plan’. Or login to adobe.com and navigate through your Account Management page: Manage your account > My plans > Manage plan.  
  If you have further questions, please contact Customer Support to speak with an Adobe representative.  
  Thank you,

Adobe

Beeminder will apparently automatically stop charging you if you stop logging in to their service.

It's true! http://blog.beeminder.com/autocancel

Just saw that this has been debated on HN before: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5664998

Yep. The opposite of what your cable company would do.

Credit cards in the US have sane policies. There's a grace period following renewal during which, if you cancel, the annual fee is refunded. Also, if you cancel at any other point, you get your prorated annual fee back.

I bought hosting and domain name from namecheap last week. I could (and still can) toggle auto-renew on and off pretty easily.

My only gripe with namecheap is that sometimes I have to solve a captcha to login.

I can think of two. Letterboxd, and Pinboard. I pay for both.

Amazon auto renewed w years fee after a trial, but offer a full refund after the fact if you haven't used the service.

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