They changed that a while ago. It's a smart move on their part, really. Set a reminder on your phone or something to cancel the day before it's set to end if you need to.
@Jayroro Look at it this way. Shipping is five bucks. You get one shipment with VMP membership, you've broken even. Shipping's free for the rest of the month. I'm not only a goat, I'm also a VMP member.
@Thumperchick when you sign up for VMP it's $5 for one month worth of shipping. if halfway through the month I decide i no longer want this service to renew next month. I no longer recieve one month of shipping
@lisaviolet I am also a VMP member, but I will not be one forever. I don't want to have to worry about picking the correct day to cancel without getting an extra charge.
@Jayroro No, you just set an alarm or reminder on your phone to cancel it at the end of your current 30 day cycle. If that is too much of an inconvenience, you can choose to pay for $5 shipping per order. I don't think they are being at all unreasonable.
@Jayroro But it's not $5 for a month of free shipping anymore. It's $5 for free shipping for only as long as you are a VMP member. https://mediocre.com/vmp
@Jayroro Actually if you miss the date and haven't bought anything since it renewed they will refund your last payment(Edit: scroll down for staff confirmation). So pretty much you have to remember to cancel in the next ~60 days and your $5 will only be in limbo for part of it.
@Fej Also, I'm pasting what @curtise posted another time this came up as I think it really explains a lot. Also, see this: https://mediocre.com/vmp
curtise said Fri, Nov 14th 2014 at 6:57am eastern: "Here's my take on the whole sitch... What you seemingly liked about the old way: When you ordered, you were able to pay $5, cancel immediately, and continue to get free shipping for the rest of the month with zero effort on your part. What Meh seemingly wants: To be able to offer that but also other perks and side benefits for VMP members, with the idea that you will remain a VMP member, providing a small steady revenue stream as well as a way to encourage customers to make more snap (snapster?) decisions to purchase things. I know it is hard when things change, and seemingly for the slightly worse, but really, the way it started was in probably in the category of way too good to be true indefinitely. And the way it is now is still pretty incredible. Finally, if we all take a moment to think back to the olden days of Woot, we all used to pay $5 shipping, per order, no matter what! And then there was the magical time where it was $5 per day's worth of shipping... But only until the Shopping Cart appeared, and since then it's $5 per Cart, which doesn't help at all during a Woot-off. My suggestion: Just sign up for VMP when you order, and see how much you use it in the month. Don't worry about cancelling it as the month ends anymore, since Meh has been kind enough to now allow you to cancel at any time in the next month for a FULL refund minus the price of any services rendered (so, if you haven't bought anything in the month, and you feel you need that $5 back, they are totally giving it to you, which in my mind falls solidly back into the category of way too good to be true indefinitely, so take advantage while you can! :) ). (I realise I am not currently VMP, myself, but I did try enrolling last night as part of the Fuku. Alas, I wasn't able to get my order processed before sell-out.) And that's all the unsolicited opinion I'll provide about the situation for now."
@PurplePawprints@Fej@SSteve -- @curtise summed it up pretty much perfectly. If you don't use your VMP at all and want to cancel it, we'll give you that $5 back. We're hoping to do a lot more with the VMP program but that requires that we have people that don't immediately cancel after signing up.
@PocketBrain Sure you can...just pretend you are amazed that Meh didn't deliver your latest package to the place you were going to be for 3 days before you drove 400 miles away and compare them to Amazon while ignoring all the FAQs that state explicitly opposing information....easy really
At dinner the other night I mentioned getting the bluetooth keyboard cases on Meh a while back and a new tablet on Woot this week, and mentioned the mild irony that will occur if the tablet fits into the bluetooth case and they become melded for life. This led to me having to explain the whole Woot-Meh story, and explain the differences between the current sites, including my recent surprise fukuburo, the "K" on my Meh t-shirts and the way VMP works. My friends were impressed with Meh's story, and the clever business model represented by the VMP plan. Now the "K" on the t-shirt bears unexpected local cool points.
@moondrake I've had to go through that story a number of times. Most recently to a couple co-workers when my surprise fuku showed up. But I'll never be cool enough for the "K" badge.
@SSteve You know what a cool badge is? A goat. That's a cool badge. You can't buy a goat badge. You have be be uber cool to be invited to this very special club. Just sayin'.
@moondrake Which Tab did you get? My dad and I have the Tab 4 10.1 and technically the cases fit, but as I recall some of the holes in the case don't line up correctly with the power and volume buttons.
They changed that a while ago. It's a smart move on their part, really. Set a reminder on your phone or something to cancel the day before it's set to end if you need to.
@PurplePawprints smart move to not get all of what you paid for?
@Jayroro You'd still get all that you paid for.
@Jayroro Look at it this way. Shipping is five bucks. You get one shipment with VMP membership, you've broken even. Shipping's free for the rest of the month. I'm not only a goat, I'm also a VMP member.
@Thumperchick when you sign up for VMP it's $5 for one month worth of shipping. if halfway through the month I decide i no longer want this service to renew next month. I no longer recieve one month of shipping
@lisaviolet I am also a VMP member, but I will not be one forever. I don't want to have to worry about picking the correct day to cancel without getting an extra charge.
