Free Trial: There was a discussion recently about giving a CC number for a free trial. I just had an experience like that. My calendar was marked to cancel Parallels Toolbox for...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

There was a discussion recently about giving a CC number for a free trial. I just had an experience like that. My calendar was marked to cancel Parallels Toolbox for Windows this week. I had no record of buying/trying that. Just now, I received an email from them telling my my $22 payment was due. Since the CC company changed my account number, they couldn't charge me. Looking on their site, I saw that their program came with several other "free" programs when I bought Paintshop Pro exactly one year ago. If the CC number hadn't been changed, I'd have to try to cancel that payment. As it is, I'm not able to sign in to their site to cancel my account.

kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA

Cancel at the cc asap

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

kenArchi wrote:

Cancel at the cc asap

The bank canceled and reissued the card months ago, so they can't charge me.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I will NEVER do a free trial if it requires a CC number!!!

clickety

Longshadow wrote:

I will NEVER do a free trial if it requires a CC number!!!

Maybe Jerry has a work around, take trial offer and ‘lose’ card then use different card if you later want to purchase the product

tramsey Loc: Texas

I don't do free trials because I forget when they are due until a charge shows up on my cc. I can mark in on my calendar etc but I forget about it. So I take a twenty dollar hit (if I'm lucky it's only twenty bucks) and then cancel them and write them a nasty note. I know it's my fault but writing the note makes me feel a little better.

davidv Loc: salt lake city utah

If you purchase a prepaid cc for the free trials, you can’t be rebelled.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

davidv wrote:

If you purchase a prepaid cc for the free trials, you can’t be rebelled.

There's an idea, keep the card balance low, only recharging it with funds when needed.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

ALSO, check carefully for any free trial offer to see that other things are not included in the "free trial" that will come back to bite you later.
I see lots of things like that where, for example, downloading a program will also download other software, not related to the one you want, such as Macafee AntiVirus (or so they claim).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

DirtFarmer wrote:

ALSO, check carefully for any free trial offer to see that other things are not included in the "free trial" that will come back to bite you later.
I see lots of things like that where, for example, downloading a program will also download other software, not related to the one you want, such as Macafee AntiVirus (or so they claim).

I have seen that in the past with McAfee! Just read everything and observe check boxes.
I uncheck what I don't want.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

DirtFarmer wrote:

ALSO, check carefully for any free trial offer to see that other things are not included in the "free trial" that will come back to bite you later.
I see lots of things like that where, for example, downloading a program will also download other software, not related to the one you want, such as Macafee AntiVirus (or so they claim).

Yes, they often sneak in extras. What I bought was Paintshop Pro, and it came with related graphics programs, including Parallels Toolbox. I had no choice. Accepting Standard Installation is never a good idea. I always select Custom.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

jerryc41 wrote:

Yes, they often sneak in extras. What I bought was Paintshop Pro, and it came with related graphics programs, including Parallels Toolbox. I had no choice. Accepting Standard Installation is never a good idea. I always select Custom.

No piggy-back programs!

blackhound Loc: East Stroudsburg, PA

To prevent unwanted future CC charges use a credit card that offers virtual numbers (e.g. ENO from Capital One). After the initial charge you can "lock" the number until you are ready to use it again or you can cancel it. The other benefit is if you lose your card and are issued a new one with a new number you do not have to update all of your accounts where you have established automatic payments.

whatdat Loc: Del Valle, Tx.

Longshadow wrote:

I will NEVER do a free trial if it requires a CC number!!!

👍👍👍!!!

Leo_B Loc: Houston suburb

Longshadow wrote:

I will NEVER do a free trial if it requires a CC number!!!

The problem is, in some cases, you've given your CC number to buy product A. Products B, C and D are "free trials" included with your purchase. So you've given them your CC number as well as authorized them to charge it when the "free trial" expires. Very sneaky stuff they do somewhere in the fine print you don't read but still check the box saying you did.