Cancelling Real
MoveCloseDeleteAdmin

TV ClubHouse: Archive: Archive TWO: Cancelling Real

Jimmyd

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:04 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I signed up two Wednesday's ago for the live feeds knowing that I would be cancelling sometime tomorrow. Well because of the FOTH, I tried cancelling today and received the following message from Real:

======================================
WE ARE SORRY YOU WANT TO CANCEL


Please call us at 1-888-768-3248 to cancel your subscription.

Our hours of operation are:
Monday - Friday, 5:00 am to 7:30 pm - Pacific Time
Saturday - Sunday, 7:30 am to 7:30 pm - Pacific Time

Thank you

Return to Membership Details page

===============================

Kind of strange that a web based company wants you to call in to cancel.

Anyway, warning to anyone planning on cancelling, give yourself enough lead time.

Eden

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:08 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
The show ends in two days. If I only subscribed for the Big Brother feeds won't they automatically be cancelled? I thought that would be so!

Cinder

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:15 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yes, they will automatically be cancelled if you only signed up for BB.

Tracyck

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:17 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Eden - no - you must go and cancel, and you must call them per the notice.

If you don't, you will be charged. Real will try and convince you that they have other cool stuff to offer, but you can blow them off easily by simply saying that the only thing that you use the internet for is BB, and you will be back next year (maybe).

Marie

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:28 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I, too, got the BB-only feed, the one that was advertised for $24.95. It's not like the monthly package when they charge $9.95 every month and you get everything Real offers and they hope you won't cancel, or that you'll forget to cancel in time. Are you saying they'll start charging us $9.95/month if we don't cancel? Will they charge us $24.95? I don't understand!

Twinkle

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:36 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I subscribed to the BB feeds last year and there was no need to contact Real when it was over. It's sorta like pay per view on TV.

Eden

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:39 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Okay, guys!! Which IS it!?!?! LOL HELP!!!

Jimmyd

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:50 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Well I only signed up two weeks ago for the Real trial so I'm calling tomorrow to cancel. I don't know about what the others are saying regarding the 24.95 item.

Bastable

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:52 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I really don't think it's going to make much of a difference if you cancel Real now. CBS has its money. It's not losing anything if you quit now.

The only way to really complain at this point is to send them a message or eight. Money speaks loudest, and sadly, the time for economic terrorism is over.

Hypermom

Monday, September 23, 2002 - 10:53 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Eden, I signed up for the one time fee of 24.95 for BB only also. You don't need to cancel.

Bernie

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 02:41 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I joined getting free feeds, then they gave me another month for free, and I was supposed to reply to an email to cancel when the month was up, but of course by then, I didn't, I was hooked.
When our credit card bill arrived, they'd charged me 30 bucks, which annoyed my hubby just a tad, since it looks as though I've been charged for three months in advance.
When I cancel in another couple of days, they'd better credit me for the two months I'm not going to get! !!!

Saba

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 04:07 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Twinkle is correct.

IF you had the $24.95 deal, no need to cancel. I didn't cancel last year and aint gonna this year, no need to.
IF you paid $9.95 monthly, it may be different.

Melgal

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 04:41 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Jimmy - Same thing happened to me, but I signed up at the beginning of BB3. I signed up for what I *thought* was just the $24.95 deal, but noticed that they charged me an additional $9.95 earlier this month. I did call the 1-888 number yesterday (...was on hold for about 15 minutes) to cancel.

My suggestion is 'better to be safe than sorry' - It can't hurt to call.

And yes, I thought it was extremely odd that a web based company required you to call to cancel. It also annoyed me that when you 'clicked' the cancel button, a pop-up screen allowed you to indicate why you wanted to cancel, but then didn't actually cancel - just advised you of the number you had to call. It certainly helped me determine whether I will get the feeds next year.

OK - I know I should be complaining to them, and not venting here... but thanks anyway for listening guys <grin>. I'm going back to just lurking now...

K9lover1

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 04:42 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I had the 14 days free (which ended 8/26) and then they automatically charged me $24.95 for three months. If I don't do anything, they will continue to bill me $24.95 every three months.

Because I only needed the one month, I called and asked if I could be billed $9.95 a month instead of the $24.95. They said I could cancel after the one month (9/25) and then they would give me a credit for $14.90 so that I only ended up paying $9.95 for the one month.

They sent me an e-mail that I am to reply to on 9/25 saying I want to cancel. here is the text of the e-mail,

"Hi! This is the email to confirm our conversation about being able to refund the remaining amount of your $24.95, which would be $14.90, on or before September 26, 2001. This is to ensure that you will be able to watch the rest of Big Brother3. If you do find anything else of interest in the premium content, let me know! I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,

Colleen Todd
Customer Service
RealNetworks"


Hope this helps.

