I was going to post this in the rant thread but I don't feel angry enough about it...
Just under a month ago, I made the foolish error of signing up for a free month's trial to The Times - only because there was an article I particularly wanted to read. Fortunately, I had the foresight to set myself a reminder of when the month was due to end...
So I visited the website yesterday evening to cancel the subscription before they took any money from me, only to find out that you can't cancel online, you have to call their 0800 number... cue sinking feeling in stomach. But fuck it, I'm not going to let myself be stung for £26 a month just because I'd rather not talk to some customer retention nazi...
God, that was a horrible experience. I know these people are only doing their job, but what a soul-destroying job it must be. I played along with it out of decency, so allowed myself to be subjected to his impertinent questions about why I wanted to cancel. He asked where I usually got my news from, so I told him The Guardian. He suggested that many Times readers enjoy the balance of their content and find the Guardian too left-leaning, and what did I think about that? I took great pleasure in telling him that maybe I don't find the Guardian nearly left-leaning enough.
Anyway, I stood firm and resisted all his attempts to persuade me to continue the subscription. Feel mightily relieved that's over.