William is a Barnes & Noble member, which entitles him to discounts in the physical store and free shipping on the Barnes & Noble website. He renews this membership every year, when it expires. That’s at the end of the year. Or so he thought. [More]
renewals
I Just Found Out I've Been Subscribing To Satellite Radio For The Past Year
By 1.31.11
Brian said last year a Sirius XM representative assured him his subscription wouldn’t automatically renew, but he found out recently that his account did auto-renew and he owes for the past year. The company won’t refund him and simply points out that its terms and conditions revealed his account would auto-renew. [More]
Beware The Costco And American Express Membership Fee Double Dip
By 7.13.09
Last week we mentioned that Costco has a habit of backdating the starting date for lapsed membership renewals, which prompted Monica to write in and let us know of another issue they seem to have with billing. If you renew your executive membership with Costco but then apply for the Costco American Express card, Amex will charge you the membership fee a second time. Monica says the Amex CSR who fixed the problem told her it happens all the time.
Be Careful, Costco Backdates Renewals
By 7.7.09
If you let your Costco membership lapse, then 2 months later renew it, Costco will backdate it to day it lapsed instead of the day you renew. The result: your 12 month membership suddenly shrinks to 10 months for the same price. Consumer Reports notes that Costco used to backdate renewals by as much as 5 months before a recent class-action settlement.
Xbox Live Cancels Year-Long Prepaid Account, Demands Another Year's Subscription To Reactivate
By 3.25.09
Xbox Live has struck again, this time by screwing up the auto-renewal on a customer’s account and ruining the prepaid annual membership he activated just three months ago.
Iowa Woman Arrested For Failing To Return Library Book
By 1.24.09
Thirty-nine-year-old Shelly Koontz was arrested for failing to return a copy of the The Freedom Writer’s Diary that she borrowed last April from the Jessup library. The library had tried to reach Koontz through four calls and four letters, one certified, which she refused to accept. Fed up, library officials asked to press charges, leading officers to visit Koontz’s home with three simple options: return the book; pay the library $13.95 so they could buy a new copy; or, go to jail.
San Diego Union Tribune Tries To Trick Customers Into Renewing By Demanding Payment For "Unpaid Bill"
By 3.8.08
Dean writes:
I received a call yesterday from my newspaper (the San Diego Union Tribune). The nice young man on the phone told me that I had an unpaid bill, and if I liked, he could take care of that over the phone with me right then. I take a certain amount of pride in paying all my bills promptly, so my first impulse was to go ahead and get it taken care of asap. But after the first few seconds of surprise and confusion, I got suspicious.
Happy Sunshine Fun-Time Magazine Customer Service Happiness
By 9.26.06
Maybe it’s because of the nice sunny weather we’re having after days and days of dreary, grey weather, but we’re in a good mood today. And our good mood means we’re less inclined to take the all-companies-suck-all-the-time perspective that some readers seem to think we need to be employing. Sometimes, believe it or not, companies screw up and then actually fix the problem.