Bernie

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 07:17 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks, K9lover1. That answers my question, and that's a relief!

Jimmyd

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 07:23 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Well mel, I'm trying to cancel now.

First call: Went through all the proper menu choices to cancel my service and was sent to a recording that said "We're sorry that number is no longer in service."

Second call: tried not hitting anything and was hung up on

Third call: pressed 0 and was sent to an automated attendant.

Fourth call: (I'm beginning to get angry) this time I chose to "ask questions" about my subscription service instead of choosing the optoin to "cancel" my service. Now I'm listening to elevator music

Stingerman

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 07:23 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I loaded up RP and went to the help/manage my account. I logged in and clicked on manage account and clicked on cancel. It then came up and asked for the last 4 digits of my credit card that I used to sign up and then it came up and told me that my membership was cancelled. It said I had access till the end of my billing period and if I wanted to renew I would have to do it before then.

Did anyone else get this option??

Should I still phone Real and make sure that my account has been terminated?

Sugarpie

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 07:23 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Hi. Just called the Real number JimmyD provided and after waiting a bit got through to an operator who accepted my cancellation with no problem. I just told her that the show I signed up for was ending, and she let me know that I'm paid through Oct. and they'll leave it on till then in case I wanted to check out something on Survivor (LOL). She then laughed and said "See you next summer!". Very pleasant experience.

GO LISA!

Kador

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 07:24 am EditMoveDeleteIP

Quote:

I really don't think it's going to make much of a difference if you cancel Real now. CBS has its money. It's not losing anything if you quit now.

The only way to really complain at this point is to send them a message or eight. Money speaks loudest, and sadly, the time for economic terrorism is over.





It will make a big difference if you don't want to keep paying $9.95 a month, won't it?

Who said anything about complaining or economic terrorism? We just don't want to keep paying for REAL after BB is over.

Tweepee

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 09:17 am EditMoveDeleteIP
kador, lay off the personal attacks. i think bastable was addressing those people who were cancelling in protest of FOTH.

Dallasbbfan

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 12:56 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wow, I just called Real to cancel. Was on hold about 2 seconds, did not get asked any questions and cancelled my account. They must have stepped up staffing because of the number of calls coming in due to BB being over.

Secretsmile

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 01:02 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
All this confusing information also had me calling RP to check. I called once, got a busy signal, cleaned up the living room, called again, got a menu, rather short time spoke with an operater and she assured me that since I had signed up for the BB pass, my account was charged only the one time fee and would end when BB stopped showing the live feeds.

Oregonfire

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 02:28 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I didn't have a bad time of it either, on hold for maybe a minute. The guy did try to offer me one free month, but I told him my connection was too slow to really get anything out of it. What can they say to that? He asked why I wanted to cancell, and got chatty about BB and FOTH for a bit. He was friendly and courteous, not as horrible an experience as I thought it would be.

Chance

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 02:59 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Just as a heads up to others.....I called today to cancel RP and out of curiosity, I checked on what they had billed me. I was VERY UNHAPPY to learn that tho I had signed up using the link that promised you a montn free, I received no free real player time...was charged for it all !!!! They refunded me $9.95 but thats all
;-(

Therlin

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 03:05 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
That's all? Chance, what else did you want themt o do?

I was on hold for about a minute, I told the girl that I wanted to cancel because I wasn't happy with all the other content they offer (none of the other looks interesting to me, I gave it a fair chance) and she just canceled it on the spot.

Last year I got a total of 6 months free after BB was over, not this time! Not a biggie.

Heyltslori

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 03:26 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I called today to cancel. The man I spoke to (John) was very friendly and chatty. He tried to talk me into an extra month but I told him I needed to get a life :) and he laughed and said Ok I was all cancelled. THEN...I checked my email and I had a letter from Real saying that they were giving me an extra month for free and just call sometime before that ends to cancel...so the guy on the phone did NOT cancel me. Just wanted to make you all aware of this so you can check your email too. Good luck!

Jimmyd

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 05:12 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks but mine was cancelled. No email. Oh well, I'll just have to sign back up using one of my many other email addresses. :)

Ellenkats

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 06:33 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Last year I couldn't get Real to cancel mine for me...after months of the problem, and my credit card company issuing me a credit for the dispute, the credit card company suggested they reissue a new card number. This year, I only signed up for BB -- figuring a one-time charge couldn't come back to bite me like last year's monthly subscription thingie did me.