Given that I was charged for a trial subscription that they wouldn't cancel before the charge, I hope they lose all of their revenue.

The page is still full of ads so I imagine yes it does

From the WSJ subscription FAQ:

When can I cancel?

You may change or cancel your subscription at any time. To change or cancel your subscription, please contact Customer Service at 1-(800)-JOURNAL (568-7625) or 609-514-0870. We do not accept cancellations by mail, email, or by any other means.

With those terms, they can all starve for all I care.

Have you ever called to cancel the WSJ? I have stopped the WSJ three times and the FT twice (same phone service.) It’s easy to do. They will make a retention offer but will not do things like hang up on you, require you to have moved out of your area, make you wait, etc.

Of course I prefer self-service cancellation to be an option, but if the personal service route is handled well, it’s a small negative in my book, not a dealbreaker.

I have tried to cancel the WSJ before and they totally give you the runaround. It's not as bad as other services (e.g. Comcast), but it's 100% of the reason I won't sign up for another subscription.

If you are from outside the USA, those phone numbers are not free. So it actually costs money to cancel, if they even accept payment options outside the USA?

Are you in one f these countries? I would venture most of their subscribers can make a domestic call after reading the list on the support page. https://customercenter.wsj.com/contact

You're nice to them, but I maintain this is lack of respect for the customer. This is 2018 and we have the internet for such processes that can be automated, not 1965. Perhaps they wouldn't need to make retention offers if they didn't have to pay the staff that makes the retention offers? Bonus, I'm not in the US so that number is an international call for me.

Besides, subscriptions are only useful if you actually read WSJ regularly. I only click on some, not all, the articles that are linked here on HN. This bit of drama looked interesting, but most of the time I don't even circumvent the paywall, I close the page immediately.

I didn’t downvote you. You have a point about the international call. Edit: actually, they seem to have a different phone number for many countries. Is the country you live in covered? How is the phone service quality if you make a test call? https://customercenter.wsj.com/contact

I liked my WSJ subscription and it really helped me at my first job out of college. It was the print subscription and I’d supplement by reading their blogs online.

Oh wait.

>They will make a retention offer but will not do things like hang up on you, REQUIRE YOU TO HAVE MOVED OUT OF YOUR AREA

You're stating this like it's a normal requirement for canceling subscriptions. I understand you're praising WSJ for not doing that but...

Do you accept treatment like this in the US? Are press subscriptions a lifetime commitment over there? Do I need to indenture my firstborn to any magazine that I subscribe to as well?

I live in the US and have never had any of the experiences you're mentioning. The conditions the person you replied to mentioned are not typical here.

Give me a break. The WSJ cancellation is absolute crap (I've done it twice before and it's a pain in the ass because I have to call during business hours) but the Guardian is way worse.

This is common practice outside the US too. Which newspapers have you tried to cancel?

It's pretty normal for utility subscriptions, since they can use the fact that you're moving to upsell you on their service elsewhere or a partner's.

No, I don’t accept treatment like that when possible — I listed things that Comcast has done to me on the phone. :)