Good point, I use UO on Chrome and ABP on Firefox.
Looks like UO is blocking some things, although given the rest of the UI loads I’d expect this part to as well.
It could be Optimizely perhaps. Disabling UO loaded the “Pause membership” link and the “Cookie preferences” one (which I think is something like TrustE). But then re-enabling UO leaves the “Pause membership” link, while still removing the cookies one.
Using ABP instead of UO allows both to load. I guess UO locks a lot more stuff out by default.
May I ask for a definite confirmative on this? When I try to cancel for summer, I get a warning prompt:
“We dont have to part ways if the sun is out. Pause your membership to save your progress for when the weather takes a turn for the worse.”
This implies to me that my progress may not be saved by cancelling and suggests things may have been changed since last year. If I do cancel based on the advice on this forum and my progress is not saved I doubt I will come back. I understand it is appealing to offer a pause option to maintain a certain user base on paper, but 8 weeks really does not cover the outdoor season - not even this year when I’ve stayed inside longer than usual. Therefore my question, can you specify what happens if I cancel my membership and come back end-September using the same email address?
Thanks in advance from a generally positive Zwift-user
I guess it’s possible the thinking goes like this:
people ask “will I lose progress if I cancel and come back”
let’s make it clear they won’t
Marketing: but we don’t like the term cancel, it implies finality
OK, let’s introduce “pause”, remain neutral on the effect of cancellation and promote pause as “take a break to come back later”
It does make some sense when considered in those terms. I agree 8 weeks doesn’t seem long enough. On this, I guess the idea is to allow people to pause for a short period, then come back and pause again. 8 weeks doesn’t cover two normal monthly billing cycles, so perhaps one of two things are happening: they want people to come back from the pause in time to be billed after one month off. Or they will send an email reminding people their pause is coming to an end, welcoming them back and reminding them they will be billed in a few days - that gives those people a few days to go in and pause for another 8 weeks. That is a PITA, but it reminds people they have a Zwift account, and some might think “ah, I’ll just let it start up again.”
Or it could just be some developer has been asked to implement it but the business analysts or product owners haven’t really thought too hard about how long people in the real world will want to pause for. =)
If the intention is to let customers re-pause every 8 weeks that would be acceptable for me, although it is a hassle and could invoke criticism. However, I find it unclear if it is indeed possible to re-pause every 7 weeks and avoid an intermittent bill. In its current form I see the pause function more practical for the “I’m going away for a long-holiday or am too busy at work/family/whatever for the coming weeks so I will pause my membership rather than keep it active” kind of situation.
Ok, in that case I will cancel rather than pause my membership for summer given the uncertainties with pausing.
Same here, however things seem to have changed since last year, hence the request for a double-check that my progress will not be lost when I reactivate later this year.
Not knowing if I could re-pause after 8 weeks, I just decided to risk it and canceled my membership. After confirming I was shown a message that my data will be stored and I can pick up where I left off.
"Your Zwift Subscription is now cancelled. You can continue to ride till the end of your current billing cycle.
You can always log in and “JUST WATCH” to check out the action or go for a run - it’s FREE.
And when you’re ready to ride, you can reactivate your Zwift membership at any time.
We’ll keep all your hard-earned achievements, drops, and virtual swag safe in your Zwift garage.
Be careful with the pausing option. I paused my subscription over a week ago and they’ve just taken a months payment even though it was paused. I have a support ticket raised but I’m still awaiting a reply.
To be clear to Zwift, this new “pause” option is a big negative and is frustrating and inexplicable to me as a user. It clearly states that by cancelling instead of pausing, I’m about to lose everything. But the alternative 8 week pause is only… one monthly bill? Or does it pause instantly as of today, pushing my remaining balance from this month out until after 8 weeks? In 7 weeks can I extend the pause? Will I get a reminder or welcome back email?
Alternatively, if Zwift had a yearly memebership that worked out to 3-4 months free, I’d probably go for that. I love Zwift, just right now I’m using it once or twice a month when it’s raining.
Pausing Membership. The terms of this subsection apply if we offer you the ability to pause your membership through your account. If you pause your membership, you must select when your membership will resume. If you do not cancel your membership before your selected resume date, your membership will resume automatically on the selected resume date. You may also be able to manually resume your membership through your account before your previously selected resume date. Your payment method will be charged on the date the membership resumes (which will be the pre-selected date or the date you manually resume the membership), and your new renewal billing date will correspond to that date. See further details above on how renewal dates operate for subsequent months.
So, if you want to quit and you don’t know when you will re-join is better to Cancel Membership and re-join when you want. No data losses.
So its still not clear what the difference is, is it? Other than from what I understand:
Pause = pause for a defined time (from the end of your billing cycle)
Cancel = pause indefinitely (also from the end of your billing cycle)
What I would like to see is the ability to pause immediately (not at the end of your active billing cycle) indefinitely. I could see this being abused so even if it is only allowed once per billing cycle (so you cant ride/pause/ride/pause repeatedly) and for duration of 1-12 weeks.
Just an idea…
You should contact Zwift support immediately, there isn’t anything us forum users can help with when it comes to billing.
As for the pause or cancel option, in either case you won’t lose your progress. If you are going to be away for more than 8 weeks or whatever the limit is for the pause option, just cancel. You won’t lose any progress, drops, XP, etc.
I can see why Zwift waits until the end of the billing cycle, this is common practice. If they didn’t then they would have to prorate the monthly charge and issue refunds, which takes time for customer support to handle and if it isn’t acted on immediately then you have upset customers. Meanwhile, the other customer support issues/tickets are put on hold until all the pause membership requests are taken care of.
I paused my membership for four weeks beginning of Sept. The option was there on my account and after reading all the forum advice, I thought it would be fine. I don’t pay monthly. I paid upfront by 12 month giftcard.
Yesterday my membership resumed , however they took a monthly payment from my credit card. I’ve queried this and been told that was a mistake and will be rectified. They have also told me it is not possible to pause promo or multi month gift cards.
So in effect I think i’ve lost four weeks of my multi month gift card. Zwift taking two bites from the same cherry. Disappointed.
I’m just hoping I’ve not lost the remaining 9 months I had on the gift membership.
Given that you get your data back if you cancel and renew, it seems like the pause feature is just a scam to make it more likely that they start charging you, you don’t notice, and you pay for months forgetting you had a membership.
At least, that’s what happened to me. I thought I had to pause to not lose my data, so clicked pause, selected the longest time possible, then set a google calendar reminder to re-pause.
Unfortunately, I missed the google calendar reminder. Zwift provided NO EMAILS and NO NOTIFICATION when they started charging again. I was just thinking about re-enabling zwift now that it’s cold and rainy and saw that I’ve been charged for the last 6 months since it came back.
I emailed customer support and they clarified that I can cancel and not lose any data. They refunded me 2 of the 6 months, but that’s still a lot of money down the drain. I just checked my email and confirmed that zwift doesn’t even generate a courtesy email to let you know they’re charging again. I can’t think of any legitimate way this feature benefits the customer, and I can’t quite see how they feel good about themselves taking months of my money when they have the data to see they’ve provided no value in that time, but I suppose that’s how subscription services everywhere work. Leaves me feeling pretty bad about the company though.
