I should have known better.
I downloaded my state income tax software (TaxCut) and when I was done and had printed the invoice I was asked if I’d like a free trial of a internet music service called RealRhapsody. Being a sucker for free and music I said yes. I was then taken to a download page so I could get the necessary software to play along. At that point I figured I maybe I would just forget about it if I needed some proprietary software to listen to the music, but I finish the download anyway. Up pops my gmail notifiyer: Welcome to the Rhapsody digital music service!
What? I’m in? Opened Gmail and sure enough, there are two emails from Rhapsody welcoming me to their service. The second one included these lines: You’ve successfully subscribed to the All Access subscription plan on the Rhapsody digital music service. You can now log in to Rhapsody and enjoy your free trial. Cancel any time before the trial term expires, and your credit card will not be billed.
signed
Rhapsody Customer Care
RealNetworks, Inc
Real Networks, those rat bastards. I have finished downloading the software, but now I know I want nothing to do with it. I go the http://listen.com and try to sign in so I can cancel this mess. Can’t sign in, not unless you do it using their software. Shit. I guess I am going to have to install it. After installation, which was relatively painless compared to what I was expecting, I clicked on the My Account tab. Under subscriptions, it informs me I am Active and subscribed to All Access @ $9.95/month. There at the bottom is this:
To unsubscribe, please call customer service at 866-834-5509.
Rat Bastards. I subscribe by clicking one little button, the folks at TaxCut supply them with my credit card number and billing information, and I’m all signed up. But to get out I’m going to have to call and jump through “Customer Service” hoops. Rat Bastards.
The only honorable thing to do is to stay subscribed for the next 13.5 days and then cancel. But while I’m signed up I’ll go grab a freeware program that rips anything coming through my sound card and do a little copying.
You probably want to try to unsubscribe after a mere 13.0 days.
There is a good possibility that “Your call is important to us. Calls are answered in the order they are receieved. You are caller number 324. Estimated time to answering your call is 23 hours and 58 minutes. Thankyou for calling Real Networks Customer Support.”