Comments on: Dealing With Trial Periods

By: Michael Roberts of Mile2

Michael Roberts of Mile2 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:03:45 +0000

Trials periods are kind of like telling someone they can run wild on a beautiful beach and then shooting them in the leg.

By: KirilloFF

KirilloFF — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:59:50 +0000

I too feel the same about those so called free trial deals, sometimes it is just not worth it, unless you would have paid for it regardless of deal.

By: abdpbt personal finance

abdpbt personal finance — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:10:40 +0000

Ordinarily, I like to just not get involved with trial offers, too. I figure it’s almost never worth it, and I am almost guaranteed to forget to turn it off. On the times I do want to, though, I find that using Google Calendar to send a reminder email is the best bet. I use google calendar for so many things–menu planning (described on my blog how to do this), reminders for doctors appointments, birthdays, and yes, trial offer expirations. It’s really useful once you get the hang of it.

By: Try for Trading Free

Try for Trading Free — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:51:47 +0000

You cannot blame people and businesses becoming more and more picky during these times as Tesco say ‘every little helps’ and I agree with it.
Especially, if you’re a new business and short on cash you would have to be prudent and vigilant to survive in the current stock market and economy turmoil.

By: rs999

rs999 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:32:07 +0000

Free trials aren’t bad, it’s all about reading the fine print before getting the trial to find out when your free trial becomes a monthly fee. I’ve done this plenty of times on financial websites to check out reports and I have never had any problems cancelling.

Also, it pays to be early when cancelling, when it says free for 30 days put that date minus 10 days into iCal or whatever you use, since your actual end date may fall on a weekend and you may not be able to reach customer service.

To sum up: read the fine print before doing anything. If only more ARM holders (including you 80/X mortgagers) read the fine print maybe we wouldn’t be in as bad an economic crisis that we are in now.

By: Charlie@PayLessForFood.com

Charlie@PayLessForFood.com — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:36:53 +0000

You are so right on with this article.

I’ve been snagged a few times when it comes to free trials.

In addition to them hoping you forget to cancel your trial offer, another marketing concept is in play here – the “ownership” principle.

Its harder for us to give up something we already own. That’s one of the reason home sellers often price their houses more than they’re worth when they sell them or the reason people holding garage sales tend to overprice their junk.

When we own something we equate a higher value to it. Trials are just a way of getting us to “claim” ownership to something.

It makes it much harder to give it up. When I bought my first car the dealer allowed me to take it home overnight for an “extended test drive”. And of course once I got a sense of “owning” the car it made it much harder to give back. I ended up buying the car.

Sales people employ the same technique when they insist that you try on the clothes you’ve been eyeing.

Just another reason to say NO to free trials.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:33:11 +0000

Haha you are actually reminding me to do just that this week by wirting this post! Thanks!

By: PB

PB — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:49:17 +0000

I have been a reader for past few months but never posted before. I just wanted to say great work and I am glad you still writing useful information.

I too feel the same about those so called free trial deals, sometimes it is just not worth it, unless you would have paid for it regardless of deal.