In Sweden at least "non payment" is not a valid way to cancel a service. You could end up with late fees and debt-collectors after you instead.

Well, I bet that if you are able to show in a small damages court that unsubscription was made unreasonably hard, you'll get them not only to throw away your debt, but also get some nice amount from the company as image damage reparation.

It's a hassle, but this makes companies not willing to go after the debt.

You pay for access, not for use, so there is no way of incurring debt.

So they just don't suspend your account even if billing fails, then after a year or so they can go after the price for 12 months of access.

Alternatively, they can do the same as the ISPs around here: jack up the sticker price, then give a large discount - conditional on your permanence as a client for X months. If you decide to cancel, you have to pay them back the discount accrued.

Even more reasons to pirate. I don't pirate because I think it's right. I pirate because I just don't care.

If the contract states that you are responsible for payments until you cancel the contract, then the failed payments would (could?) simply result in your debt being sent to a collection agency. Defaulting on a payment isn't always a good way to end a contract.

You pay for a month and then receive service. In order for that to work they would have to keep providing service to users who's credit card rejected the payment.

Then the model simply shifts: 1. Get credit card numbers illegally 2. Create Netflix accounts with those credit cards 3. Sell those accounts on EBay, even after the user reports the card as stolen it will continue to work.

This will just result in you getting lots of debt collection fees and an abysmal credit rating.

If you never again plan on taking part in the economy, it may be a convenient solution, though.

My credit card is stolen every other year. Somehow XBox live (for my son) has no problem figuring out how to keep charging me, despite the number changing.

Credit card companies will often honor recurring payments on a “real” card number reported stolen. This is for your convenience so a stolen card doesn’t mean a cessation of all services. You’re supposed to update these companies with your new number.

That’s not going to happen with a virtual card you canceled.