What is the longest you have paid for something without noticing?
I am hunting Wallos tomorrow, a self hosted subscription tracker, and putting the listing together meant actually adding up what recurs. That turned out to be a slightly grim exercise.
The monthly ones you notice. The annual ones are the problem. They charge once, eleven months ago, and then produce nothing at all until they charge again. The card statement is the only place they surface, once, in a month you were probably not reading it closely.
None of that is really a discipline problem. There is simply no repeated signal to notice.
So, the question. What is the longest you have gone paying for something without realising it, and how did you eventually catch it? I am curious whether people find these on a statement, in a renewal email, or only when they sit down and audit properly.
Replies
RunEvr
@rabnoor_s Interesting question! But for me, the best part was finding out that you have a launch tomorrow! =)
To be honest, I don’t have that many subscriptions - just a few monthly tools I use. So it’s interesting to follow this thread and see what others have to say.
@adana it went live a few hours ago, so today rather than tomorrow. wallos, a self hosted subscription tracker. the maker is not on here at all, which is the part i find interesting to work with. and my own answer to the question is a domain i stopped using in 2023.
RunEvr
@rabnoor_s Ah, you were paying for it for 3 years =/
Going to check out your launch!
@adana three years, and i only found it because the card expired and the charge failed. the failed payment was the notification, which is roughly what lisa is describing from the other side.
Softorino 💻📲
No good story from me, but from the selling side the reason there is no signal is that nobody is paid to build one. The renewal notice is the one message a company sends with no goal beyond arriving, so it gets written once and never looked at again. Anything that made it easier to notice would make it easier to cancel.
@yelyzaveta_kibets the exception proves your point rather than breaking it. a few places now legally mandate a renewal reminder, and those emails read exactly like something written to satisfy a statute rather than to be read. same incentive, just with a compliance floor under it.