Anyone else getting subscription exhausted?

[Phroig]

We have Prime and Netflix; those two are more or less permanent. We got a special deal on HBO last year. We’d long wanted to watch GOT and The Wire. We’re finished with both shows, so we will cancel HBO when the year’s up. We currently have Disney+ and Peacock for free; those will be canceled when we cancel our Amex card. Once every couple years, we get Acorn or Britbox to catch up.

 

[JoeWras]

Is it worth the effort?

On Hulu, I can save $30 with a little pain. Is it worth it?

Currently paying $8 a month. My other email got an offer for $3 for 6 months. So, save $30.

Worth the pain of messing around? As the title says, I'm "exhausted" over this.

 

[Retired Expat]

Having cut the cord on cable those savings pay for any streaming service we might want. Still where we had signed up for Disney during the Pandemic, mostly to watch Hamilton, and stayed for Star Wars and the Mandalorian we dropped that. We tried Brit Box but Prime is offering more British content so we dropped that too.

 

[Winemaker]

We had Sirius on our 2007 Trailblazer, bought used in 2014. It was our "good" car; garaged, and only taken out sparingly, it had about 20,000 miles on it. We never paid for a subscription fee but we had reception until we bought the '14 Benz to be our "good" car in November 2020. Once the Trailblazer sat outside as the wife's daily driver, we lost Sirius.

 

[athena53]

On Hulu, I can save $30 with a little pain. Is it worth it?

Currently paying $8 a month. My other email got an offer for $3 for 6 months. So, save $30.

Worth the pain of messing around? As the title says, I'm "exhausted" over this.

And this is why I avoid the major telecommunications companies. In the 7 years since I started with Google Fiber they've added a 70 cent local sales tax to the bill and that's just this month. My Ting bill has been under $20 over the same period and they actually changed their pricing plan so I got more data for the same price and removed their limits on texts and talk time.

Compare that with Comcast, who promised when we moved in that they'd "freeze" rates at what the previous owner was paying for two years. Before that time was up they'd passed on small increases for sports programming from the networks. You can't even trust them when they claim they'll freeze rates.

Yes, Netflix has gone from $10 to $20 over 7 years and they've taken away password sharing but $5 of the increase is for higher-resolution video. It's nothing (and infrequent) compared to the mainstream companies.

 

[skyking1]

We started youtube video to replace our current streaming app from our small ISP, and I ordered $25 per month internet from xfinity to replace them.
This will save us ~25 a month and is a much better app.
I took my free month from prime, and remembered to pause it today. I have been binge watching some shows, LOL.

 

[JoeWras]

Disney just announced big price rises, including Hulu and Hulu+Live.

Looks like I'll take their deal, work off what I want to watch and jettison it next year.

 

[Surewhitey]

Disney just announced big price rises, including Hulu and Hulu+Live.

Looks like I'll take their deal, work off what I want to watch and jettison it next year.

Disney & HULU no ads for $20 is not bad...

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Disney just announced big price rises, including Hulu and Hulu+Live.

Looks like I'll take their deal, work off what I want to watch and jettison it next year.

I wonder what their Black Friday $1.99 deal will cost this year.
This year I think I will cancel at least 30 days before Black Friday to qualify for their new deal without jumping through all the hoops that I've done in the past. I do need to check the previous years to see if it's 30 or 60 days though.

 

[JoeWras]

I wonder what their Black Friday $1.99 deal will cost this year.
This year I think I will cancel at least 30 days before Black Friday to qualify for their new deal without jumping through all the hoops that I've done in the past. I do need to check the previous years to see if it's 30 or 60 days though.

Judging by the tone of the new CEO regarding streaming profitability and Disney's closer control of Hulu, I have a bad feeling about the future of the deal. Should be interesting to watch.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I agree the price will increase a couple of dollars but the original offers started when Iger was in charge so I think we'll still get something. I hope they offer the same addon option as last year with the Disney+ which I'm sure my daughter will want now she has her first kid.

2018 0.99 Iger
2019 1.99 Iger
2020 1.99 Chapek
2021 .99 Chapek
2022 1.99 or with Disney+ for 4.98

The recent offers have been available to anyone that has not been a customer for 30 days but the earlier offers were 60 and 90 days I think. I bet 90 days comes back.

 

[statsman]

It took SiriusXM a week from the time our service stopped for them to email us an "offer". The offer is more than what we've been paying for the past 4-5 years ($5/mo previously).I suppose if everyone else was getting this as the best offer for their Music & Entertainment package, we might bite the bullet

But many are posting they are getting the $5/mo offer (rather than the $6-8/mo limited offers - some channels missing, etc.). Some are getting a 3yr/$99 ($2.75/mo) offer and/or a 5yr/$149 ($2.50/mo) offer. Either of those sounds appealing as it would eliminate the need for the yearly cancel dance for a few years.

We must not need the service bad enough to pay more.

It's starting to look like the deals of the past with SiriusXM may be gone. Particularly with regards to the 3yr/$99 and 5yr/$149 deals. Even the $5/mo deals aren't being offered. We've now been without service since August 1.

But they have ramped up their efforts to get us to sign back up again. We received an email yesterday morning around 8am local offering a $6/mo deal. About four hours later, we received a second email indicating "Oops, your order is incomplete" in the subject title. Very interesting to receive two emails that close together.

About 20 minutes ago I received a phone call from SiriusXM. It was a sales pitch for that same $6/mo deal, with a never-ending stream of verbiage regarding the plan (i.e. the fine print of their agreement). I actually wasn't listening very closely because (a) I wasn't going to sign up at $6/mo, and (b) the person on the phone was talking so fast and not very clearly that I probably would have missed a good portion of it anyway.

