One Camp = $49?

[Liz Ness]

Attention DIY,

The "Try for $10" statement on the Camps page and emails and having to specifically register for a camp caused me to believe that a camp was $10.00. The end.

So, I was a bit surprise when the account indicated that the next payment would be $39. But, since we only registered for one camp, I figured the note was a system glitch that DIY would fix and that they'd only charge for one camp. However, we were charged $39 the next month--even though we hadn't registered for any additional camps. (I just caught up to the charge via my credit statement.)

Not cool.

Turns out, "Try for $10" isn't about a camp at all. It's about trying camps for a month. Except that I think each additional camp is $39?  I'm still not sure. But, in the end, what's happening is a subscription package with the first month costing $10 and each additional month costing $39. Plus, it's up to the camper's parents/guardians to cancel that subscription. There is not "Try for $10" the end, until the parent/guardian takes action.

Which I did.

However, while I do take ownership for my mistake (e.g., ultimately, I misunderstood that this was a subscription and not a one-off camp purchase), I want to share my surprise and disappointment and ask you to re-frame how you sell these camps in the future, please.

Thank you,

Liz Ness

[Zach Klein (CEO)]

Hi Liz,

I regret that you did not realize what you were signing up for and had a bad experience. We strive to provide the opposite, a magical and valuable learning experience that is indispensable for families. Obviously we can do better to communicate the nature of our Camps subscription and I'm sorry that we fell short and caused your frustration.

From our perspective, it's standard to offer a subscription with a trial and for a subscription to renew automatically once the trial is completed. During your checkout, we also indicate what your next bill would be and we send a follow-up email to reiterate this.

I'll examine how to better communicate this on all of our brochures so that there can be no mistake.

Either way, we're happy to refund you for your second month! It's our interest to only charge customers who want the service. Should I go ahead and do that?

Sincerely,

Zach Klein

CEO

[Liz Ness]

Wow! That's very generous. Thank you so much for your time on this and for your consideration.

We would very much appreciate the refund.

Thanks again,

Liz Ness

[Angela Tuell]

I wonder if this will happen to us too. I signed my daughter up for a 4 week camp, but it didn't start until about a week after I signed her up. So now am I going to be charged $39 for her to finish the last week of her 4 week camp?

[Zach Klein (CEO)]

Nope. You can cancel your subscription any time and it will not impact your daughter's current camp. Just visit diy.org/resign?r=/subscriptions&tab=adult, sign in with your adult account, and then click Edit Subscription.

[Mary Glendening]

Are the camps replacing the membership option where we paid and the kids were automatically sent the badges they earned in the mail?  I wanted to switch back to that membership type but I only see Free or Camper.

Thanks!

Mary

[br...@diy.org]

Yes, Mary - we replaced the Extra Awesome subscription with DIY Camps this past Spring.