The real reason why companies offer ‘a month’s free trial’ blog discussion 28 October 2014 at 1:54PM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 8 replies 2.7K views

Former_MSE_Paloma

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "The real reason why companies offer ‘a month’s free trial’" Blog.

Please click 'post reply' to discuss below.

giddyup

Hi I use Amazon prime and use temporary emails to take advantage of free trial and have so far never paid for this year! I always cancel three days later to still use prime services and never get charged!!

tgroom57

It was a real strain weaning my (28 yr old) daughter off of Graze boxes. I had to promise to provide an equivalent service!

I recently signed up for a heavily discounted 5 issue trial of a craft magazine*, normally costing £5 a month. It'll be real painful if I forget to cancel ! I'm counting down the issues.

* Cardmaking & Papercraft - 5 issues for £5 (80% discount)

giddyup

what was the craft mag?

Herbalus

I view these deals as exactly what they are - free for 30 days. I enter them with the knowledge that they are only 30 days, and therefore I don't have any psychological "loss issues", as they were always going to end after 30 days. People need to look at the benefit of a free 30 days, knowing that it is finite, and not confusing it with an ongoing service.

I don't have a problem with using a service free for a limited period of time and then cancelling it. I've done exactly that with Now TV four times this year, using four email addresses etc, but they've now removed the free trial...

snowleopard61

Herbalus wrote: »

I view these deals as exactly what they are - free for 30 days. I enter them with the knowledge that they are only 30 days, and therefore I don't have any psychological "loss issues", as they were always going to end after 30 days. People need to look at the benefit of a free 30 days, knowing that it is finite, and not confusing it with an ongoing service.

I do this too - though it is surprisingly difficult to persuade some of these services that you really do want to cancel! They seem to have great difficulty believing it at all.

Herbalus

snowleopard61 wrote: »

I do this too - though it is surprisingly difficult to persuade some of these services that you really do want to cancel! They seem to have great difficulty believing it at all.

I choose my reasons carefully if I have to cancel on the phone. I recently overheard a friend trying to cancel the Experian credit report thing and it was painful - it took about 10 minutes to exhaust the salesman's vigour and get him to process the cancellation. I always give them a reason they can't fight, such as redundancy or moving abroad. Speeds the process up immensely.

cklass

Earlier this year, for the first time ever, I forgot to cancel a trial (for Lovefilm) and I was so angry with myself. I wasn't at all tempted to continue my subscription, I wanted my money back!

Martin's right, though, a lot of people do get hooked in, but I'm just not one of those people. If anything, the fact that I have received something for free means that actually having to pay for it becomes an even less attractive prospect.

Percy1983

Personally I just don't sign up to any of these free trials due to the knowledge I may be too lazy or forget to cancel.

ie, everytime I I order on amazon I get offered free next day delivery with prime, yes it would be nice to have a free next day delivery but I always just tick no thanks and wait a bit longer for my stuff.

With things like netflix etc I don't feel I have a big enough hole in my life to fill and the quality just isn't there, for the money they cost I just go and buy a couple of blu-rays form cex for £2-£3 each and watch in much better quality.

I suppose I already see these marketing tricks for what they are and don't fall for any of it.