Netflix cancelling accounts. Good on them!

[JetSetGo]

Hi, I read Netflix is automatically cancelling accounts that havent been used over the last year to avoid cusromers spending unneccesary money in case they had forgotten they had it . Good on them! I wish all recurring subscriptions would follow the same process. I remember paying for club penguin for much longer than it was used for. Could have done with this then.

Also dont you just hate it when yearly insurance policies auto renew? They must think us stupid!

Martin Lewis always suggests people should go through all their standing orders and direct debits to see if there are any you can cancel. I always thought of myself as pretty money-savvy but decided to do this anyway and was amazed how much I saved.

Auto renew is appalling

However Netflix cancelling unused accounts is not a positive in my eyes. It’s nannying and taking away financial responsibility.

If people need to save £7 a month then they should be taking control over their finances and cancelling themselves.

What the companies need to do is make the cancellation process as swift and painless as possible with no exit fees.

@BrassicaBabe

Ha ha. Unfortunately Experian aren’t known for the same levels of customer service that Netflix are.

@MonkeysandParrots

Absolutely. My customer experience with EasyJet has been so bad that I will never touch them again.

I would happily accept auto renew on car insurance if cancelling it was via an easy email, or a tick box on the website if you have a login. Most don’t do this though, the cynic in me says they don’t want people to cancel auto renew and maybe go elsewhere.

One that does, and we have some policies with, is Axa. A quick email and they cancel auto renewal. We emailed for DDs car insurance which renews next weekend.

One of today’s tasks is to get quotes, she may stick with Axa, she may get cheaper, but she will decide and doesn’t want the hassle of ringing them to cancel if using a new provider.

Last year we had to ring and cancel her previous policy (which was also her first year of driving) and were subject to 20mins of “let us see if we can reduce the price“ - very very hard sell and they couldn’t match her cheaper quote.

It’s a pity they weren’t so thoughtful when they tried to increase the premium extortionately earlier in insurance year, when she changed from being a student with PT retail job, to just having the PT retail job! We felt no loyalty to them because of that.

I think this brilliant news - I've got a subscription still coming out of my old joint account with ex that I have no idea of the log in for. Spent many hours trying to find the associated email address so I can cancel it and it's linked to his card so they couldn't even find it for me without knowing the number of it!

Will save me needing to wait until the card expires :D

NEtflix costs me £12 a month

But this was one of the things that calendars were invented for. I put a reminder in my calendar before every single insurance, subscription, services renewal to remind me to shop around and get the best deal. It saves me a fortune.

I agree. These days everyone has a calender/diary/reminder on their phone and yet people just can't be bothered to use them. And as another post said, just look on your bank statements regularly and check what s/o and d/d's are being taken. Not rocket science.

I think it's a good thing. Lots of people subscribe to things and then because it's "just" £5 or £10 a month they don't worry about it and just let it continue.

I cancelled a lot of subscription services at the start of lockdown and it's amazing what I've saved!

I've been stung on auto renew on a mindfulness app - really annoying- no refund either.

I accidentally signed up to Amazon Prime and paid for a year. I have set a reminder on my phone to cancel it next December. In the meantime I am making use of the prime kindle reading library, the films and the music, and free next day delivery, so it's not all bad.

I paid insurance for over 5 years for a laptop I no longer had - I wish the company had at least contacted me once to ask if I still needed the insurance. BUT at the end of the day, it's my fault for not checking bank statements.

that is good-lst year my fil found out somehow he had 2 netflix accounts he lives this got fil angry and saidalone

so he rang them up sorry sir we'll cancel one for you-except they didnt and money was taken again

rang again someone a bit ruder said well maybe you wanted two accounts-this got him angry and said wth would i want two accounts? well maybe your wife-highly unlikeyl since shes dead

he cancelled them both after a complaint-so i digress this sounds good news that they will auto cancel now

I only subscribe to things that can be managed online, and I cancel them as soon as I've subscribed so that I only have it for the first subscription period (month or year). For instance the most recent one is Disney plus, DD asked for it so I took out a month and immediately cancelled so that we only had a month, and then waited to see if DD noticed. They can always be renewed if needed.

sorry that first line meant to say he lives alone

Also, I generally pay with my credit card and not as a direct debit or standing order. If the worst happens and I totally forget or don't notice a payment that I don't need anymore at least the card goes out of date every few years.

