I got an email from a software vendor last week, informing me its auto-renewal would kick in Friday. I don’t want to identify the vendor. Thus, I’ll simply observe this was collaboration software I used to write a book in 2014, and haven’t used since. Time for that auto-renewal to end. But stamping out recurring renewals comes with an interesting and vexing set of challenges. Let me tell you more…

Sounds Easy: Stamping Out Recurring Renewals

You’d think this kind of thing would be as simple as logging into the vendor site, canceling the account and/or subscription. And in theory that’s true. But in practice, it’s not. First thing: I had to re-establish my login for the vendor site. My account was “inactive” so that meant a call to tech support and an interminable hold. All this just to get into my account only to cancel same and terminate my subscription.

But that still didn’t end the renewal cycle. Because I’d purchased the subscription via PayPal, I also had to log there, too. Then I had to manage renewals inside PayPal, and make sure permission for the vendor to charge me was removed. Again, that’s easy in theory. But I had to formulate the right query to get an inkling of where to go in the PayPal GUI to make that happen. Indeed PayPal just changed its Settings interface so that Google’s instructions are irrelevant. I had to use PayPal’s built-in Help to find what  I needed. It’s always something, right?

2-3 Hours to End One Recurring Charge

By the time I had finally gotten out from under, I’d spent between 2 and 3 hours to cancel the recurring charge for something I hadn’t used in a decade. I believe I totally get the value of apps/services like Rocket Money simply because it offers a one-click option to cancel subscriptions and recurring renewals.

Indeed, I’m thinking about giving it a try, just to help me deal with my two-to-three-dozen subscriptions and recurring software obligations. I don’t have to put a very high value on my time to justify some expense, given that it could otherwise take me a week’s work (40 hours) to deal with all that stuff manually.

Things get complicated sometimes, here in Windows-World. I’m hoping some relief may be at hand… But I’m too experienced to believe this more than a fond wish, rather than a likely outcome!