Hi everyone, I foolishly subscribed to internet security companies that charge me a monthly fee for spam protection, Digital Protection Services, Segurazo, Ad-aware, etc. I try to unsubscribe on my own, but I run into confusing, detailed procedures that I don’t understand. Can anyone recommend a service that will unsubscribe for me? If you can’t tell, I’m not a real sophisticated computer user. Thanks for any assistance you all can provide.
How are you paying for these services? It might be simpler to just stop paying (i.e. tell your bank to decline the transactions, or if it is via your credit/debit card, report the card lost and get a new one with a new number, which kill off the payment).
At least one of the services you mentioned is a scam taking your money for doing nothing (except for lying to you about the existence of a problem they promised to fix).
Segurazo Antivirus (also known as SAntivirus Realtime Protection Lite ) is a hardly useful antivirus software that most experts identify as a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that is hard to remove from the computer system. Cybersecurity professionals agree that at most it can be called a system optimizer which tends to display fake positive scan results. Such a technique is often used by untrustworthy vendors to trick users into buying software license to fix computer problems that might not even exist.
That’s what I thought, Microsoft Edge is doing a good job of keeping me safe. I’ll just report my card stolen. Thanks for your advice.
If you’ve previously given them your phone number, brace for an incoming call arguing that you are contractually obliged to continue paying, or some such BS. They are quite likely to try to get more money off you and they can be quite argumentative.
No thank goodness, they only have my email address. I can just add their emails to my spam folder.
I do most of my online payments through PayPal, linked to a credit card that I only use for that. It has a really simple system for stopping scheduled payments.
Getting a new card may not be enough. Find out if your bank will just transfer the new info to creditors from the previous card.
Email them and tell them you’ll be filing a dispute if they don’t cancel your subscription. Keep a copy of all your emails to present to your CC company if they ask for proof of your attempts to cancel. The CC company wants to keep you as customer more than the 3-4% in merchant fees they get for keeping your subscription alive.
Good point to check, but if you report the card as lost or stolen, that really shouldn’t happen. Probably worth discussing this with the bank and telling them you wish to block payments from specific vendors
Cancelling your credit card doesn’t remove your responsibility and agreement with the merchant. Same with closing your bank account or removing all but a dollar. Your legal obligation to fulfill your agreement with the merchant remains and they’ll either send your account to collections, possibly incurring fees or they may sue you.
"Stopping an automatic, recurring payment: If you have regular, automatic deductions from your checking account (to pay for expenses such as insurance premiums or utility bills), the EFTA allows you to stop those payments. First, notify the vendor. Next, tell your bank about your request at least three business days before the money is scheduled to be transferred. Your notice to the bank may be oral, but the institution may require you to provide a written follow-up within 14 days to ensure that no additional payments are made. If you fail to provide a written follow-up, the bank is no longer responsible for stopping future payments.
Stopping an automatic, recurring payment on a credit card is different. Start by putting in your request with the vendor. But if the vendor continues to charge your credit card, contact your card issuer. You’ll have 60 days to dispute the charge, starting when the card issuer sends you the statement with the charges.
“Any time you need to stop a recurring payment from your checking or credit card account, it’s a good idea to put your requests to the vendor and to the financial institution in writing, so that you have a record of it in case of a dispute,” explained St. Germain.
Also, even though your financial institution may stop some payments, you may still be legally obligated for other payments depending on your contract with the service provider. For example, if you sign a contract to receive and pay for certain services for 12 months, and you cancel before the end of the agreement, you may still owe the entire amount."
Source: [FDIC: FDIC Consumer News Winter 2012/2013 - Need to Stop a Payment? Know Who to Contact and How]
(FDIC: FDIC Consumer News Winter 2012/2013 - Need to Stop a Payment? Know Who to Contact and How)
The good news is that because of the pandemic, cancelling recurring subscriptions may be easier. Say you’re unable to afford the recurring payments. As I stated above, communicate via email or certified mail only, He said, she said over the phone can be disputed by the other side. Refuse all offers for lower payments or free extensions. Be firm and be strong.emphasized text
If they have made it purposely difficult or impossible to cancel their (in this case, spurious and imaginary) services, I’m pretty sure the law will not be on their side.
Unless they do something clearly illegal, I’m pretty sure the law WILL be on their side.
Scamming people is illegal in general
So that’s why they shut down Face Book!
My card number was changed by my bank due to data loss at a merchant where I had shopped. My bank continued to process the subscription payments for many of my accounts even though the number had changed. I don’t know if that would happen if reported lost or stolen.
I once signed up for ClassMates.com for something like $30 for a year. They hid in very teeny tiny small print that it would be a recurring charge every year. When I saw a charge come through a year later I contacted my bank to dispute it. They didn’t even research it. They had many of these complaints and were very familiar with the site, and said that when I signed up, I agree to a recurring charge. Regardless of how scummy it was, it was legally binding.
I would stick it out and try to unsubscribe. If you get into them and have specific problems I am sure people here can help you through it. They make it hard on purpose but they can’t make it impossible.
Couple of things.
You asked for a service to help you unsubscribe. Don’t sign up for anymore services! I’ll repeat, Don’t sign up for anymore services! Especially ones that say they’ll help you with your issues. Most likely they’re scam services themselves looking to prey on people who aren’t comfortable enough to do it themselves.
Next, read the agreement and terms of service on the websites thoroughly. If you need help, post the site address here and someone can probably help you understand what you’re actually up against.
Bottom line is if you signed an agreement, you’re legally obligated to pay for the term of that agreement as the FDIC link I gave above states.
Again, DON’T sign up for any website until you’ve resolved this issue and thoroughly read and understand the terms of the agreement, if any you’re signing for.
This is the rare occasion where asking here is better than paying a possibly scam website. If you really want help, ask a professional like a financial adviser or a lawyer if you know one that’s willing to help… Or ask someone at bank (not a teller, possibly a credit counselor) as they may be able to help.
Yeah, absolutely. Stop signing up for things.
And I agree with the rest of what you said - it’s best to terminate an agreement via the contractually agreed method, but when it comes to contracts that were not made in good faith, and where the other party is just acting fraudulently, sometimes, the only recourse is to cut off payment.
Thanks for all of your replies. I had saved a copy of the original contract so I looked through it and discovered that I either had to send a letter to address in Romania(not kidding) within 60 days of signing up or send an email to their help address so that’s what I did. I received an email back promising to let me out of each service that I signed up for. So far, so good.
Good going!
Be sure to watch your credit card(s) as they may claim that your next invoice has already been generated or you’re in between billing cycles and it will take one or two cycles to end. So you may have to contact them to request a credit.
I can’t emphasize enough. Read the Terms of Agreement for anything you sign up for, especially if they have a free or low cost trial.
A year or two ago, I forgot to switch my website hosting after the introductory offer and the cost tripled. Thankfully it’s still <$10/moth.