How can we protect ourselves from online services that employ hidden autorenewal clauses to keep charging us? Readers responded to my recent story about how credit card companies like American Express handle disputed autorenewal charges with some ideas on what we can do about it.
"I thought about this a while back while working with
But such virtual or one-time credit card numbers don't always work as you might expect. "The one time number doesn't help, at least for Discover," a reader wrote. "The number can be used by that specific vendor, but they can use it as many times as they want, as I discovered when a subscription was automatically renewed with my year old one time number. I haven't checked the other credit card vendors' policies."
"Not all virtual account numbers are created equal," agreed another reader. "As has been previously noted, with Discover you must call to get a virtual account cancelled. Citi and Bank of America (MBNA) offer the option of creating a number with specific time and dollar limits. This worked advantageously for me, ironically, with a subscription to Consumer Reports online service. I didn't find it to be worth the money and failed to notice the evergreen clause in the subscription. A year later I got a snail mail notice saying that there was a problem with my renewal. No problem for me; I didn't want it and didn't get charged for it."
Other readers think a little more drastic action is called for. "The cure is simple but inconvenient. Do not purchase products with autorenewal clauses and do not do business with credit card companies you feel won't stand by you in a dispute. These practices will stop when they are no longer profitable. Nobody likes to read the fine print but before authorizing anyone to charge your credit card, it's not that difficult to copy the fine print into your word processor and search for terms like "auto" or "renewal" ... you can even do this from within your browser."
Should we really all have to read every sneakwrap license agreement for autorenewal clauses? Maybe not. "One change I'd like to see involves more diligent disclosure," wrote another reader. "For me, it's not enough to move autorenewal from the EULA to a separate, clearly worded agreement because a year old agreement is usually forgotten. I want notification from the vendor shortly BEFORE autorenewal is executed --including a chance to opt out. And ideally, I'd also like clear and explicit notification from the credit card company each time autorenewal is processed. I believe these notifications would actually save everyone money because vendors and lendors could spend less on "customer service" trying to make the charges stick. Of course, I don't expect v/lendors to embrace this idea without a law requiring it, but I really think they would benefit as much as the consumer."
How do you defend against hidden autorenewal clauses? Post your comments below or write me at Foster@gripe2ed.com.
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