I had upgraded to a premium account one year ago… nowhere was it mentioned that it would be a recurring payment… i did not even use this service as i found a much better service and yet i get a message today saying that 24 USD have been charged to my card!!! seriously???
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It’s listed clearly that it is $24/year. I am happy to refund you, but I ask that you email me: samuel@newsblur.com
I actually do use Newsblur daily and probably would’ve renewed my premium subscription, but am furious that it was done without any notice. The payment was taken from a credit card that I haven’t used in a year and do not ever want used… I don’t remember signing up for recurring payments. Even if I did, I’d appreciate a heads up or the opportunity to change my payment method. I’m so angry about this right now.
I hunted around and found the spot where my credit card info is stored. I’ve removed it so it does not automatically renew for next year. I personally don’t want a refund because I use the site, but I wish you had a notification system to alert people that renewals were happening.
I’m sorry to hear that Sarah, but I optimize for those users who want to continue with their premium subscriptions. In that case they only receive a single email rather than two emails per renewal. And since you can reply back and get a refund, the only people inconvenienced are those that don’t intend to stay on NewsBlur and neglected to cancel their subscription. NewsBlur users who continue to pay get notified of payment without issue. That’s the use case I optimize for.
Sam, I’d suggest that this is something you might want to reconsider.
A single extra email per year would not be a big deal for those continuing with their subscription, in fact it would allow us to modify our payment details if necessary.
It would eliminate those who would want to cancel but are never informed about the pending renewal and get a surprise. You would also, hopefully, get to spend less time handling refunds.
I think the benefits of the extra “pending renewal” email would far outweigh the negatives.
I agree. It’d be good to get an email saying “your annual recurring payment will be taken from your credit card in 7 days. Please notify us if you wish to cancel, or to change your payment method.” I only knew my payment was about to be taken because I put the date in my calendar a year ago. (I’m happy to pay for another year.)
I second this.
And related, my account states that “Your premium account will renew on:
» Thursday, April 24, 2014”
IIRC that is already in the past 
I agree that a heads up would be best. That way people who want to use a different card or no longer have the old card have some time to adjust it. And if you weigh the small annoyance of a second email against having something charged to a card you want to keep idle for credit reasons I think it’s worth the second email.
The simplest solution is to add one more box to the main page with the subscription expiration. This lets users know when the next payment is coming, without adding a harassing email.
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Thanks to all for your responses. I was really irritated when I wrote the first time and I think all of you said it better than I did!
Samuel, I actually did say that I use Newsblur daily and would probably have renewed manually anyway (I say “probably” because I was recently laid off and think carefully about every purchase I make these days). So I’m not an unhappy non-user who wants a refund. You said, “… the only people inconvenienced are those that don’t intend to stay on NewsBlur and neglected to cancel their subscription” but that’s actually not true. I am a *happy* daily user who was inconvenienced because a credit card that I paid off and cut up nearly a year ago was reactivated by an auto-renewal for a website that didn’t notify me that the auto-renewal was coming.
I completely take responsibility for not realizing that I’d signed up for recurring payments - that is something I should have been aware of. But it is difficult to keep track of annual payment dates without notifications, which I think users of most sites and subscriptions have come to expect. I don’t want a refund, I don’t want to cancel - like I said, I’m a frequent happy user. But it was an inconvenience to see a charge on a card that is not in use for personal financial reasons, without warning.
I tested every single option out there when GR shut down, and chose Newsblur because it fit my needs more than any other reader. I continue to feel that way but disagree with your statement that renewal without notification is only an inconvenience to people who don’t want to use your site. Thanks for listening, and sorry for the original angry post. Just wanted to share this opinion.
Thanks for writing back. I can appreciate your honesty and taking the time to illustrate a frustration. Personally I subscribe to a number of services with auto-renewal and the email receipt is my preferred notification. I prefer this instead of multiple emails, which if you’re sticking with the service (the intended use case), are redundant.