You might have seen the $8 for 8 weeks trial for the digital version of the Wall Street Journal. If you’re tempted, thinking, I can always just cancel at the end of the 8 weeks: don’t.

That’s what I thought, and why I took the trial and put down my credit card information. The 8 weeks came by quickly and saw on my credit card statement that I was billed the subsequent monthly amount. Even though I read maybe two articles on the WSJ during that time span…no problem. Went to the website, tried to find a cancellation button, couldn’t, and fired off an email with all my details to cancel.

Two months of busy life go by. Nothing from the WSJ. I check my credit card statement again and…WTF, saw two more monthly charges from the good journal. Now I really go through the site, trying to find out how to cancel the subscription. Buried in the FAQs section I finally see my answer:

You have to call to cancel your subscription. They don’t accept cancellations online or over email because of security reasons?!

How utterly ridiculous!

Do they expect all their customers to be tech noobs?

The blatant lie is kind of offensive if you think about it.

My brain is struggling to understand how cancelling an account online or even by email could possibly be a security issue. Maybe the WSJ is afraid an attacker will maliciously cancel a person’s subscription? Oh, the horror!

Anyway. I called the number listed, but of course that is US only. I had to do more searching to find a local number to call. And of course they put me on hold for 20 minutes, hoping I would go away. They begged me to “leave a voice mail.” Suuuuure, collect another month or two of subscription right?

So if you see this trial offer and are tempted, here’s my advice: don’t.