The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman.
I became frustrated today. Luckily, I was able to solve the issue quickly and easily.
A certain web site–which I won’t name as I don't want to get sued for defamation or something–has a policy that makes it very difficult to stop their recurring billing for subscriptions. No, this is not a genealogy-related web site. Rather, it is a company that widely advertises "free credit reports." I was gullible enough to sign up. I should have known better.
It turns out the so-called "free" reports aren't very free at all. Actually, the first month is free. In order to obtain the "free" report, you have to supply a credit card number. The fine print on the sign-up sheet (which I did read and I did understand) clearly stated that the first month was free; then the charge would be $16.95 per month after that. In return, you get a credit report every month. The wording on the sign-up form clearly stated that you can cancel at any time.
That sounded like a good offer. I planned to obtain my first free report and then cancel. After all, I don't have any need for a credit report every month. Once every two or three years would be fine by me.
The sign-up went well, and the first, free report was delivered quickly. That worked well. There was no immediate charge to my credit card. Of course, I then forgot about recurring charges. That was my mistake.
A month later, I had a charge on my credit card that I didn't recognize (at first) for $16.95. A bit of investigation soon cleared the mystery: it was from the company that supplies the so-called "free" credit reports.
That reminds me of an old saying: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."
I decided to cancel the monthly subscription. That’s when the frustration set in.
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