this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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Privacy
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Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
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I haven't seen it but what I often do is that I create a virtual credit card with only the amount needed - my bank makes that possible - and then they just can't get any more money and more often than not just give up. I try to cancel but sometimes it's impossible.
I like this idea too, but in some countries if you don't pay something, the company can add you to a nationwide "blacklist" that will give you a lot of headaches later. For instance, trying to get a loan from a bank, or insurance for something. There's a good chance those will be denied if you are on that list.
I had a subscription with special pricing to my local paper. After the introductory period was over, they raised the price from like $5 a month to $22. I didn't want to pay that much so I went to cancel but they do one of those, sorry, you can only cancel by calling us and listening to us plead with you to keep your subscription. I ended up just changing my card to a virtual one with a penny on it and after a thousand phone calls and mailers and a few months they finally auto cancelled my subscription. In this scenario, you'd still be pegged with a negative remark where you're from?
Well i'm from Germany. You can't just stop paying and they can't force you to listen to their pleas.
A simple informal email is enough to cancel most anything.
You can always get back money that was withdrawn from your bank account (probably a SEPA thing) and as long as payments are in dispute (you have to disagree with wrong invoices in writing) they can't charge you extra.
While that's certainly a solution that'll work against these abusive companies, that's technically still fraud. If they bother to come after you after not paying, you can get into trouble. I would reserve withholding payment only for companies that don't let you cancel your subscription according to local law just in case they do take you to small claims court.
You don't want to find out about a debt that's been resold to various debt traders and collections agencies ten years down the line, especially once every party thst tries to claim the debt has added their own fees on top.
I've tried to do that a few times but it's a royal pain in the ass. If you don't mind, which banks/credit cards make that easy?
I use privacy. It works and is easy enough to use. I didn't know banks supported it though, mine doesn't.
It's not super easy, but at least possible in my Swedish https://www.varbergssparbank.se/
This exactly yes