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Comment by brk | Hacker News Reader

Odd, I've gone from free-paid-free-paid-free a few times now by following whatever the process was at the time.

One thing I suggest for any sites like this is to get one of those "disposable" credit card numbers with a configurable time/balance limit. Login to your online card balance viewer portal and there is usually an option for this. Eliminates a lot of "please please cancel my account" debates...

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That is a really good idea - I had the same issue with a wireless provider I signed up for (Deep Blue Wireless, if anyone has ever used them) previously.

Regardless, I think it is a pretty shady business practice to obfuscate the process of removing charges which were signed up for. It can be done really well - Netflix has made it really easy, and because of it I am willing to go back and forth as a subscriber. At this point I will never sign up again for a LinkedIn business account.

Any recommendations on 'disposable' credit cards?

Citibank provides a web service that dynamically generates a credit card number linked to your account, which is only valid for a month. This service comes free with their credit cards AFAIK.

Bank of America offers this as well. They give you the option of specifying a one time limit, monthly limit, and expiration dates for the number.

Citicard has a virtual credit card number which we can use for a certain period of time. Never used the virtual number myself though.

I like the "Paypal plugin". You can generate both temporary long-term and temporary one-time use cards. Very handy, and you have the extra protection of having it linked to your Paypal account, so if you choose to limit your Paypal balance to $100 you don't have to pull any tricks like you would with a bank account.

Paypal does this very easily online.

Speaking of evil companies....

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