Renewing USTA Membership - Is it all AUTO-Renew now?

[TahoeTennis]

Trying to renew my membership but ALL options say they will automatically charge you again "unless you cancel."
I HATE auto renew, are there any other options or promo codes out there that anyone has used recently?
gracias compadres.

 

[ShaunS]

I checked my account, and I was set to auto-renew as well. It's annoying, but you can turn it off easily.

Login to your account -> Profile -> View Membership Details.

There's an on/off slider for auto-renew.

 

[Stretchy Man]

Very disappointing when not-for-profit organizations do this. Their job is to serve its members - not try to rip them off.

 

[MathGeek]

I usually keep a prepaid debit card handy for these situations - like the one vanilla cards from Walmart. A year later, there is never any money left on the card so the auto-renew fails.

 

[ShaunS]

Their job is to serve its members - not try to rip them off.

In fairness I wouldn't say it's deceptive. It isn't quite the same as auto-renewing a free trial. The "product" you're renewing for is essentially the same. I'm sure in their minds this is a win for convenience and a good way to keep people signed up.

However, I've always received a communication in the past that my membership was expiring, and if they didn't give me the same notification before an auto-renewal was triggered I would object. We will find out real soon as my renewal is up this month.

I did check out my latest registration from 2018, and it said (in regular size text) that I was being put on an auto-renewal, along with the instructions on how to turn it off.

 

[MathGeek]

In fairness I wouldn't say it's deceptive. It isn't quite the same as auto-renewing a free trial. The "product" you're renewing for is essentially the same. I'm sure in their minds this is a win for convenience and a good way to keep people signed up.

However, I've always received a communication in the past that my membership was expiring, and if they didn't give me the same notification before an auto-renewal was triggered I would object. We will find out real soon as my renewal is up this month.

I did check out my latest registration from 2018, and it said (in regular size text) that I was being put on an auto-renewal, along with the instructions on how to turn it off.

It's not hard to design auto-renewal notifications that end up in the spam filter. Thus unseen by the mark, USTA can say, "You were sent a notice" but without a real opportunity to decline. Customers should be free to opt out of auto-renewals when they sign up in the first place.

 

[CyberInferno]

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, but my auto-renew just hit me, and I was definitely caught off guard.

In fairness I wouldn't say it's deceptive. It isn't quite the same as auto-renewing a free trial. The "product" you're renewing for is essentially the same. I'm sure in their minds this is a win for convenience and a good way to keep people signed up.

However, I've always received a communication in the past that my membership was expiring, and if they didn't give me the same notification before an auto-renewal was triggered I would object. We will find out real soon as my renewal is up this month.

I did check out my latest registration from 2018, and it said (in regular size text) that I was being put on an auto-renewal, along with the instructions on how to turn it off.

I looked at mine from 2019, and the auto-renewal mention is below signature and below their social media images and links. It's where a legal disclaimer would normally go. They're clearly trying to hide it. It makes sense to put it in the membership details that are called out at the top of the email. Why not say "Expiration date: xxx (auto-renewal)"? Not to mention that they automatically renewed my account a nearly a month before it actually expired with literally no notice.

It's not hard to design auto-renewal notifications that end up in the spam filter. Thus unseen by the mark, USTA can say, "You were sent a notice" but without a real opportunity to decline. Customers should be free to opt out of auto-renewals when they sign up in the first place.

Or even worse, they didn't even send me a notice that a renewal was coming. They sent me one after they had already charged my card (which they did on Feb 5 when my membership expires Feb 28.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Auto-renew should be an "opt-in" [ie I have to do something explicitly to enable it] rather than "opt-out" [I have to do something explicitly to disable it].

IMO, making auto-renew the default choice is "opt-out" because I have to deselect that option [assuming I notice it].

 

[Moveforwardalways]

What’s the big deal about auto-renew? It’s not like any of you are going to not rejoin USTA or stop playing leagues. Everyone on this board loves to complain about USTA but no one ever stops playing.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

What’s the big deal about auto-renew? It’s not like any of you are going to not rejoin USTA or stop playing leagues. Everyone on this board loves to complain about USTA but no one ever stops playing.

Mine is more a general objection than specifically about USTA.

 

[Turbo-87]

I usually keep a prepaid debit card handy for these situations - like the one vanilla cards from Walmart. A year later, there is never any money left on the card so the auto-renew fails.

Exactly. That's what I do for XM radio. It expires, cant renew and then they call you offering a better deal if you renew.

