Smart Money: Auto-renew - SUCH a Bad Idea!
This post was inspired by today's real-life experience. My last post was about my son Matt's big mistake (90 days same as cash - NOT!). This one is about my son Blake's blooper. You know - this guy!
Here he is showing off his new bleached blond 'do for his first day of High School - my how time flies! Anyway, Mr. Genius here let the virus protection expire on his laptop. And of course, it immediately picked up 3 viruses from all the terrific gaming sites he visits - I'm just living the sweet life here raising teenaged boys!
Once I figured out what he'd done, I immediately went out to renew his virus protection. It routed me to a big box store which shall remain nameless, but sounds a lot like Rest Guy. I wondered when it wouldn't allow me to renew online, but instead routed me to their phone line. I called, sat on hold for 15 minutes, and finally got with one of their "renewal specialists". We got all the way to the end of the transaction when she happened to mention just in passing that it would auto-renew the following year. Um, excuse me?
I fought the good fight, but Rest Guy was adamant that the ONLY way I could renew my virus protection was with the auto pay option. I could call back a few days later and cancel the auto-renew provision, but who is going to remember to do that? And who knows if I'll even have that same computer next year, or if I am going to want that same virus protection next year, or that I'll even remember a year from now that that I did renew it? It's the same thing for magazines, warranties, or any other service or product they want you to put on auto-renew. They make it sound fabulous, but it's a great deal for them, but a lousy one for you! Just say NO!
So I told Rest Guy to stuff it. Politely, but firmly, and then I went to the virus protection website and purchased it directly. I not only avoided the auto-renew trap (they offered it, but THEY had an opt-out option), AND I saved 50%. Now that's the Smart Money route!
By TwitterButtons.com
Here he is showing off his new bleached blond 'do for his first day of High School - my how time flies! Anyway, Mr. Genius here let the virus protection expire on his laptop. And of course, it immediately picked up 3 viruses from all the terrific gaming sites he visits - I'm just living the sweet life here raising teenaged boys!
Once I figured out what he'd done, I immediately went out to renew his virus protection. It routed me to a big box store which shall remain nameless, but sounds a lot like Rest Guy. I wondered when it wouldn't allow me to renew online, but instead routed me to their phone line. I called, sat on hold for 15 minutes, and finally got with one of their "renewal specialists". We got all the way to the end of the transaction when she happened to mention just in passing that it would auto-renew the following year. Um, excuse me?
I fought the good fight, but Rest Guy was adamant that the ONLY way I could renew my virus protection was with the auto pay option. I could call back a few days later and cancel the auto-renew provision, but who is going to remember to do that? And who knows if I'll even have that same computer next year, or if I am going to want that same virus protection next year, or that I'll even remember a year from now that that I did renew it? It's the same thing for magazines, warranties, or any other service or product they want you to put on auto-renew. They make it sound fabulous, but it's a great deal for them, but a lousy one for you! Just say NO!
So I told Rest Guy to stuff it. Politely, but firmly, and then I went to the virus protection website and purchased it directly. I not only avoided the auto-renew trap (they offered it, but THEY had an opt-out option), AND I saved 50%. Now that's the Smart Money route!
By TwitterButtons.com
1 comments:
OOOh - well done, getting what you want and at a better price. It truly pays to stand up for yourself these days. Congratulations.
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