@Jayroro No, you just set an alarm or reminder on your phone to cancel it at the end of your current 30 day cycle. If that is too much of an inconvenience, you can choose to pay for $5 shipping per order. I don't think they are being at all unreasonable.
@Jayroro But it's not $5 for a month of free shipping anymore. It's $5 for free shipping for only as long as you are a VMP member. https://mediocre.com/vmp
@hallmike that's fine for new members but for people who didn't sign up for that it's a bit of a sneaky change in terms of deal signed up for.
@hallmike also it's not free shipping if you have to spend money to get it.
@Jayroro Actually if you miss the date and haven't bought anything since it renewed they will refund your last payment(Edit: scroll down for staff confirmation). So pretty much you have to remember to cancel in the next ~60 days and your $5 will only be in limbo for part of it.
@chellemonkey That is a lot better than previously stated. It's not perfect but it's not terrible either.
@Jayroro If by sneaky you mean that they sent out an email, posted a forum topic, created an inforgraphic and openly discussed it, then okay?
@Thumperchick @Jayoro and told us from the beginning that it wouldn't stay that way forever
@Fej Also, I'm pasting what @curtise posted another time this came up as I think it really explains a lot. Also, see this: https://mediocre.com/vmp
curtise said Fri, Nov 14th 2014 at 6:57am eastern:
"Here's my take on the whole sitch...
What you seemingly liked about the old way: When you ordered, you were able to pay $5, cancel immediately, and continue to get free shipping for the rest of the month with zero effort on your part.
What Meh seemingly wants: To be able to offer that but also other perks and side benefits for VMP members, with the idea that you will remain a VMP member, providing a small steady revenue stream as well as a way to encourage customers to make more snap (snapster?) decisions to purchase things.
I know it is hard when things change, and seemingly for the slightly worse, but really, the way it started was in probably in the category of way too good to be true indefinitely. And the way it is now is still pretty incredible.
Finally, if we all take a moment to think back to the olden days of Woot, we all used to pay $5 shipping, per order, no matter what! And then there was the magical time where it was $5 per day's worth of shipping... But only until the Shopping Cart appeared, and since then it's $5 per Cart, which doesn't help at all during a Woot-off.
My suggestion: Just sign up for VMP when you order, and see how much you use it in the month. Don't worry about cancelling it as the month ends anymore, since Meh has been kind enough to now allow you to cancel at any time in the next month for a FULL refund minus the price of any services rendered (so, if you haven't bought anything in the month, and you feel you need that $5 back, they are totally giving it to you, which in my mind falls solidly back into the category of way too good to be true indefinitely, so take advantage while you can! :) ).
(I realise I am not currently VMP, myself, but I did try enrolling last night as part of the Fuku. Alas, I wasn't able to get my order processed before sell-out.)
And that's all the unsolicited opinion I'll provide about the situation for now."
TL;DR You can get your five bucks back if you forget to cancel before it renews.
@PurplePawprints @Fej @SSteve -- @curtise summed it up pretty much perfectly. If you don't use your VMP at all and want to cancel it, we'll give you that $5 back. We're hoping to do a lot more with the VMP program but that requires that we have people that don't immediately cancel after signing up.
@JonT Aww, shucks, thanks! 😊
What? You mean I can't sign up for VMP, get free shipping for 29 days, then cancel and get my $5 back?
@PocketBrain Sure you can...just pretend you are amazed that Meh didn't deliver your latest package to the place you were going to be for 3 days before you drove 400 miles away and compare them to Amazon while ignoring all the FAQs that state explicitly opposing information....easy really
@tightwad It seems like it would take a lawyer to be that intentionally obtuse...
@tightwad That's just twisted.
@PocketBrain @tightwad @Thumperchick @lisaviolet It's been a rough couple of days and all of this just made me so so happy. Thank you all for being awesome.
@tightwad @Thumperchick @lisaviolet you may have all received stars from me.
@JonT @MEHcus
@MEHcus @JonT
@JonT I hope you're doing better, JonT.
@MEHcus @JonT
At dinner the other night I mentioned getting the bluetooth keyboard cases on Meh a while back and a new tablet on Woot this week, and mentioned the mild irony that will occur if the tablet fits into the bluetooth case and they become melded for life. This led to me having to explain the whole Woot-Meh story, and explain the differences between the current sites, including my recent surprise fukuburo, the "K" on my Meh t-shirts and the way VMP works. My friends were impressed with Meh's story, and the clever business model represented by the VMP plan. Now the "K" on the t-shirt bears unexpected local cool points.
@moondrake I've had to go through that story a number of times. Most recently to a couple co-workers when my surprise fuku showed up. But I'll never be cool enough for the "K" badge.
@SSteve You know what a cool badge is? A goat. That's a cool badge. You can't buy a goat badge. You have be be uber cool to be invited to this very special club. Just sayin'.
@lisaviolet Well, I blame you for me not having a "K" badge.
@SSteve And for not being invited to the goat club.
@chellemonkey @SSteve I'd invite you to the goat club, but they're not accepting new members at this time. Sorry.
@lisaviolet That's just as well. I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member. (as Groucho said).
@moondrake Which Tab did you get? My dad and I have the Tab 4 10.1 and technically the cases fit, but as I recall some of the holes in the case don't line up correctly with the power and volume buttons.