It seems like more and more online services are now requiring you to cancel subscriptions by phone only.

When I unsubscribed from Napster last month I had to call in during their hours of operation to cancel. I was on hold 15 minutes and then had to listen to the operator try to talk me out of it. It was very frustrating.

I just got off the phone with the Vongo people. On hold 25 minutes before they answered. I heard "Your call is important to us." 75 times. By the way if you're thinking about Vongo and already have Starz! or Starz! on Demand, you've got every movie Vongo has. You don't need to pay another $9.99 to have them on computer.

The Real Player Super Pass phone call was quicker but I still had to put up with the operator trying to talk me out of it.

My advice is; if you want to take advantage of a free trial, find out how to unsubscribe before you subscribe and make sure you've set enough time aside to do it. Otherwise you may find yourself with a monthly payment you really didn't need.

[ August 06, 2006, 09:38 AM: Message edited by: Maddog ]

A free trial followed by a bill, that's how I ended up with Sports Illustrated. That's why I never do anything that says "free trial", because I know I'll forget to get rid of it before they start charging.

The worst experience I've had is answering a "Free Credit Report" banner. Yeah, I got the free credit report but then got about 2 months of $12 charges. When I googled the site, everyone else was ripped off by this offer also. I called the 800 number listed on my bank account statement and effectively cancelled it, but still I'm $24 bucks an idiot.

Don't click on banners with offers like this.

Also, do not reply to any e-mails that come from Paypal. They are always fake phishing e-mails trying to get you to reveal your ss# or other information to let them get into your Paypal account.