The Internet makes it possible to use thousands of wonderful online services and access enough information to fill warehouses full of encyclopedias on virtually every subject known to man.
Many of these resources only become available to you after signing up for an online account, but what happens when you no longer need or want to use a service or access the information provided by a specific website?
Closing an online account should take no more than two or three clicks of the mouse, and it usually is really that simple. The trick however is finding the place on the website where you need to begin the clicking.
Many companies intentionally make it hard to find the “Cancel” screen where you can close your account because, well…they don’t want you to close your account! In the online world, the number of accounts a business can claim, the more prestige and money they can earn through customer subscriptions and fees, not to mention the Internet “cash cow” known as advertising.
I remember a time several years ago when I used a service called GoToMyPC. I’m sure you’ve probably heard of it. GoToMyPC does an outstanding job at what it does (allow remote access to a distant computer), but when the time came that I no longer needed it, I had to jump through a thousand hoops, backwards, blindfolded, while wearing handcuffs and leg irons in order to close the account.
Due to immense customer backlash they have since made it easier to close an account with them, but it never should have been that difficult in the first place.
But things have gotten better thanks to WikiCancel, a fantastic website that helps take the mystery out of closing accounts with hundreds of companies that do business on the web. Right on the home page is a list of 100 of the largest and most used websites with direct links to their “close your account” page.
If the company you want to close an account with isn’t listed there, you can search for it. Chances are their website is already in the WikiCancel database, but if it isn’t you can add it!
WikiCancel is free and accurate. If you need to close an online account but can’t seem to figure out just how to go about it.