New App that cancels subscriptions after free trial

Have you ever signed up for a free trial online and then forgotten all about it? A year later you realise that you’ve been paying for a service you didn’t really want. Sometimes, it only comes to light when your credit card expires!

Good news. A young British entrepreneur has launched service which automatically cancels subscriptions at the end of the free trial period, the BBC reports.

The ingenious App was developed by Josh Browder, who in his teenage years invented an algorithm called ‘Do Not Pay’, which continues to successfully fight parking fines.

His latest App, Free Trial Surfing, is not directly linked to a customer's bank account or credit card, but Mr Browder says it is in partnership with a major bank. He declined to say which bank was supporting the venture.

"The idea for this product came when I realised I was being charged for a $21.99 (£18) gym membership from over a year ago that I was never using," he told 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."

Ironically, he said 10,000 people had signed up to for a “free trial” to try Free Trial Surfing since its launch six weeks ago in the US, where Mr Browder, who is from the UK, now lives.

The two most common subscriptions the service has been used for are porn platforms followed by Netflix, he added.

How does Free Trial Surfing work?

Currently only available on Apple's app store, with a web version in development, customers are sent a virtual credit card number and invented name, which they can use to sign up for a service.

The card is actually registered to Mr Browder's firm, Do Not Pay.

The app can also forward emails between the service provider and the virtual card so that the customer's own email address is secure.

Mr Browder says the card will not work if used to pay for any other form of purchase.

He said some platforms were trying to block the service by figuring out which cards belong to Do Not Pay.

"Our bank is so big they would have to screw a lot of customers to stop the product. They would have to end the entire free-trial programme," he said.

He says that one day he may charge a subscription to use the service, which is currently free.

"It took around six months to build," he said.

"Right now we're testing it - maybe one day it will be a cheap subscription, like $2 per month.

"The reason it took so long was that we wanted to be sure it would be declined if it is used with a real purchase. We won't hold people to account - it will be us who takes the hit."

This looks like a brilliant idea, but not sure they have got the application right just yet.

Other business news

UK house prices rose at a slower rate in the year to July than at any time since September 2012, up by 0.7%, official figures show. More on this in tomorrow’s episode.

Inflation growth slowed sharply in August to 1.7% after computer game prices dropped and clothing prices were slow to recover from the summer sales.

The Consumer Prices Index measure of inflation fell below 2.1% in July, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Word of the Day

CPI - Consumer Prices Index

Consumer Price Indices are important indicators of how the UK economy is performing.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care. It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.

The indices are used in many ways by the government, businesses, and society in general. They can affect interest rates, tax allowances, wages, state benefits, pensions, maintenance, contracts and many other payments. They also show the impact of inflation on family budgets.

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See also:

How to earn up to 500% higher yields on your investments without high risks

3 Myths of Property Investment

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