I'm the same - make it clear that you don't want autorenew, and then cancel when it expires. You can also make it clear that you don't want to take on any new commitment but want the old deal just to continue on a month to month basis. When negotiating with NOW get it confirmed clearly by them that their commitments are "minimum term" not "fixed term".
Having said that, I've recently cancelled all of my paid channels too (except BBC News) because the Discovery type stuff is too repetitive, and the movies are all too heavily censored.
Last edited by PDLM; 29-03-2010 at 10:34 AM.
Many companies in HK seem to use this strategy. I've had regular calls from California Fitness of a similar nature and have reported it to the Consumer Council who can't do anything about it.
I got a good deal with NowTV recently with a "buy 1 get 1 free" package. They dont care the price of the channel and I was able to buy all the cheap channels and get the expensive channels for free.
For example, I bought CNN, BBC World, Food Channel and other channels like this that only cost $8 each, and then I could get Star Movies, AXN, Star World and other channels like this that normally cost $30 or more each for free.
The only catch is that the 'free' channels will expire after 12 months, but the paid channel contract is for 18 months. It took me a while in the PCCW store to actually confirm what is going on and how it works, because at the beginning it just seemed to good to be true.
So I am going to lose some channels after 12 months. But the sales gu told me that I can renew my contract 3 months before the 18 month expiry and go with whatever new package they have then. So really I only lose the 'expensive' channels for 3 months.
It seems like a good deal to me. I actually only really care about the cheap stuff like CNN, BBC etc and the expensive ones are just a bonus. Im not going to be too sad losing them for 3-6 months in a year from now.
Exactly. Brings a new meaning to being "economical with the truth".
The "scam" they tried on me the other day involved the sports package.
I have the basic ESPN/Star sports channels mainly for the Formula 1 at around $80 a month.
When automatic renewal kicked in I noticed my bill was substantially higher than it should be. When I eventually managed to contact a salesman I was informed I had been "upgraded" to the full sports package at over $250 a month. Of course I was not told this in advance.
A fairly heated conversation followed during which I was told that my $80 package was no longer available. I said I wanted to cancel the sports package, and was told I was being held to a 18 month contract.
It took several more calls at managerial level before the $80 package was reinstated.
The sales tactics are disgraceful.