AmericanGreetings.com You Suck!
So I signed-up for an eCards membership with AmericanGreetings.com last year. I figured it would be a great way to send cards to clients and friends at Christmas and throughout the year.
After 12 months I’ve used it once. I just prefer to send out physical cards. So on receiving my renewal I decided to cancel. What a nightmare! If I happened to live in the US I could call at a time convenient to them. Umm call? Ever heard of email? Or an unsubscribe?
Anyway not being in the US I had to hunt for over 10 minutes to find out how to cancel the account. For some reason it was left out of all FAQ and account pages. In the end I used the search functionality. Turns out I have to email for “further instructions”.
If I was a cynic I would think this is done on purpose - it’s much easier to suck up another $13.99 and save myself the headache.
So I’ve emailed. Will keep you posted….
December 9th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
There are so many companies that operate their subscriptions like this. Scum of the internet I say. Keep us posted on their response!
December 9th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Shall do.
December 10th, 2006 at 8:41 am
Calling isn’t too hard, is it? Is cost the issue? If you have VoIP, it’s cheaper to call the US than an Australian mobile (or even an Australian landline if the call doesn’t go for long).
December 10th, 2006 at 9:06 am
Cost isn’t an issue, I call the States all the time. You can only call if you’re in the US so it probably wasn’t that relevant.
It had more to do with their approach - they make it so hard for anyone to unsubscribe. If I can log in and change payment details why can’t there be a button that says “Unsubscribe”?.
December 11th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
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January 27th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
An easy way to cancel the subscription with American Greetings, is to have your credit card company issue a new card, same as if the card were lost or stolen. Then the automatic renewal attempt would be denied because of the new credit card information. You can then just update the credit card info to those companies with whom you want to continue to do business with. That’s much easier and less stressful than trying to conduct this via the telephone.
January 28th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Interesting approach Jerry. Seems like a little too much work for me. I’d rather them make it easy to cancel. Still, if all else fails this could be a last resort.
September 13th, 2007 at 2:25 am
Beware! Once American Greetings have you, it’s a nightmare to stop. My scenario: (1) at renewal time, they give me an extra 3 mos free to keep me. (2) I’m expecting an email after 3 mos but don’t get one (even though they say they sent one) and I’m charged for another year. (3) I call up and explain to cancel and reimburse me. Here’s my answer from them: okay we’ll take you off our automatic renewal list (to them this is a cost item) and I get back $5 out of the $13.99 annual charge. I’M PAYING TO GET MY NAME OFF THEIR DAMM AUTO RENEWAL LIST!!!!!! WHAT A RIP-OFF! Try another site. I don’t recommend this at all.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:44 am
It certainly can be a frustrating experience.