this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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Privacy

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Rossman is on form. A delightful rant about his experiences with gyms. And his promotion of privacy.com and their virtual credit card numbers that he can cancel remotely.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I haven't seen it but what I often do is that I create a virtual credit card with only the amount needed - my bank makes that possible - and then they just can't get any more money and more often than not just give up. I try to cancel but sometimes it's impossible.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like this idea too, but in some countries if you don't pay something, the company can add you to a nationwide "blacklist" that will give you a lot of headaches later. For instance, trying to get a loan from a bank, or insurance for something. There's a good chance those will be denied if you are on that list.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had a subscription with special pricing to my local paper. After the introductory period was over, they raised the price from like $5 a month to $22. I didn't want to pay that much so I went to cancel but they do one of those, sorry, you can only cancel by calling us and listening to us plead with you to keep your subscription. I ended up just changing my card to a virtual one with a penny on it and after a thousand phone calls and mailers and a few months they finally auto cancelled my subscription. In this scenario, you'd still be pegged with a negative remark where you're from?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Well i'm from Germany. You can't just stop paying and they can't force you to listen to their pleas.

A simple informal email is enough to cancel most anything.

You can always get back money that was withdrawn from your bank account (probably a SEPA thing) and as long as payments are in dispute (you have to disagree with wrong invoices in writing) they can't charge you extra.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've tried to do that a few times but it's a royal pain in the ass. If you don't mind, which banks/credit cards make that easy?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I use privacy. It works and is easy enough to use. I didn't know banks supported it though, mine doesn't.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It's not super easy, but at least possible in my Swedish https://www.varbergssparbank.se/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This exactly yes