Regardless of the ethics of this approach (I don't even want to touch that part), continuously charging back has a number of ways that can ultimately hurt you:

1. If you run this scheme enough and your credit card company flags your account for excessive chargebacks, you could very well have that card shut down and take a credit hit along with it. 2. More and more companies implement against (effectively) data brokers who are going to tie your chargeback history into a risk score. This very product from Stripe is absolutely going to score risky behavior in part based on past chargeback history.

What's easier & takes less time now is not a guarantee on something being a net good decision, so other people should think twice before going with a scheme like this.

Few consumers are going to be aware of such potential drawbacks, and those who are will generally risk it anyway. I think you underestimate people’s eagerness to trigger a system that makes them feel powerful and righteous.

Oh I am fully aware of people’s eagerness, which is why I’m not even going to start with the parent poster. I’m here for anyone else who comes by who innocently thinks that might be good advice ;-)

Regulations like the GDPR together with consumer outrage will prevent companies using risk scores for too many things that materially affect the customer.

Isn't that harder than replying to your last invoice mail with the words "Please refund this and cancel my subscription"?

Why involve the telephone?

You know that bullshit "[email protected]" email that many companies use as the sender for communications? Too many don't even bother to name the no-reply account as that but essentially send from a no-reply address.

So, does your reply reach them? Who knows. Now you have to set yourself a reminder to follow up and make sure the request got through.

Alternatively, you hunt down their support email but you still need to follow up.

Then there are the rare times a company fights you on it. Then you have a whole back and forth before they finally capitulate.

I personally go through the hassle but I can understand why OP wouldn't want to.

I think many people have been conditioned to assume that replying to automated messages goes straight to /dev/null. Have you considered putting a link to a page that provides a quick cancellation workflow?

Here's one of those invoice mails in its entirety. Sent from (and reply-to) [email protected]. See if you can figure out how to go about cancelling your subscription or getting a refund:

Your Twiddla Bill for April 4, 2019 to May 4, 2019

Hey, we wanted to let you know that on May 4, 2019 we charged your credit card $14.00 for your monthly Twiddla Pro subscription.

You can find additional information regarding your bill, individual charges, and your account history by logging into your your account at https://www.twiddla.com/ and navigating to your "My Account" page. You can also make changes to your subscription or cancel it altogether from that page.

If you have any questions regarding this charge, or would like to yell at us until we refund it, please contact us at [email protected].

Thanks for the business!

Jason Kester

[email protected]

https://www.twiddla.com/

I have no desire to yell at you, simply to cancel the account and request a refund. While sending an email is okay, it would be better if there was a link directly to a page to do so, just like unsubscribing from an email list. Regardless, I would recommend changing the wording from "yell" because that sounds hostile, and most people don't want the conflict.

One nice thing about running your own business is that you can develop your own "voice" throughout the copy on your site and in your communication with users. And that that voice need not be soulless nor corporate nor cleared by Legal.

Plenty of people have taken me up on the offer for a refund, and none of them felt the need to "yell", so I think they got the correct vibe. All our site copy and mails have this same casual, friendly tone. People seem to like it.

The people who did end up writing in are not your problem though, are they? It's the ones who don't. I wouldn't base my experience on the ones who cooperated.

Casual tone is one thing (a good thing), but I posit that an actually angry customer will not respond well to this.

"Oh damn I get this email again... and they are telling me I can cancel, but I think I already cancelled... wth. Hmm, maybe they'll give me a refund."

Now at that point whether the customer is right or wrong they'll read the yell part and think that you are mocking their potential interest in demanding a refund.

Maybe I am totally alone here (with the other guy I guess), but while I wouldn't go dispute a charge myself that wording of yours would not encourage me to write in and get my hopes up you are happy to accomodate me.

I understand wanting to have your own style. I am not opposed to the casual tone. You were complaining that some customers don't take you up on the offer, and instead contact their banks to request a charge back. I was suggesting that changing that one word (but not necessarily the casual tone) might make a difference in encouraging some of those people. But it is your business, you can try the suggestion or not, I apologize if my comment came across as pushy or anything like that.

some people (myself included) strongly prefer interacting with live humans, over emailing and hoping that stuff gets fixed. E.g. in McDonalds, rather than ordering in a kiosk, I go to a cashier, it's actually easier and faster this way.

Not the gp, but in my experience emails like that are usually Do Not Reply.

You’re assuming there is an invoice; many times there is not which is why the chargeback is auto-approved.

For better or worse, the chargeback is the only weapon end-users have anymore.

That's utter nonsense. Most reasonable companies will offer you a refund if you simply ask, especially if you haven't used the service or incurred any costs for the company because of your failure to cancel. When you sign up for a monthly service it is not the company's responsibility to make sure you want to continue each month. Some still do, but it is not required.

Right, but if cancellation becomes a dark pattern, use a dark pattern in response.

What are you people subscribing to that's getting you to this point? Other than a gym, I've never spent more than maybe 2 minutes unsubscribing from anything in my life.