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Just Cancel the @#%$* Account!

It's hard to find a Web service that doesn't offer a free trial. But just try canceling. We did, and the results weren't always pretty.

Tom Spring

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Why Make It So Hard to Cancel?

According to Jared Spool, founding principal of market research firm User Interface Engineering, some Web site proprietors imagine that the easier they make it to sign up, the more customers they'll get. And pursuing the same logic in reverse, they may also suppose that the harder they make it for people to unsubscribe, the more customers they'll keep.

But the companies that made it easiest to unsubscribe are ones I would consider doing business with again. As for NetZero and True.com? Not on your life.

Hall of Shame Award: A Really Big Hassle

Canceling True.com was bad--but botched billing, long and frustrating conversations with customer service reps, and supervisors who were never available when I called made NetZero my worst cancellation experience.

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