LinkedIn Downgrade Policy - not cool

As a quick addition here, just want to say that we may have a keyword problem in our customer service database.

If you type "cancel subscription", the number #2 suggested response is instructions on "Canceling My Premium Subscription".

If you type "downgrade subscription", you still get canceling as the #2 response.

But if you just type "downgrade", you get zero results. I'll report this keyword miss to customer service to see if we can't get it added to the query database.

We absolutely plan to offer a self-service downgrade option in the future. We just recently added the self-service close account, and this is one of the follow on features we plan to add. You'd actually be surprised at the complexity of touching all the systems and issues with canceling a paid account, but I know that's of little consolation when you are looking for an immediate, easy solution.

Thanks for your patience on this.
Adam

Adam/Steve,

I have the same issue. It's very simple for you guys to check it. The online downgrade process is 1: invisible and awkward to find and 2: doesn't work, and it's very clear that it doesn't work intentionally. People aren't stupid.

This type of conduct destroys public's trust on internet services and is completely unacceptable from a leading company such as yours.

I will be putting a stop payment thru my credit card if the issue is not resolved by next week and will pass on the message to my connections as well.

They contacted me to tell me that their records showed that I upgraded to a $200 per month account, but then they didn't confirm that they would honor my request to go to a $50 per month plan. I am not happy. Their Customer Service is terrible. What other company can you spend $2400 per year an they won't let you speak to a person?

The smooth-as-silk responses on the part of LinkedIn employees is irritatingly disingenuous. We're not stupid, and it's not at all difficult to simply add that feature. That it didn't exist, and still doesn't, is evidence of an intentional policy, plain and simple.

We all know LinkedIn has hidden this capability because they believe users will give up before trying too hard to downgrade their service because, guess what? Many of us are experienced web developers, within E-commerce environments. We aren't Luddites.

But I find this used car salesman silkiness particularly insulting. For that reason I've opted to stop trying to twist their arms via their convoluted support paths and go instead to the Better Business Bureau.

I recommend everyone else do as well. Clearly, they believe they can skip investing the 3 hours or so and adding the subscription downgrade feature, instead relying upon users to simply give up. This is not ethical business behavior, and they know it.

www.bbb.org

You can search by URL to find them.

And I'm also trying to downgrade, several months later from these initial posts and they have yet to put a link or button to downgrade. I am no longer needing the Business account and want to keep my 19.95 in my pocket but Linked In seems quite "shady" when it comes to allowing people the opportunity to downgrade when needed. I'm sorely disappointed in Linked In and see that even the most reputable networking sites have some finagling going on. C'mon Linked In...get it together please!!! I'm just going to add a defunct credit card so when you all got o charge it will not go through. Unfortunate I have to match wits with Linked In in order to keep my 20 bucks in my pocket, but right now I need every penny I can get my hands on.

Shame, shame, Linked In!

i found it. A request to cancel your premium subscription switches your account to a free personal account. Cancellation will end billing and remove access to the premium features designed for premium subscriptions.

A request to downgrade your premium subscription changes your account to a lower lever premium subscription while still offering features like InMails and expanded people search. Changes will be made effective with the billing expiration date of your current subscription.

To downgrade to a lower premium subscription level or to cancel your premium account and switch to a free personal account, follow the steps below:

1. Click on 'Account & Settings' found in the upper right hand side of the home page.
2. Click on 'Compare Account Types' and identify the account type that best fits your needs.
3. Click on 'Customer Service' link found at the bottom of the page.
4. Click on 'Ask Customer Service' tab on the 'Customer Service Center' page.
5. Enter your account's primary email address in 'Contact Information'.
6. Select 'Premium Accounts' from the 'Category' dropdown under 'My question is about'.
7. In the 'Subject' type 'Downgrade My Subscription' (if you want a lower level premium subscription) or 'Cancel My Subscription' (if you want to just keep the free personal account).
8. In the 'Question' text box, identify what type of account you want to end up through this request. For example, "I would like to move to change to Business Plus account" or "I only want a free personal account."
9. Click on 'Continue'.

Here is the (shoddy) answer from
http://linkedin.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...

How do I cancel or downgrade my current premium subscription account?

A request to cancel your premium subscription switches your account to a free personal account. Cancellation will end billing and remove access to the premium features designed for premium subscriptions.