 

[RogueFLIP]

What annoyed me more was when registering for my team for the summer 2020, I had to renew my USTA membership and the shortest time frame was for 3 years! Couldn't figure out how to at least get the option for different (shorter) options, but ultimately like MoveForward alluded too, I'm going to be playing USTA in 3 years anyways, so I just renewed for that time period.

At least for the new players, the 1 year option was available to them.

I just would like the option of having a choice in the matter, that's all.

 

[RogueFLIP]

Exactly. That's what I do for XM radio. It expires, cant renew and then they call you offering a better deal if you renew.

Did they ever offer you the lifetime deal? Back in 2009 when my 3 year subscription was up, they offered me a lifetime membership for the price of 3 years upfront. Since I own my cars till they die, I couldn't pass it up. 2020 and car's still running fine along with the XM radio.

 

[zipplock]

Did they ever offer you the lifetime deal? Back in 2009 when my 3 year subscription was up, they offered me a lifetime membership for the price of 3 years upfront. Since I own my cars till they die, I couldn't pass it up. 2020 and car's still running fine along with the XM radio.

I just renewed and there was a lifetime option. Was $750. No thanks.

 

[RogueFLIP]

I just renewed and there was a lifetime option. Was $750. No thanks.

Ouch, yeah no doubt. Was $375 back in 2009. Def more than got my money's worth at this point.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I just renewed and there was a lifetime option. Was $750. No thanks.

What's the annual cost now [ie how many years of membership does $750 cover?]?

 

[Deleted member 769694]

Very disappointing when not-for-profit organizations do this. Their job is to serve its members - not try to rip them off.

Usta vp's make like 750k a year. Non profits/foundations really need to be looked into.

Why do you need a usta membership if your not playing tournaments?

 

[zipplock]

What's the annual cost now [ie how many years of membership does $750 cover?]?

$44 for a year.

 

[Jack the Hack]

What’s the big deal about auto-renew? It’s not like any of you are going to not rejoin USTA or stop playing leagues. Everyone on this board loves to complain about USTA but no one ever stops playing.

Well call me special, but that is exactly what I've done this year. I told several folks at the USTA that I am protesting the stupid changes they made to the 40 and over league, and the only way to really hit them is in the wallet. I believe there is a small minority of us that are sticking to it.

(I have plenty of other avenues to play tennis and spend my recreational dollars than to waste them on inferior USTA products.)

 

[Jack the Hack]

I just renewed and there was a lifetime option. Was $750. No thanks.

Total ripoff.

(I have a friend who is retirement age now. He got a lifetime membership when he was a teenager. I think he said it was less than $40... back in the 70s.)

 

[Moveforwardalways]

Well call me special, but that is exactly what I've done this year. I told several folks at the USTA that I am protesting the stupid changes they made to the 40 and over league, and the only way to really hit them is in the wallet.

Yeah, sure. They are really going to miss your $44 this year. That will show them you mean business.

 

[Jack the Hack]

Yeah, sure. They are really going to miss your $44 this year. That will show them you mean business.

It's not just my USTA membership, but all of the USTA League team fees, playoff fees, and tournament entry money as well. Here is what I wrote to our Section League Coordinator regarding my protest to the changes to the 40 and over format:

"In terms of sitting out the year, I hate to make decisions like that. However, I feel like we have very little recourse otherwise. If the USTA keeps getting their League money, what incentive do they have to listen to players and make positive changes? My company used to have a maxim that said "The Consumer Decides." It means that if you screw up or make a bad product, the consumer votes with their dollar in response. With my dollar, I played on 5 teams this year with an average of a $30 league fee per team, so that's $150. I also contributed to our local playoff and Sectionals fees, and paid my $55 for Nationals. All told, I probably spent around $250 in fees. If I don't play next year, maybe that missing $250 won't mean much. However, there are over 300,000 players that participate in USTA League, and around 25% of them play in the 40s category that just changed format. That's roughly 75,000 effected members. If each of those members play on 3 teams per year with an average league fee of $30, that's $90 per year. If 10% of us decide to sit out of USTA in 2020 due to this issue, that means a loss of $675,000 in revenue to the USTA, and I bet it could be more. Again, maybe that doesn't mean anything to the National USTA League office, who I believe is pulling in more than $40 million per year. However, if they lose $500,000 to $1,000,000, I hope that someone takes notice that the decision of a small number of people at the behest of a minority of 40s league players cost the organization a lot. And maybe that decision was wrong and needs to change.

Other than repeatedly sending in feedback and boycotting the season, how else would you recommend that we get through to the National office? Is there another way?"