The New York Times also does this and it feels dirty.
https://myaccount.nytimes.com/mem/cancel.html?id=10434447
We're sorry to see you go.
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I had a terrible experience with a NYT digital-only subscription, and I'll likely never subscribe again.
I had a subscription for a while that I hadn't been using. I only used their site when linked to it from another (like HN). I tried to cancel online, but there's no way to—you need to cancel over the phone. So, I did, sitting on hold for close to a half hour. Bad experience, but I wish it had ended there.
Fast-forward two months, and I started getting emails that my subscription was past-due. Then I come to realize that they had continued to bill me every 2 weeks, but the payments had just started failing because my card expired.
I emailed CS, mentioning that I had cancelled my subscription and I was being billed by mistake, and to make sure my account got cancelled this time. They "couldn't do anything about it" because my account was in their "grace period", and that I would continue to get the past due emails until the grace period ended.
I ended up filing chargebacks for each charge after I had originally cancelled. To my knowledge, they never replied to or contested the chargebacks (does the customer usually get this info, if they do? it's the first and only chargeback I'd ever filed).
Audible, although I'm unsure about cancellation, only allows setting your account to "suspended" by phone.
I do this because I'm unable to keep up with one audiobook per month, but still really enjoy their service.
Also, Rackspace email (paid hosting by email address) requires you to contact customer service to delete email accounts you are not using. Not quite making a phone, but still requires going through a "wait and communicate with a human being" ten-minute process rather than a simple click to delete an account.
I cancelled Audible online. I was still annoyed because I signed up for the free month through a couple of clicks on a kindle and then because it isn't integrated with the Amazon account I forgot about it.
I can only speak for the NYT but they have a toll free number in my country, though the line was pretty bad (cut off twice).
Next time, I'll try to execute my right to cancel by the same means I subscribed, though. I don't think they will argue with you and if they did, I'd just fill a chargeback with my CCC.
https://myaccount.nytimes.com/mem/cancel.html?id=10434447 We're sorry to see you go. To cancel your subscription quickly and easily, please call Customer Care at 877-698-5635 Hours of Operation: Monday — Friday: 7:30 a.m. ET through 9:00 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday: 7:30 a.m. ET through 5:00 p.m. ET