Cotomer Sevis

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion) 03/07/2019 at 13:19 • Filed to: cotomer sevis

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“I am sorry that you are passing through this right now”

Lol, good start. I’m calling MLB.tv because I cancelled my subscription on February 28th, before it hit “auto-renew” - I did this through their website but of course, on March 1, I get hit with the renew charge. I didn’t see it right away, but now I do. I’m not paying for this, I cancelled it before it renewed, or so I thought. Their policy is you can cancel anytime up to 5 days after the renewal. It’s been 5 business days but today is the 7th calendar day, so this should be good.

After 14 minutes on hold, I got to the gentleman I quoted above, and that was his canned response - nice translation, MLBtv. He puts me on hold after asking my name and email; then 3 minutes later he asks me to spell my name again, then hold again for 3 or 4 hours. Now verify my address, please. Hold. A few lunar cycles later he comes back and says basically “yes ok well unfortunately policy is 5 days after the —” and I stopped him right there. I DID cancel, but something must not have worked. Surely this isn’t the first time some function of a website behaved improperly - ahem, kinja - but nonetheless, it did. And I’m asking for a refund please.

I’m on hold again, now; he keeps jumping in to say “thanks for holding it will be just another minute” every few minutes. Probably a timer on his end. At the current rate the sun will explode and the entire solar system will be annihilated in a ball of searing fire and gas before I get my refund.

“Thank you for still be on the line”

[update] After a total of 57 minutes on hold - thank you, speakerphone so I could still get work done - I got “I can’t promise that you’ll get a refund but I will submit your case for review.”

I mean, I should have checked the day after I cancelled. But I didn’t, because I’m not that anal and I get distracted with my real responsibilities in life. I thought I took care of this one and put it in the back of my mind. It’s not my fault the web form didn’t work. This should be a no-brainer but yet, they made it difficult. Way to make me want to return to your service, by the way!

You know, the reason I’m leaving in the first place is that their system for determining which games you can see is utterly backwards. I’m in New England and want to see the Red Sox. But because they’re in-market, I can’t see almost any of their games. This isn’t how this should work. Enter YouTubeTV: I gave them my zip code and they say, “great, you’re in New England? Here’s the local sports channel so you can watch all your favorite local sports teams!” In other words pretty much every single game all season.

Granted, I used trickery to get around the blackout restrictions, but I’d rather just, you know, pay money in exchange for services.

ttyymmnn > functionoverfashion 03/07/2019 at 13:24

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Ask for a supervisor, preferably in the USA.

Alfalfa > functionoverfashion 03/07/2019 at 13:26

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I’ve always felt that no empathy is better than canned emp athy. You’re not fooling me, call center employee. I’ve done your job and I know that all feeling has been sucked out of your soul and you really don’t give a shit about anything.

ttyymmnn > functionoverfashion 03/07/2019 at 13:34

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Do you have a confirmation email or screenshot for your online cancelation?

Longtime Lurker > functionoverfashion 03/07/2019 at 13:35

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Paid with credit card? If they don't volunterily reverse the charge, then dispute the charge with the cc company.

functionoverfashion > ttyymmnn 03/07/2019 at 13:36

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nope, which is what made me concerned - I don’t usually take screenshots for things like that. I will for more important things.

I didn’t think about it for several days until last night my kids asked about baseball. 

functionoverfashion > ttyymmnn 03/07/2019 at 13:36

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got there eventually. Still, not great 

functionoverfashion > Alfalfa 03/07/2019 at 13:37

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Exactly, I’m like, let’s not even waste our time here because you’re not going to give me what I’m asking anyway, without a supervisor 

Chariotoflove > Longtime Lurker 03/07/2019 at 13:58

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This.  They don’t have your money yet. You can make sure they don’t get it.

functionoverfashion > Longtime Lurker 03/07/2019 at 14:08

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I’m sure this would work, but I try to do that only as a last resort.

Funny thing, years ago I went into a liquor store, had never been there before; bought one single item. Clearly remember it, and even kept the receipt because at the time I just piled stuff like that on my dresser until it avalanched off and I’d probably throw it all in the woodstove.

Anyway. I was charged twice for the same amount. I called the store and they immediately just said, “oh just call your credit card company and dispute it, that’s the easiest way.” 

HammerheadFistpunch > functionoverfashion 03/07/2019 at 14:14

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I just went through mor e more garbage with Well Fargo (they’re ALWAYS terrible to work with) and I took copious screen shots this time because they would have really come in handy next time.  i.e. Im anticipating trouble.  

facw > functionoverfashion 03/07/2019 at 14:39

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It’s supposed to be a last resort. But you’ve already made a pretty good effort, you shouldn’t feel bad about using it. If nothing else, if you have to talk to them again you can tell them that they need to fix it now or you’ll dispute the charge with your provider.

facw > functionoverfashion 03/07/2019 at 14:43

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That’s annoying. I had an experience last year where a cancellation didn’t take, and the service kept billing me for months. To their credit, when I noticed, they quickly cancelled and credited my account for the erroneous charges.

As for MLB.tv, I’m sure they would love to sell you in- market games, but MLB couldn’t afford to piss off their regional sports network partners. I do think they are going to have to change that, presumably whenever the contract is renegotiated. I’m an MLB.tv subscriber, but luckily for me (well certainly not in all ways) , I’m an Orioles fan, so I get everything but the games where they play the Red Sox.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > functionoverfashion 03/07/2019 at 14:44

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That’s actually the ‘easy’ way for a POS purchase. In order to refund a credit card purchase made in person, you have to... present the card in person at most small shops. They can’t issue a refund without the card. (It’s a processor restriction.)

So what happens is you open the dispute with your credit card company, who calls them up and says “hey, is this correct?” They say “oh, no, it must have been a trainee mistake.” Issuer says “oh, OK, innocent error. W e’ll refund them, no ding against you, ” and that’s pretty much the end of it.

functionoverfashion > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 03/07/2019 at 14:49

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Interesting; we issued refunds without a card present at the small business I used to manage. But I suppose it’s up to the merchant, and we did a lot of remote business.

functionoverfashion > facw 03/07/2019 at 14:50

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I mentioned that I would dispute the charge if they didn’t deem me worthy of a refund after today’s conversation. You can bet I’m not spending another minute on the phone with them unless I deem it absolutely necessary.

functionoverfashion > facw 03/07/2019 at 14:52

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I’m not sure I would have jumped ship for baseball alone. But I also had a subscription to Eurosport for watching alpine ski racing - a thing that did not exist for any price in the US until this year. So now we pay more for youtubeTV but we get all the things we want, legitimately, in addition to other stuff we’ll never use , because that’s always how it works.