Hulu

As I suspected, since Hulu started their Hulu Plus subscription service, the available programming on regular Hulu, of interest to me, has dwindled considerably. Even their 1 week trial requires giving them a credit card #, which gives them the right to make continous debits each month on the card, which I do not care for at all.

They do not accept PayPal, as I would prefer, but I recall back a few years ago, that PayPal had a method of issuing a credit card # that was valid only for an individual purchase. I don't know if that would be any good for ongoing debits or not, but when I browsed the PayPal website, I couldn't find any mention of this now.

They do offer regular MasterCard, which I don't want, and also a PayPal debit card, which I don't understand, except that it appeared to be for use at ATMs, and it seemed that it only drew on a PayPal balance, rather than debiting my bank account as with other transactions (probably irrelevant, since they don't list PayPal in this fashion either).

I started to send an email to PayPal, for clarification, but they have so many hoops involved, that it seemed impossible to do very easily. Therefore, my post here...anyone understand this?

I'm not just thinking about the trial period. I just don't like the idea of anyone making continous debits on my card. Actually, I don't have a regular credit card, just an ATM and a Visa debit card, which draws directly from my banking account. I know that the debit card would work, but I took a long time just to trust PayPal with their fingers in the til, and I'm extremely reluctant to let anyone else do that.

The only other time that I did this was with Skype. I really didn't know that when I bought a 1 year subscription that they would continue making yearly debits automatically, and when they did so after I canceled my account with them, I wasn't very happy about it. Yes, I got a refund, but that isn't the issue.

ie9 said:

If you're really that paranoid, then you shouldn't be buying things with a card on the internet. If you cancel a subscription, and the company charges you after the fact, then you can get your money back (provided you read the TOS well enough).

Know what you're buying before you buy, simple as that. A big company like Hulu won't steal your money

You have a lot more confidence in big business than I do. Call it paranoia if you want, the epithet means nothing to me.

pparks1 said:

Gotcha. Yeah, I use my debit card for almost everything and it comes right out of my bank account. I probably have 10 different things pulling from it monthly. (Life insurance, car payment, netflix, cable tv, xboxLive, etc). My bank debit card runs just like a credit card, so I would think that would work just fine with Hulu. It's what I would use if I signed up. I've been doing this for 5+ years with no incidents ever. This is the same card that I use every time I purchase anything at retail, online, or when I buy gas.

I never have anything hit my credit card. If I did, I would end up with late credit card fees as I hardly ever carry a balance and simply would forget that something hit it.

I may do this...reluctantly, because I have a secondary account, in which I keep a very small balance, which PayPal and the card draws on, to protect my larger account. I will just have to think about it.

Back about a year ago, I had a debit appear on my bank account that I never authorized, and never received a shipment of the product in question...until after I filed a claim with my bank, and closed that account. I still have no idea of how that business even got that account information in the first place, because it was not the account that I use online, but the larger account. The only time that I ever access that online is directly through the bank's website.

ie9 said:

seekermeister said:

You have a lot more confidence in big business than I do. Call it paranoia if you want, the epithet means nothing to me.

Not so much a confidence in big business as in myself to get money back that was wrongfully taken. Also, I'm not trying to insult you or anything, I just think that a company as big as Hulu sees many of the cases that you're describing so there's nothing to worry about.

Just make sure that you cancel before the trial is up and you'll be fine :)

For the most part, you are right, but I remember hearing horror stories on a radio talk show (can't remember the name at the moment) about people who have had very large charges made to their accounts, by well known large businesses, and even after winning a court battle, they never received a refund). I realize that is not usual, but then my luck is not usual either.