Amazon Prime is particularly heinous about using dark patterns to confound users into risking forgetting but ultimately you’ve already paid for the month, year

I can confirm this to also be the case with most streaming giants plus the less-giant Shutter

Edit: comments have pointed out some notable exceptions such as services through Apple and HP Instant Ink

  • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
    22·
    20 hours ago

    Not all. Some end your access as soon as you cancel, normally they let this be known while cancelling, but not all of them do that.

    • teft@lemmy.world
      131·
      23 hours ago

      If they don’t prorate a refund then they’re stealing from you. Obviously if this is a trial they can cancel immediately if you haven’t paid but otherwise it’s theft.

    • JackLSauce@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      4·
      24 hours ago

      Any specific service you’ve seen doing this?

      I’ve not experimented as much with cloud providers or non-American companies so not yet sure if this is a byproduct of industry practice, market pressures on public companies or legal requirements and counter examples could help

      I should also point out the good: many of them (like Netflix) are very open about how cancelation works once one goes to that section of their site

        • anotherandrew@mbin.mixdown.ca
          3·
          21 hours ago

          every subscription I’ve had through Apple ends at the end of the billing cycle, not immediately.

          and yes if you contact them right away they’ll refund you. had this happen a couple of times when I was a day off on when I thought the subscription was renewing.

          • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
            1·
            20 hours ago

            Same. I canceled my yearly Apple TV subscription and still had access to it until it was time to renew.

      • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
        1·
        23 hours ago

        Any specific service you’ve seen doing this?

        Napster did this when I went to cancel. They said if you cancel now you lose the rest of the year you already paid for. I set up a reminder to cancel as the time got closer to the renewal, but the service was so bad I contacted customer service and asked for the remainder of my money back that it was unsuable for me. They finally ended up giving me a refund. There have been others, but that one sticks out in my mind.