I hate auto renewals

MLB.com was using automatic renewals for their audio and video services this year (I don't remember if they did this last year). They sent an e-mail earlier this year indicating that one should contact them explicitly if one did not want to renew something.

Because games from local teams (like the Dodgers) are blacked out and because I can get the Dodger games on cable tv around here with standard cable packages, I sent an e-mail indicating I did not want to renew the video package. (I did renew the audio package.) That would be fine, except I received my credit card bill today and apparently those fuckers charged me $100 for a renewal (which is a fair price if one wants the service...) despite my explicit instructions otherwise. Now I'm going to have to deal with their shitty customer service to get this fixed. Errrrr......

I hate these automatic renewals as a general principle. I'd rather just order the damn shit I want every year so that I know exactly what I'm getting and I don't see surprise charges on my credit card. This is why I don't automatically deduct bill payments from my bank account but instead opt to get an e-mail when the billis ready for me to go online to pay. I actively try to prevent things from going under the radar because without that e-mail (and snail mail, in some cases---though I'll log into the website and pay when I get that in my mail box), things like this can easily get lost amidst more important things, like the scientific problems about which I'm thinking.