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Cancelling a credit card doesn't mean the linked subscriptions just disappear. Plenty of people find that out the hard way when their unpaid bills are sent to collections.

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Right. But it's also not the bank (or Visa's) job to act as an arbiter for paying my subscriptions, especially if I'm in dispute with the merchant. If I am advising the bank / issuer that I do not want to authorize these transactions, it's not on them to say "well, we're here to help them continue to be able to authorize them, not for you to keep your money."

That's an issue between me and the merchant. I don't want MY bank acting as an enabler for the merchant over my wishes, with my money.

You're thinking like an engineer. From the perspective of the bank, you (the individual) has given a merchant (gym etc) a standing authority to bill you. That authority is between you and the merchant, not between your specific card number and their payment processor. Having your card reissued is not a withdrawal of that authority.

Based on the brief detail provided, I think OP's mistake was to cancel/reissue the card rather than dispute the charge / block the merchant.

If you are using a credit card you aren’t using “your” money. And it’s absolutely the card issuers business to be an arbiter of who is using their money.

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