StraighterLine monthly membership is billed automatically—cancel before

[pws]

Just a heads up to mark on your calendar when to cancel your SL membership before the next month—billing is automatic and there aren't any refunds:

StraighterLine Memberships
Monthly Membership fees are non-refundable and are charged automatically on each renewal date (i.e. monthly) until you cancel. You may cancel at any time during the month. Upon cancelation, your Membership will expire 30 days from the last payment. Any amounts paid prior to your cancellation are not refundable. To cancel your Membership, sign into your MyLine account on the site and go to Billing Preferences. Our Student Advisors are also available to assist. Please contact our Student Advisors at (877) 787-8375 , Live Chat or create a Support Request. Student Support Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00am-8:00pm, Saturday - Sunday, 9:30am - 5:00pm EST.

Source: https://www.straighterline.com/refunds/

[zzzz24]

Same thing for SDC, Aleks, etc.

[armstrongsubero]

@pws I'm not sure how someone could miss that. They do state its a subscription.

[pws]

@pws I'm not sure how someone could miss that. They do state its a subscription.

Yeah, but it's an automatic renewal. If you forget, they bill you automatically, and they don't refund anything.

[armstrongsubero]

@pws thats what subscription means.

[pws]

@pws thats what subscription means.

For subscriptions like Amazon Prime or a magazine, you're expecting it to renew every month. If you only need 1 or 2 SL courses—and especially if they don't explicitly say that the renewal is automatic and that there aren't any refunds, even one day after the renewal—then you could easily lose $100 by forgetting about it (which I'm sure some have). That's what I mean.

But anyway...

[acamp]

Thanks for trying to help people who may not be familiar with SL with the heads up

[Merlin]

Just a heads up to mark on your calendar when to cancel your SL membership before the next month—billing is automatic and there aren't any refunds:

StraighterLine Memberships
Monthly Membership fees are non-refundable and are charged automatically on each renewal date (i.e. monthly) until you cancel. You may cancel at any time during the month. Upon cancelation, your Membership will expire 30 days from the last payment. Any amounts paid prior to your cancellation are not refundable. To cancel your Membership, sign into your MyLine account on the site and go to Billing Preferences. Our Student Advisors are also available to assist. Please contact our Student Advisors at (877) 787-8375 , Live Chat or create a Support Request. Student Support Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00am-8:00pm, Saturday - Sunday, 9:30am - 5:00pm EST.

Source: https://www.straighterline.com/refunds/

Yep, SL has always been that way. If you're super annoying you can sometimes get them to refund a subscription if you miss the cutoff by a day or two, but 99% of the time it will not work since they have a no refunds policy.

This is why we always recommend that people cancel their SL subscription immediately after they sign up if they don't intend to use it for more than one month. If you cancel immediately all it does is cancel autorenewal... you can still use the subscription through the duration you paid for.

This is also important if you are planning to use a subscription discount coupon; your current subscription must end before you can sign up for a new one with the coupon.

[jsd]

For subscriptions like Amazon Prime [...] you're expecting it to renew every month. 

FYI, Amazon Prime renews automatically annually.

[sanantone]

@pws thats what subscription means.

For subscriptions like Amazon Prime or a magazine, you're expecting it to renew every month. If you only need 1 or 2 SL courses—and especially if they don't explicitly say that the renewal is automatic and that there aren't any refunds, even one day after the renewal—then you could easily lose $100 by forgetting about it (which I'm sure some have). That's what I mean.

But anyway...

If Straighterline didn't have a membership fee, then they would just charge $150+ per course. Since they have a subscription model, the price customers pay per course stays low. The more courses you take, the more money you save. I guess the closest examples would be Costco and Sam's. In short, you're paying a monthly fee to have access to Straighterline, and you pay a price for each course you want to take. Ed4Credit, in comparison, charges by the course, and each course costs $195. 

I can't remember what's shown to the student when he or she makes a purchase, but the terms and conditions tell customers that there is automatic renewal. Automatic renewal is also mentioned on the billing and refund webpages.