If people cannot be trusted to be responsible for their own finances, it's a bit sad that companies have to hold their hands all the time.

I get an e mail each month from netflix telling me I have paid for the month. Anyone who misses this monthly is a bit daft imo.

Actually I do wonder some folk set up netflix, do not personally watch but other family members do, would that cancel it.

Yes the insurance auto renew is bad.

Mines even worse this year. I got renewal (up from last years amount and over £100 more than other quotes. Got told they'd auto renew. No information on how to cancel. So I cancelled the DD via the bank!

To be fair @MagnoliaJustice amazon will email you before your Prime subscription expires to remind you so that you can cancel the renewal if you don't want it.

I'm glad to be honest.

For someone like myself who has adhd or is just forgetful its handy.

If people cannot be trusted to be responsible for their own finances, it's a bit sad that companies have to hold their hands all the time.

I left a very an abusive relationship a few years back where I was that ground down and trying to survive with the kids my finances were in a shocking state, I couldn't get straight at all, ex was also financially abusive and used to take out things in my name as he had control 9ver my account and my card. In the end I gave up and ended up not knowing what was coming out my account every month

Now I do! It's great but I can see how it happens. I also have adhd and I do struggle even now at times with money

Easy to be smug and all that

@ GhostMouse I read your post and really glad things are working out for you

@hauntedvagina

The reason insurance policies auto renew is because it's incredibly risky to rely on Jo Public to remember renewal dates for every policy and you would likely end up with a lot of uninsured cars, houses, etc...

So what happened to personal responsibility? If you are too stupid to remember to renew your various insurances, you take the consequences. Its all part of being a responsible adult.

@JetSetGo

Hi, I read Netflix is automatically cancelling accounts that havent been used over the last year to avoid cusromers spending unneccesary money in case they had forgotten they had it . Good on them! I wish all recurring subscriptions would follow the same process. I remember paying for club penguin for much longer than it was used for. Could have done with this then.

Also dont you just hate it when yearly insurance policies auto renew? They must think us stupid!

Yep thats exactly what they think. Autoirenewing exists because peopel dont bother checkig nthe cost so the insurance companies can jack up the price to stupdi levels.

@JetSetGo

Hi, I read Netflix is automatically cancelling accounts that havent been used over the last year to avoid cusromers spending unneccesary money in case they had forgotten they had it . Good on them! I wish all recurring subscriptions would follow the same process. I remember paying for club penguin for much longer than it was used for. Could have done with this then.

Also dont you just hate it when yearly insurance policies auto renew? They must think us stupid!

Yep thats exactly what they think. Autoirenewing exists because peopel dont bother checkig nthe cost so the insurance companies can jack up the price to stupdi levels.

Surely personal responsibility cuts both ways on car insurance Steph. Competent smug people like yourself aren’t affected either way because you always shop around and sort out a new policy in plenty of time each year.

If key insurance policies don’t autorenew then incompetent/disorganised/unlucky people who don’t get around to doing that will be penalised by accidentally driving uninsured and getting a criminal record. If key insurance policies do autorenew then disorganised etc people will be penalised by having to pay too much. Personally I think that the latter is a better risk to take.

Disorganised people driving uninsured costs competent people money because they have to pay the MIB levy which pays for claims against uninsured drivers. On the other hand disorganised people having to pay over the odds for autorenewal actually subsides well-organised people and keeps their costs down. So surely the smug “personal responsibility” people should be all in favour.