An Adversion to Subscriptions

arknor said:
sales as a service/subscriptions should die.....

I remember when you bought something once and you owned it, everything will be in the cloud if they get their way and you will own nothing.

because its not stored locally future generations will be brainwashed into thinking its fine.
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There are a lot of subscription services now but they have always been about. There are just more things now... My grandparents post war had most of their home appliances on rental until they had the financial footing to buy their own. Shops did layaway for big purchases, Christmas savings fund etc. Online subscriptions are 99% luxuries you do not need
 
mid_gen said:
Thing I find annoying is when I actually really just want to buy something, like I'm happy to hand over some cash, right now, to buy a product..... but I'm forced into a subscription. Does my head in.
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Yes, exactly.

I've been given a new iPhone & I thought I would resurrect my old iTunes account. While I can still listen to tracks I've already purchased, it seems I can't purchase any new music without a subscription that will automatically bill my cellphone account every month (which I don't actually pay, so it's a non starter).

Why oh why can't I just buy an album and download it just like I used to be able to do in the days of my iPod?
 
fez said:
Firstly its an aversion and secondly, no, because if I don't want to subscribe to something I just don't subscribe. Most things are going subscription. Its expensive to run services and a steady income stream for service providers is the only way to run these things.
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Yes, I know how to spell aversion. It was just a fat fingered typo & I can't edit the thread title
 
d_brennen said:
There are a lot of subscription services now but they have always been about. There are just more things now... My grandparents post war had most of their home appliances on rental until they had the financial footing to buy their own. Shops did layaway for big purchases, Christmas savings fund etc. Online subscriptions are 99% luxuries you do not need
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yea I remember people have tvs with money slots on the side.

I thought you eventually owned the TV though?
 
d_brennen said:
There are a lot of subscription services now but they have always been about. There are just more things now... My grandparents post war had most of their home appliances on rental until they had the financial footing to buy their own. Shops did layaway for big purchases, Christmas savings fund etc. Online subscriptions are 99% luxuries you do not need
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Yes, but back then you'd have paid in cash every month.

My grumble is that once you've sigend up some of these providers attach themselves to you like a leach as did Talk Talk as I explained in my previous post.

Though unavoidable these days, I also have a stron aversion to direct debits. Yes, they largely work and are often a more economical way to pay but on a couple of occasions recently I've been stung.

Once by the council who overcharged my council tax by £200 - and in this case, the sods wouldn't even give me a refund, they just said they could only credit my account. If I'd been on the breadline, I'd have had serious cashflow problems that month.

Another time I was overcharged massively by British Gas but I don't even want to think about that.

I guess I just don't like 3rd parties having control of my money - even the use of credit cards isn't without risk -- I've had mine skimmed twice during the last 3 months.

I am more and more reverting to the use of cash wherever possible. Only risk there is that I drop it in the street or something, but that's on me.

As the saying goes, use it or lose it.
 
That Jekka Gal said:
Yes, but back then you'd have paid in cash every month.

My grumble is that once you've sigend up some of these providers attach themselves to you like a leach as did Talk Talk as I explained in my previous post.

Though unavoidable these days, I also have a stron aversion to direct debits. Yes, they largely work and are often a more economical way to pay but on a couple of occasions recently I've been stung.

Once by the council who overcharged my council tax by £200 - and in this case, the sods wouldn't even give me a refund, they just said they could only credit my account. If I'd been on the breadline, I'd have had serious cashflow problems that month.

Another time I was overcharged massively by British Gas but I don't even want to think about that.

I guess I just don't like 3rd parties having control of my money - even the use of credit cards isn't without risk -- I've had mine skimmed twice during the last 3 months.

I am more and more reverting to the use of cash wherever possible. Only risk there is that I drop it in the street or something, but that's on me.

As the saying goes, use it or lose it.
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You done pretending to be a woman yet?
 
Rroff said:
These days I never ever do anything which involves "free trial" but have to enter payment details unless I'm actually planning on paying anyhow and try to avoid paying for anything online that I can't use PayPal or similar for.
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Use a one-time disposable virtual card such as offered by Revolut etc.
 
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