PayPal cancelled my subscription without notifying me

[Thomas Daulton]

Something weird happened with my PayPal and you might possibly want to alert listener/subscribers about this.

I was signed up for $10/month to receive B-Sides access. At some point last spring, my bank sent me a new credit card, with a letter saying "this is not because of any known security breach with your account, it's just for better security. We are cancelling your old credit card in 15 days." I received a new credit card with a different VISA number.

I updated my PayPal with the new credit card number. However, when my old credit card expired, PayPal apparently cancelled my Drabblecast recurring payment -- without notifying me whatsoever. I know this was a PayPal problem and not a Drabblecast problem, because PayPal also "disappeared" my monthly subscription to another podcast (C-Realm) at exactly the same time.

(At least, that's my working theory. When I try to contact PayPal about this, the response I get is crickets.)

I don't keep a month-by-month budget, I'm sloppy that way, so it took me a good six or eight months to notice that I wasn't paying the monthly fee to the Drabblecast anymore. When I finally noticed, I was in the middle of a bout of under-employment and financial belt-tightening, so I couldn't spare the jenk to renew the subscription.

I am in a better financial position now, so I just renewed the subscription (doublechecking that my _NEW_ credit card number is the payment source) and I also made a 1-time contribution to make up for the gap time. Yes, I was a pirate and I kept downloading the B-sides even after I realized I wasn't paying for them. Hope you'll forgive me, I plead poverty. But I wasn't about to give up the dulcet tones of Norm's voice!

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Thank you!

Norm and Tom are working on a better subscription system (too many people paying and not getting a login for Bsides right away). I'm sure Norm appreciates your diligence and generosity (and so do I if it helps keep the episodes coming).

[tbaker2500]

Thanks Thomas!
PayPal can be very flaky. Thanks for updating us on this!
I'm in the process of rolling out a new subscription system. I also recently got engaged, sooooo... Not not getting things done as quickly as I wish.