> It sounds as if you are not worried that they would sue you?

Netflix subscriptions are prepaid. What on earth would give them the idea to sue if your card is declined?

If your current month runs out and your renewal is declined, they just don't authorize you for a second month of service. There's no breach of contract, there's no debt for services rendered, I can't think of a single motivation to sue for this.

What am I missing here?

The post was probably referring to companies/subscriptions in general. The "contract" is separate from the method & frequency of the payments => even if you stop paying you still own them the old&new amount(s) as long as the contract hasn't been cancelled/terminated.

Companies in Germany will actually keep raking up your debt and call a collections agency on you. It's horrible.

They could leave your account open, wait 10 years, then sue you for not paying your bills.

They could do that, yes. They could also open an account automatically in your name and then sue you over it. I expect both would be equally successful.

The former could be a natural consequence of neglect + shareholders asking why the cash influx is too low considering the number of actual subscribers.

The latter would be fraud.

Many if not most agreements these days seem to specify charging up front and reserve the right to cancel your service for any reason, so credit doesn't enter into it. I don't know about Netflix specifically.

What seems more likely is that they would blacklist you if you're obnoxious.

Years ago, my CC expired with an active Xbox Live sub attached (I moved overseas). Microsoft flagged my account as bad in some way, and years later when I moved back and tried to resub they didn't let me. Their loss, as I never spent another $ on Xbox after having purchased over 30 360 titles and been a Live subscriber since day 1.

Why would a company sue a consumer because of a cancelled credit card?

A cancelled credit card does not mean bills are automatically void or the recurring subscription cancelled, but it's a scale whether it's worth it for the company to try to collect or not.

If your rent autobill fails, I think everyone realizes it doesn't mean you don't have to pay. If the credit card for your gym membership expires, I think most people would likewise fear (and has been known to happen) that your bill would eventually be sent to collections. A $5/mo subscription? Not worth the time of the company to try to collect. A Salesforce or Adobe subscription on a card? I certainly wouldn't gamble on that, and would try to properly cancel the subscription.

> A cancelled credit card does not mean bills are automatically void or the recurring subscription cancelled, but it's a scale whether it's worth it for the company to try to collect or not.

Excuse me? If the bill is prepaid you bet your ass it means the subscription is cancelled. You can't pay, they don't continue to provide the service, end of story.

> If your rent autobill fails, I think everyone realizes it doesn't mean you don't have to pay.

The difference is that rent is paid after the fact and is typically part of a lease contract. What contract are you signing to get Netflix?

> A $5/mo subscription? Not worth the time of the company to try to collect.

Who's out here providing $5/month post-paid subscriptions? I have literally never heard of such a thing. Metered billing is a different story, but the discussion is lawsuits over Netflix subscriptions.

> the discussion is lawsuits over Netflix subscriptions

Actually when I asked, I had in mind subscriptions in general, not Netflix in particular

Netflix, like many subscription services, charges you for services ahead of time. If you don't pay, you don't get the service. It's that simple.

Almost every major business cloud provider? Agree with you that something like Netflix is entirely safe, but AWS as a major example has an entirely post-paid model.

> Almost every major business cloud provider? Agree with you that something like Netflix is entirely safe, but AWS as a major example has an entirely post-paid model.

That's not a subscription, that's metered billing, where you are billed for what you have already used.