The interesting part is the more this goes on, the less I miss SiriusXM. I certainly don't miss the low quality audio. I just wished our 2015 vehicle didn't have numerous issues with its audio system.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We do not have any, honestly it is easy to get on without them. DW does not miss them anymore.

 

[Gonz]

My only subscription is Audible.

 

[Badger]

No more subscriptions since I can always go to the library. However, when I was 10 we lived in a rented house where the owner had years of Popular Mechanics/Science back issues that I spent hours reading. I recently found that there are folks that copy back issues and make them available for a small fee. I bought 3 CDs with complete issues from 1950 to 1963. For a little more than the cost of a new subscription I get 36 issues and lots of nostalgia. Lots of fun reading building and woodworking articles, new inventions, and advertisements. That 50s Studebaker sure looks nice, and I now know how to electrify a treadle sewing machine and convert a Model A Ford to a "Woodie" to carry surf boards to the beach.
This should keep me busy for a long time.

Cheers!

Cheers!d

 

[ShokWaveRider]

An example for us is Amazon Prime. We do NOT subscribe, we still get free trial months like clockwork every 2 months or so, followed by a week for $1.99.

In the meantime, we simply order $25+ for free shipping.

 

[Out of Steam]

It's not that I'm subscription exhausted, but the number of things I'd like to do/buy, but won't because I don't want to deal with a long-term subscription on a credit card is growing.

 

[Koolau]

No more subscriptions since I can always go to the library. However, when I was 10 we lived in a rented house where the owner had years of Popular Mechanics/Science back issues that I spent hours reading. I recently found that there are folks that copy back issues and make them available for a small fee. I bought 3 CDs with complete issues from 1950 to 1963. For a little more than the cost of a new subscription I get 36 issues and lots of nostalgia. Lots of fun reading building and woodworking articles, new inventions, and advertisements. That 50s Studebaker sure looks nice, and I now know how to electrify a treadle sewing machine and convert a Model A Ford to a "Woodie" to carry surf boards to the beach.
This should keep me busy for a long time.

Cheers!

Cheers!d

It may be interesting to see what things those magazines envisioned for the future (our now.) I recall "flying cars" were predicted to be "the thing" by now. Not gonna happen, unfortunately.

 

[JoeWras]

It may be interesting to see what things those magazines envisioned for the future (our now.) I recall "flying cars" were predicted to be "the thing" by now. Not gonna happen, unfortunately.

They apparently didn't envision magazines being obsolete.

 

[audreyh1]

Well we just said goodbye to three streaming subscriptions we got great deals on last year.

Now down to the basic four: Apple TV+, Amazon Prime (member), PBS Passport (member), and Netflix (covered by T-Mobile). Still so much to catch up on.

 

[statsman]

About 20 minutes ago I received a phone call from SiriusXM. It was a sales pitch for that same $6/mo deal, with a never-ending stream of verbiage regarding the plan (i.e. the fine print of their agreement). I actually wasn't listening very closely because (a) I wasn't going to sign up at $6/mo, and (b) the person on the phone was talking so fast and not very clearly that I probably would have missed a good portion of it anyway.

The interesting part is the more this goes on, the less I miss SiriusXM. I certainly don't miss the low quality audio. I just wished our 2015 vehicle didn't have numerous issues with its audio system.

Three weeks later, and SiriusXM is still sending us requests to sign up for service. Same $6/mo deal, but in yesterday's email, the offer was good for two years. Still not biting.

I have been repeatedly trying the link to their site for a 3-year/$99 Music & Entertainment deal. Each time the link reaches their website, they present their form to fill in the address and payment information. The button below the form says "Complete". The problem is the rest of the screen well above the form has been reset to their $6/mo "deal". I wonder how many people have been caught by this tactic.

I have stopped clicking on the 3-year/$99 link so that they can't track my interest in their service. I think what is happening is each attempt at the 3-year deal places the $6/mo offer in a cart. The emails we have been receiving in the past three weeks indicate something along the lines of "needing to complete my order".

 

[ncbill]

Three weeks later, and SiriusXM is still sending us requests to sign up for service. Same $6/mo deal, but in yesterday's email, the offer was good for two years. Still not biting.

I have been repeatedly trying the link to their site for a 3-year/$99 Music & Entertainment deal. Each time the link reaches their website, they present their form to fill in the address and payment information. The button below the form says "Complete". The problem is the rest of the screen well above the form has been reset to their $6/mo "deal". I wonder how many people have been caught by this tactic.

I have stopped clicking on the 3-year/$99 link so that they can't track my interest in their service. I think what is happening is each attempt at the 3-year deal places the $6/mo offer in a cart. The emails we have been receiving in the past three weeks indicate something along the lines of "needing to complete my order".

Try their chat to see if you can get the $99/3 year deal.

 

[statsman]

Try their chat to see if you can get the $99/3 year deal.

I've tried to reach their chat since the middle of last week, and the option is grayed out on two separate browsers despite being within their chat hours of operation. I've tried while logged into our SiriusXM account, and while logged out. No difference.

 

[Timeisprecious]

Up until this point of retirement I've paid with cash/check for everything (or with credit card to run up the points and then paid off my credit card each month). I've absolutely rejected signing up for or committing to anything requiring monthly payments. But - because DW wanted to finish a TV series she started, I signed up just this week for the lowest level Netflix $6.99 subscription (which of course includes accepting ads). We do enjoy the many new options you can't get anywhere else. However, we'll evaluate it month by month and dump it as soon as we feel the enjoyment level slipping or we're not using it enough.

 

[JoeWras]

I've tried to reach their chat since the middle of last week, and the option is grayed out on two separate browsers despite being within their chat hours of operation. I've tried while logged into our SiriusXM account, and while logged out. No difference.

Working fine for me.