Have you ever signed up for a free trial of something, only to forget to cancel when the trial period was up?
Thirty days at a gym, ten days of some website, first two classes free! If you mean to stay signed up or if you find you actually like whatever service, then yay. “Forgetting to cancel” is no big deal. But if you legit decide you don’t like whatever you tried, you honestly forget or you really were only interested in the perks that came with the “free” part of the trial, then forgetting to cancel can result in money lost as those charges stack up.
Welp, now there’s a service to get at that very issue.
Welcome, Free Trial Surfing!
Free Trial Surfing is a new feature of the DoNotPay app. The feature, which launched earlier this week, automatically cancels subscriptions at the end of a free trial.
“The idea for this product came when I realized I was being charged for a $21.99 gym membership from over a year ago that I was never using,” Free Trial Surfing and DoNotPay developer Josh Browder said via the BBC. “In fact, I had completely forgotten that I had signed up for a free trial in the first place. Constantly trying to keep track of when a ‘free trial’ period ends is annoying and time-consuming.”
You know, I’m not sure “time-consuming” or “annoying” are at play here, but I do get that things can slip one’s mind, especially things like Netflix trails and such. (That’s why you put a Post-it on your computer, Erika!)
Browder, incidentally, is no stranger to fightin’ the corporate man. As a teen, he developed an algorithm to fight parking fines, which allegedly still works to this day via DoNotPay. According to its website, DoNotPay also has functions to help users fight corporations, beat bureaucracy, find hidden money and “sue anyone.”
Sue anyone?! Ehh, I mean, sometimes you actually just deserve the parking ticket.
How does Free Trial Surfing work?
According to the BBC, Free Trial Surfing users receive a virtual credit card number and an invented name, which they can then use to sign up for a service. The proxy card is not linked to a customer’s actual bank account or credit card but, instead, is registered to Free Trial Surfing/DoNotPay. The app also forwards emails between the service provider and the virtual card. This way, customers’ for-real email addresses are also secure.
Interestingly, when you set up DoNotPay, you will be asked for your own, actual credit card details. And though DoNotPay is currently free, the BBC noted that — “perhaps ironically” — Browder said that one day he may charge a subscription fee to use his platform’s services.
Why is that ironic, BBC?! It took time and money and know-how to develop the app and its subsidiary services. Why is it so outlandish that its developer might someday expect to get paid for his work? It’s not like Free Trial Surfing is screwing entities out of earned money. It’s more of a clever reminder service regarding a portion of a goods exchange that was already designated as having no cost.
Anyway, I digress. Once you get the virtual credit card number, apparently you can go out registering for free trails to your heart’s content.
Why should we care about Free Trial Surfing?
It would be naive to suggest that some services don’t use the free trail perk as bait, hoping you discover you like what they’re offering but also possibly mayyybe hoping you forget about that free trial, resulting in a charge or two — or, over a year’s worth like Browder had with the gym — before you bother to cancel. Also, some spaces make it extremely difficult to cancel a trial or subscription, also maybe resulting in charges after you’d intended to stop the service.
Adult industry, you know full well you’ve been guilty of both of these!
But here’s the thing. It’s been said that the most commonly enrolled free trials are for the aforementioned Netflix… and porn. What happens then if Free Trial Surfing catches on within the context of adult? Scenarios could include things like double free trial periods if a user signed up with Free Trail Surfing and then came back with their real card, reduced conversion rates from interested users that get lost between the Free Trial Surfing period and coming back with their real card and/or outright service provider exploitation from users who never have any intention of actually signing up.
Features like this sound great at first, but Free Trail Surfing may have some potentially negative impacts on the online adult industry space — which, for as much as I like fighting the corporate man, sounds pretty shitty when the shoe is on the other foot.
Free Trial Surfing is currently only available via DoNotPay, which is only available via Apple’s app store.
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Erika is a sex positive people watcher (and writer). Email her at erika@ynotcam.com.
Screengrabs in the header image taken by the author from the app store.
