Canceling TheStreet.com

Remember TheStreet.com? I subscribed back when it was the go-to website for stocks and I was in the investment banking business. Neither is true any more.

I finally got around to canceling my subscription, since, well, I basically don't read it any more (that and it's more expensive than the Wall Street Journal). I sent them an E-mail asking them to cancel my subscription. They refused, telling me I could only cancel by phone (and only during working hours).

This has led to an exchange of now eight E-mails, each more surreal than the last. For your edification and entertainment, here is the most recent one I sent to TheStreet.com. I may at some point collect them all together, since taken as a whole it makes a wonderful example of corporate obstinacy at its best.

Jason:

It is precisely because I do not wish to speak with one of your service reps that I canceled in writing. I refuse to jump through artificial hoops to end a subscription which I no longer want. I do not want to subject myself to being quizzed, upsold, retained, or otherwise annoyed by a company which I no longer do business with.

Actually, that was the initial reason why I cancelled in writing. TheStreet.com's stubborn insistence that I cancel by phone (only during business hours) has now made me curious about how long you'll persist in this asinine policy given that you have destroyed all goodwill on my part and any hope of ever getting my business back. My credit card company has assured me that they will decline any charges from you, and even if you manage to put a charge through, I will charge it back as unauthorized (which it is, in case you haven't gotten the hint yet).

Whether you consider my subscription "renewed" or not is your business; however, I have made it very clear that I no longer want this subscription, and I will not pay for it. I'm still interested to see how long it will take for TheStreet.com to recognize that fact. Consider it a science project.