The Situation.
My wife and I pay for a $65/month massage subscription that buys one credit which can be used for a 1-hour massage. If we paid for the massage outright, no subscription, it’s $80 for a 1-hour massage. So the discount in this case is $15.
If we cancel the subscription, and no longer continue to pay the $65/month (drafted out of our bank account), we automatically forfeit the credits that we already paid for at the $65 rate, we have 3 credits. We could continue to use the massage company at non-subscription rates, $80 each time she goes and gets a 1-hour massage, but we would still lose those 3 credits.
The Decision.
My wife has been using this massage company for the 14 years due to some back issues, so it has been a wise allocation of money. But the pandemic has changed how frequently she goes. She used to go every month, and because of the pandemic, now she doesn't go at all.
Since she doesn't go, there was no sense in us paying for a service she doesn't use. So, we postponed the payments six months so they wouldn't charge us during this pandemic. But, the 6-month mark ends next month. We reached out to them again to extend the postponement another 6 months, but they said they couldn't. So we have to make a choice:
- Cancel the subscription, and lose three credits we already have on the account.
- Or be charged every month for a service that we don't feel comfortable using during the pandemic.
My Grievance.
I've had an issue with this “credit” system for a while now. Its a problem when we give a company money and then not be able to use that money (in some form); unless we give them more money. About 18 months ago we thought about this, and my wife started getting multiple massages a month to draw down the amount of credits we had.
I understand the profit model of giving people a discount in exchange for buying 'massage credits' that must be used without reimbursement. But I find it unreasonable when the company requires us to give them more money (keep a subscription) to use the credits that we already bought.
In light of this, my mind is already made up. I want to cancel the service and lose the 3 credits we have in the account, rather than give them more money and have to revisit this again in 3 months ($195 poorer) because the pandemic is still around. My wife is undecided.
- Cancel the subscription (saving $65/month), lose three credits and probably re-establish the account after the pandemic is over?
- Or continue the subscription (spending $65/month), which we’re probably not going to use until the pandemic is over?
Stay frosty people. Thanks for reading.
Update - 09/03/2020:
We did talk to them about forfeiting the credits that we already paid for and they finally said they would allow us two months to use those credits before forfeiting them. But we had to pry that information out of them.
We finally decided to cancel the subscription after they declined our requests (3 emails and 2 phone calls) to extend the hold on charging our bank account.
Considering that the pandemic is a very rare occurrence; and my wife has been using this company for the last 14 years; they should have extended the hold, because now my wife is thinking about other alternatives and companies.
Credit for Image:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/59937401@N07/5930043516
https://freesvg.org/annoyed-man