Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
Let’s face it: many of us don’t pay enough attention to what streaming services we are subscribed to — and paying for. Especially now, when there are more and more services vying for our attention, it’s easy to go for a trial subscription, or to decide that you’re going to subscribe “just for a couple of months,” and then completely forget about it. Meanwhile, your charge card is being pinged every month.
For example, over a year ago, Matthew Inman, the comics artist who creates the site The Oatmeal, reported (to his apparent chagrin) that he had been paying for Netflix’s DVD subscription for the last 13 years:
Today Netflix was kind enough to let me know that I’ve accidentally been paying for a DVD subscription for THIRTEEN FUCKING…