I asked Tidal customer services why my monthly payment date kept moving forward each month. They said it was because they charged every 30 days rather than on a fixed date each month. I said that if they did that, one month I would be charged twice. Also it meant that my 12 “monthly” payments would only cover me for 360 days, leaving me to cough up more if I wanted the other 5 days for a full year. I suggested that their advertising “£10.99 / month” and “£19.99 a month” was misleading.
Their position is that they charge every 30 days and won’t entertain crediting me for the lost 5 days every year.
I also subscribe to Qobuz and have no issues with them.
Interesting and a good spot. Clearly a sharp(ish) practice. Is it worth fighting it? Definitely triggers the BS meter. Real money to them. Not worth your time to argue. Cancelling is of course your remedy.
I’m having an ongoing dialogue with them but not getting anywhere. Their own terms & conditions say that billing will be monthly. Of course, as you say, I can cancel. It would be easy as my main streaming platform is Qobuz, Tidal just being there to fill the occasional hole in the Qobuz catalogue. It’s only worth fighting because they’re denying it!
No, it’s not playing nice by Tidal, but every six years you pay a month extra. Look at the price of your HiFi gear. You can afford to keep two streaming services just for the occasional gap. Bottom-line: is it really worth the effort to fight this?
Who told you about the price of my gear?!! It’s supposed to be a secret!
It’s why I asked, to get others point of view on this. I have a weakness for getting bogged down with trivial issues. I don’t like being cheated though, so it’s worth it to a point.
It is a bit cheeky, but I have seen this mentioned elsewhere including views of Tidal where it is mentioned that it is charged every 30 days. I hadn’t noticed before, but just checked and yes, my payment dates have been moving forward by a day for the past n months.
But this is no longer a concern to me as I now pay yearly at £109 for a year. Although I haven’t checked how they calculate a year
Advertising standards or the equiv in your region or a letter/email to your favourite magazine/newspaper of choice. The people you are dealing with don’t see the risk but the brand/PR manager will.
A good consumer correspondant will write nice little article linking into wider online practices. “Exactly how much do you spend on streaming services? It might be more than you think.”
I think the thing is to complain to them once about this seems a bit picky but so what
But multiple times? And elevating it to an audio BB? Just saying…why spend this much time on the issue? Sure, we all face multiple issues weekly that are unfair. My cable bill has like 15 taxes and fees. I could spend my life debating them. I just pay them and go to the movies or have a beer
I decided that I would just cancel the subscription, which I have, and see if I miss it. If I do, I’d probably go for the annual subscription too, as then the issue shouldn’t arise.
It’s an odd one.
My argument would be “how can it be £10.99 a month if I have to make two payments in a single month?”
Sadly, the only way to make corporate take notice is to remove revenue in large amounts and I doubt many people are bothered enough to do it in order to have a large enough cumulative effect.
It’s the kind of thing that would grate with me too.
That is a logical argument. Tidal are blinkered to this. They say “30 days is a month” and miraculously fail to see how many ways this is wrong.
When I pointed out that they were in breach of their own terms and conditions they stopped replying to me.
I won’t beat them, but they won’t get my money either. And I’ll let everyone know what they do.
It may seem a fuss over a small amount of money, but I’m with you. If I pay say £180 per month for my power, then I expect to make 12 payments per year, on the same day each month.
This “short month” accounting scam isn’t good. When my current 30day month is up, I’ll move to annual. I would do it now, but I bet they would start the annual date today, and not the end of my current 30 day paid period
I just cancelled my monthly payment but the service will run until 5th October. After that, I’ll see if I miss it. If I do, I too will go for the annual subscription.
