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Comment by lapcat | Hacker News Reader

Over the years I've frequently signed up for streaming services for one or two months and then canceled. Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Mubi, etc.

I've literally never had a problem canceling. This is a bogeyman. It's as easy direct as it is via Apple. In fact, it's easier direct, because Apple refuses to keep you logged in to your account, so you have to enter your Apple ID password over and over again. So annoying.

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By signing up through Apple you are guaranteed to have an easy way to cancel. With many subscription services it is very difficult to cancel. Sometimes a service you can sign up for using Apple is easy to cancel even if you sign up outside of Apple. But why take the risk if you can sign up through Apple?

> Sign up for SiriusXM and then try to cancel.

I don't recall the exact button presses, but I've had a SiriusXM subscription, and it wasn't a problem to cancel. Just the usual "Subscriptions" section under my account IIRC.

Funny enough I had a hard time giving them money in the first place though, where the links for the promotion they were emailing me about refused to load.

I don’t believe you based on my experience.

Ok. I'm not willing to drop $10 just to retest, and it doesn't sound like you are either, so our anecdotes just have to stand on their own.

FWIW here's there documentation on cancelling which says it can be done from the subscription tab: https://www.siriusxm.com/help/manage-or-cancel-service

According to this Reddit thread you can cancel online but you must first chat with an agent. That's the Sirius XM I know. This thread is a year old. Maybe they have changed their ways but I'm skeptical. Consider me the Apostle Thomas. I doubt unless I see it with my own eyes.

https://old.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/100rb5f/siri...

I can say I 100% did not talk to an agent on the phone or in a chat box. I would have remembered that bullshit and not resubscribed (I did their 3 month for $1, promo, cancelled, then resubscribed when they sent me an email for a similar deal if I resubscribed).

This was early this year. Also app only (I don't have an XM radio). So maybe they've improved or maybe they are less aggressive with the nonradio plans.

> With many subscription services it is very difficult to cancel.

You gave one example. One is not many.

It's not true of Disney and Hulu, so the OP's claim "Which is probably precisely why Disney and Hulu don't want you to go through Apple" was false.

The bottom line is that it's not worth it to these companies for Apple to take 30% of their revenue just to be a payment processor.

Obviously you did not understand what I wrote. I clearly stated that sometimes it is as easy to cancel a service outside of using Apple as it is with using Apple. I followed up with a rhetorical question: “Why take the risk?”

I'm not convinced that it is a risk. You also clearly stated, "With many subscription services it is very difficult to cancel", yet even your lone example has been disputed.

In any case, which company you choose to pay is up to you. If you want to go with Apple, fine. I don't care either way. My dispute was with the OP's false insinuation, "Which is probably precisely why Disney and Hulu don't want you to go through Apple."

Canceling subscriptions is so difficult to do the the U.S. that a federal agency has announced new regulations designed to make it easy.

> Apple refuses to keep you logged in to your account, so you have to enter your Apple ID password over and over again.

Settings > Account > Subscriptions > Cancel

5 taps on my iPhone, and no prompt for Face ID or PIN. Are you using a website or something?

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