Cancellation Hell

I just spent the last few minutes of my life trying to cancel an online service I don’t really want to use anymore.

I used the site’s online chat feature to attempt this.

My request was pretty simple:

“I need to cancel my account. The service is great, but I don’t use it. Please let me know if any refund is available since you just charged my card.”

First, I was transferred to someone else.

That’s when the real fun began…

I was reminded that this service has been proven to increase website sales.

(That’s great, but since I told the guy I don’t use the service, this really didn’t mean much.)

My annoyance at having to spend so much time trying to cancel makes what happened next hard to remember, but at some point, I was offered a free month and a reduced rate going forward.

I took it. Not because I wanted to, but because I needed the “service” I was getting at the moment to stop.

I have a life to live after all.

So what did this company gain by “saving” this customer?

They did “gain” a customer right? Or at least retained one. I would guess that’s their view of things.

Except I don’t care about their view of things.

And what price did they pay, from their point of view, for this “retention?”

Well they gave me a free month, a reduced rate going forward, and it took some time for the customer service rep. to do the transaction, which they paid for.

Those are the costs that will show up in their accounting of the exchange.

Except that doesn’t take into account the BIG price they paid that will probably never be a specific line item on any P/L statement.

Because they really pissed me off for not honoring a simple request.

I doubt this is the employee’s decision to sink his talons into a customer that wants to leave and hang on for dear life.

Of course, it’s probably a “policy” that someone, somewhere created.

I guess in the old days, customers couldn’t really DO much about the “policy.”

Now things are different.

Because NOW, customers have tools which are basically MEGAPHONES to spread the message of their experience in no time.

I finally gave up because I just wanted to make it stop.

I didn’t cancel, I took their free month. And NOW I have another task for my todo list: CANCEL BEFORE NEXT MONTH.

Do you think I’m looking forward to that? Yuck.

So I guess you could argue that the service rep. did his job. But in this case, the end result of him “doing his job” was one super annoyed customer.

NOTE TO SELF: Don’t do this to people. It’s annoying.

How Much ARE You Worth Anyway?

Pete Chesson

I feel your pain. When I untethered from my traditional phone co. I called to cancel my land line and was worked over by a very competent rep who wouldn't take no for an answer. Finally she offered to continue the same service I was paying $85 pm base rate for $18 pm unlimited. Annoyed I mentioned that if I'd been paying even $50 pm I wouldn't have considered changing but that the new offer was strengthening my resolve to cancel.

The modern marketplace allows us to be more pro-active than the old re-active model. Adapt or perish.

Michel Fortin

You know, I understand when companies try to keep your business and do what they can in an attempt to do so. Offering these "last-minute" deals or "we-don't-want-to-lose-you offers."

But when I cancel and this happens to me, I always think to myself, "If you're offering me discounts now, why couldn't you offer it to me before I bought? Or better yet, WHILE I was a customer? Wasn't my loyalty better rewarded when I showed it, than when it is about to be taken away from you?"

The point is this.

Sure, I understand this is part of marketing costs. And I also understand that marketing and sales departments have tricks up their sleeves that they can pull out when a customer is just about to bail. But if they appreciated me when I was a client, then why didn't they take care of me when I was one, and not when I'm about to leave?

In short, I think too many businesses take their clients -- and the revenue source from them -- for granted.

Scarcity is not only a tactic affecting customers. It also affects businesses. Some consumers know this all too well and use it to their advantage. Nevertheless, the difference is, scarcity moves people to act if they are procrastinating on buying a product. But businesses shouldn't procrastinate on taking care of their customers.

Loyalty can't be bought. If it is, they are not buying loyalty. They are delaying the inevitable.

Just my three cents.

Christian Russell

The way companies choose to handle cancellations is hugely important. I agree...true loyalty cannot be bought. It's just not the way it works. When companies treat loyalty like a commodity, it devalues the entire experience for all involved.

Cancellation Hell

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