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Forum Index : Other Stuff : Watch those automatic subscription renewals.

Posted: 11:32pm
07 Dec 2025
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Gizmo
Admin Group


I've been using a Google Drive 2TB as a backup. I only have about 180GB on it. The Google drive costs about $125 a year.

Last week I get a email, Google increasing the fee to $147 a year. OK, thats getting expensive. I do have a Office 365 subscription, which I use for testing any client issues with importing/exporting excel/word files from my commercial software JAQ. Personally, I use Libre Office, I hate Office 365. But, it does come with a 1TB cloud storage.

So decided to move everything from Google Drive to One Drive, than cancel the Google Drive subscription. Copying the files took days, very slow, even though I have a fast connection. It was almost finished when, on Friday, at 10 past 5pm, Google did a automatic subscription renewal and deducted $147 from my paypal No warning, no reminder of a upcoming payment.

No way to get a refund. I did cancel the service anyway, but that will happen in a years time, as I had just, involuntarily, paid for the next year's subscription.

I did try to contest the payment in Paypal, but that interface is now useless, all multiple choice questions, and nothing close to contesting a automatic subscription renewal.

There goes the Christmas budget.

Regards
Glenn
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
JAQ
 
Posted: 12:22am
08 Dec 2025
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Grogster
Admin Group


Well, that sucks.  

Bad timing.
I guess had you done the move a few weeks earlier, you would have had time to cancel before the automatic renewal.

I bet there are MILLIONS of bucks that get paid to various businesses on an automatic payment basis, from those that forget it is even setup like that.

I'd better go check what subscriptions I am signed up for now!  
 
Posted: 04:02am
08 Dec 2025
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greybeard
Senior Member

Suppose you don't want to know that a new wd 2tb blue hard drive is $115 with no ongoing subscription?
MSY WD Blue 2TB hd
 
Posted: 12:02pm
08 Dec 2025
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Gizmo
Admin Group


  greybeard said  Suppose you don't want to know that a new wd 2tb blue hard drive is $115 with no ongoing subscription?
MSY WD Blue 2TB hd


Yeah I've got enough HD space here, but as a business I need off site backups. Certainly wont be using Google Drive in future.
 
Posted: 11:00pm
08 Dec 2025
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greybeard
Senior Member

Over the years I've 'swapped' a backup drive with a good mate as offsite backup for both of us, vpn with another trusted business and small NAS offsite (effectively cloud backup) and as my (home) office was in a different physical building to my house, just stored a backup disk in my home.
My time was before 'cloud storage' was a thing but now I figure that cloud computers are just someone else's computer accessible via the internet and I like to know exactly who I'm trusting.
 
Posted: 06:40am
10 Dec 2025
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Chopperp
Guru


That does suck!!

I got to my MS Office auto payment in PP just prior to due date at the new higher price. On cancelling MS, offered the Basic Office package (without AI) for the original price. We are not heavy users. I use Libre Office once & a while on a Mint Machine, but SWMBO likes Office so we used that on MS machines.

Brian
 


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