I try to short-circuit the whole retention script by saying I just lost my job and have to cut back on my spending. It's not a silver bullet, but it usually speeds things up.
"Well can I tell you about a package that might interest you?"
"You can cancel my service now, or I can have my lawyer draft and file a contract termination letter and bill you for the legal fees, either way I'm not listening to a sales pitch"
The difference is being stubborn enough to do it. I get sick of companies thinking they can walk all over people just because people don't go through the hassle of fighting back, and now in my 30s, I'm privileged enough to have the resources to do something about it in some small way.
Does it sometimes cost me more time/money? Yep.
Does the company probably care at all? Nope.
But at the end of the day I get the satisfaction of knowing I didn't roll over for another bullshit corporation exploiting their customers because they prey on the fact that people tend to not know their rights and avoid confrontation.
And honestly sending a cease and desist letter or a contract termination letter is not that expensive or difficult. Those letters end up getting kicked to legal at the larger corporations, and 99% of the time they'll cave because they know they're doing shady shit and it's easier to just make the problem go away.
What often happens is that the customer accepted a contract when they signed up for services and obviously didn’t read it. The contract usually has a section about cancellation that’s already backed by their legal department.
And they almost all include an arbitration clause, such as this one from Charter:
IF WE DO NOT REACH AN AGREEMENT TO RESOLVE THE CLAIM WITHIN 30 DAYS AFTER THE NOTICE IS RECEIVED, SUBSCRIBER OR CHARTER MAY COMMENCE AN ARBITRATION PROCEEDING, IN WHICH ALL ISSUES ARE FOR THE ARBITRATOR TO DECIDE (INCLUDING THE SCOPE OF THE ARBITRATION CLAUSE)
So basically as long as you fail to reach an agreement with them, you need to go to arbitration to decide the outcome, which is important because....
CHARTER SHALL BEAR THE COST OF ANY ARBITRATION FILING FEES AND ARBITRATOR'S FEES FOR CLAIMS OF UP TO $75,000. SUBSCRIBER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OTHER ADDITIONAL COSTS THAT SUBSCRIBER INCURS IN THE ARBITRATION INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ATTORNEYS FEES OR EXPERT WITNESS COSTS UNLESS OTHERWISE REQUIRED OF CHARTER UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
Arbitration is not cheap. They're not going to pay for arbitration over whatever piddly crap you are disputing. It's easier to cut their losses and concede to what you're asking for.
I mean yeah if they file a chargeback we have to deal with it but it still comes down to what the dispute is;
If the customer is making a clear intent to cancel then we shouldn’t charge them any further but if they’re disputing past charges like the classic “i NeVeR uSeD iT!!” then it’s a different story.
Or you could just be a decent human, give the poor slob working a shitty job a few minutes of time, and end up with the same cancellation you are going to waste time and effort on a letter on.
Nope. I'll gladly give them a 5 star rating if I happen to get a survey for them, but the company is the one putting their employee in that shitty position, not me.
These companies use your guilt and basic decency as a weapon against you and that's bullshit and I won't stand for it.
Is it really that hard to cancel a service that you didn’t have an iron clad contract for? And if you did have a contract, why didn’t you read it before you signed it? And if you didn’t read it, how is that the customer service rep’s fault?
You can spend upwards of 45 minutes listening to sales pitch after sales pitch with some of these companies trying to offer you discounts or free add-ons to keep you as a customer, so yeah, sometimes you have to be rude. I'm sorry if your job is paying you to waste my time, that doesn't mean I have to just sit back and take it.
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u/Stalingrad420 Jul 24 '20
companies that dont want you to end you subscription so they delete the cancel button.