u/mike8io

I'm curious if anyone else in the VC community has run into this.

I subscribed to The Information last year at $299. This month I was renewed at $399.

A few things about the experience surprised me:

• I specifically remember attempting to cancel after I originally subscribed. I routinely do this with annual subscriptions so I don't get surprised a year later.
• I noticed the renewal within a few days.
• I cancelled immediately.
• I requested a refund immediately.

Support told me:

• They sent a renewal email.
• They do not provide refunds on renewals.
• My subscription is now cancelled and active until next year.

The part that concerns me is that I asked them several specific questions and haven't received answers:

1. Can they verify that the renewal email was actually delivered, not just sent?
2. Can they review account logs to see whether there was cancellation-related activity around the time I originally subscribed?
3. Can they escalate the case to a supervisor with authority to make an exception?

Instead, I keep receiving responses that don't address those questions.

I understand auto-renewal. I understand subscription terms.

What I don't understand is refusing to refund a customer who notices the charge almost immediately and asks for a refund right away.

I'm genuinely curious:

• Has anyone else here had a similar experience with The Information?
• Has anyone successfully received a refund on a renewal?
• Does anyone know how difficult the cancellation flow was a year ago?

I love the journalism, which is why this experience has been so disappointing.

At this point I'm less frustrated about the money and more frustrated that straightforward questions are not being answered.

I wanted to share my experience with The Information (Technology / business news subscription) because it feels like a textbook example of a subscription model designed to maximize renewals rather than treat customers fairly.

Here's what happened:

• I subscribed last year for $299.
• I attempted to cancel when I first subscribed, but the cancellation apparently did not go through (likely they have an intentionally confusing flow designed to deceive)
• I was unexpectedly charged $399 for renewal this month.
• I noticed the charge immediately and contacted support to ask for a refund.
• I requested a refund immediately.

Support's response was essentially:

>

The frustrating part is that I have no record of receiving the renewal email. It doesn't exist in my inbox, spam folder, or archived mail.

I asked them to:

• Verify that the email was actually delivered (not just sent).
• Check whether there were any delivery failures.
• Review account logs to see whether I attempted to cancel around the time I originally subscribed.
• Escalate the case to a supervisor.

Instead, after sending a detailed email asking those questions, support replied with:

>

Which completely ignored the questions I had actually asked.

The thing that bothers me most isn't even the renewal itself. It's the refusal to provide any flexibility when someone notices the charge almost immediately and asks for a refund right away.

I've had similar situations with other subscription companies. In many cases they simply refund the charge if it's within a few days because they recognize that retaining a customer through a surprise renewal isn't worth damaging goodwill.

The Information appears to take the opposite approach:

• Auto-renew.
• Increase the price.
• Refuse refunds.
• Make customers fight support.
• Respond with canned answers instead of addressing questions.

Am I being unreasonable here, or does this feel like asshole design?

Curious if anyone else has had a similar experience with The Information or other subscription services.

Looking at buying the Essential Trumpkin Sauna Cabin Kit (8x8, ~475 cu ft, 8'4" ceiling on the high side) and trying to decide on an electric heater.

Anyone here own one? What heater did you go with?

I've seen people use everything from 10kW to 14kW. Have heard good things about Narvi and Harvia but not so great things about Homecraft, Huum.

Located in Ontario if that matters. Thanks!

PS I was originally considering wood fire, but since this would be a daily driver and down a hill from my house, electric felt like a much more logical choice.

company I'm at is growing fast and been tasked with getting customer proof organized. We have dozens of logos and testimonials across the site, decks, and campaigns, and not even sure where these came from and if we have permission to use. Some of it is buried in old MSAs and email threads so putting together a notion database to keep everything organized.

In other companies we had customer marketing folks handling this but we don't have anyone in that role yet. Curious how others have handled this? I know there are some products out there that manage this but we're not gonna spend $50k/yr on a sales enablement platform or something like that.

I’m planning to build a 4-person outdoor sauna at my place in Ontario with a contractor (not a prefab kit).

I’m debating whether to:

1. Find and buy a solid set of sauna plans, or
2. Design it myself in SketchUp and then have a contractor build from that

I’ve been reading a lot (including Trumpkin’s notes), so I want to make sure I get the fundamentals right:

• Proper ceiling height (~8–8.5 ft)
• Bench heights (feet above stones)
• Ventilation (intake near heater, exhaust under bench)
• Good overall proportions (thinking ~7’x7’ interior)

My concerns:

• Most plans online seem flawed (low ceilings, bad airflow)
• Not sure if SketchUp + contractor is realistic without proper construction drawings
• I don’t want to overcomplicate this or end up with something that looks good but performs poorly

Questions:

• Has anyone here designed their own sauna and built it with a contractor—how did that go?
• Are there any contractor-ready plans you’d actually trust?
• If designing yourself, what level of detail is needed before handing it off?

Happy to pay for good plans or design help if that’s the smarter route.

Seeing a lot of posts about reps feeling undertrained, especially for specific industries or niches. Made me wonder — has anyone here actually invested in their own development outside of what their company offers?

Talking courses, coaching, bootcamps, whatever. Did it actually make you better at sales, or did it feel like a waste?