A request to downgrade your premium subscription changes your account to a lower level premium subscription while still offering features like InMails and expanded people search. Changes will be made effective with the billing expiration date of your current subscription. To downgrade to a lower premium subscription level or to cancel your premium account and switch to a free personal account, follow the steps below:

1. Click on 'Account & Settings' found in the upper right hand side of the home page.
2. Click on 'Compare Account Types' and identify the account type that best fits your needs.
3. Click on 'Customer Service' link found at the bottom of the page.
4. Click on 'Ask Customer Service' tab on the 'Customer Service Center' page.
5. Enter your account's primary email address in 'Contact Information'.
6. In the 'Subject' type 'Downgrade My Subscription' (if you want a lower level premium subscription) or 'Cancel My Subscription' (if you want to just keep the free personal account).
7. In the 'Question' text box, identify what type of account you want to end up with through this request. For example, "I would like to change to Business Plus account" or "I only want a free personal account" .
8. Click on 'Continue'.
9. Click on 'Finish Submitting Request'.

I have this identical question and I'm having exactly the same problems 10 months down the line since this was raised as an issue. Adam Nash's response seems completely inadequate to me. I am really annoyed about this and will certainly avoid Linkedin in favour of Facebook or similar in future.

Just had the same issue. Very annoying.

LinkedIn: Even if it's hard to make it self-service, it is obviously not hard to provide a clearer, easier to find explanation, and to use terminology that is not misleading. You make the user "cancel" their account to downgrade. But it is not a cancellation, since you keep the account in place for free. The instructions pasted above (which I also encountered on linkedin), instructing users to downgrade by sending a message to customer service with "cancel my account" in the subject line... that's just insipid. Grab a dictionary and look up "cancel." If you want to run a pay-only service, then just do it. Otherwise, allow people to switch back to the free service with ease. You're not fooling anybody.

And after I "canceled," here's the notice I got from Linkedin:

"Dear Michael,

Thank you for contacting LinkedIn Customer Support. Your request to cancel your premium service has been processed and will expire on June 10, 2009. When your premium subscription expires, any unused InMails will be credited to your account upon request. Please request this credit upon your effective cancellation date. These credits must be used within 90 days of receipt.

We thank you for being a LinkedIn member and want you to know you are welcome to renew your subscription service at any time.

Regards,

Michaela
LinkedIn Customer Support"

Notice that there is no mention of the fact that my account will continue to function anyway. In fact, if it weren't for this forum, I wouldn't know that it will. Linkedin is being deliberately confusing and obtuse on this issue.

this is really unbelievable! i have tried to follow the very confusing directions and i still cannot downgrade my account. obviously linkedin relies heavily on thier subscription model for recurring revenue, but deceiving and strong-arming loyal customers is not the way to build a sustainable model. google profiles will clean their clock if they keep this up.
https://www.google.com/accounts/Servi...

Try clicking on http://tr.im/lidgacct. Do you see the Ask Customer Service tab?

If not, log into LinkedIn and click on the Customer Service link at the bottom of the page.

We can put a man on the moon, build nano technology and we are on the brink of finding a cure for cancer and Aids but the college educated guys from Linkedin cannot find it within the realms of their intelligence to provide a simple way for their customers to downgrade their account.

I can just picture it now - the production meeting where the already rich guys behind Linkedin figure out exactly how much more money they are going to make. One eager employee stands up with a PowerPoint presentation with the following charts.

1. How many people sign up for internet subscriptions and will forget about it.
2. How many people will give up if you make it hard for them to cancel their subscription
3. How much money they will make from the % of people who sign up who fall into the above category.
4. How many cars you can buy with all that money.

I, obviously, am a disgruntled customer who has tried and failed on several occasions to cancel my Linkedin account. I filled in the online customer form several times. The clever guys at Linkedin made it so that you cant contact them directly so you have no record of any disputes. "What email? We never got that one?" they will ask when you argue with them.

Now Mastercard informs me I am $200 poorer and Linkedin are $200 richer for a service which I only wanted to send one bloody email from and tried to cancel 3 times.

Well, I have a statistic for all the other disgruntled customers out there like me.

If 1% of Linkedin's credit card transactions are disputed by their customers, Visa and Mastercard will close their account and will suspend Linkedin's ability to take money from any credit cards for a very long time.

If you, like me, have been ripped off and ignored by Linkedin the please ensure you notify your credit card company and dispute your payment.

Assholes.

I posted upstream a year ago about my difficulties with LinkedIn. Here's how I was finally able to resolve it:

1) Filed a fraud report with my credit card company. I kept notes of when I called and left messages, numbers called and of course saved my e-mails. Thus, the credit card company investigated and reversed all my charges. Hooray.

2) Filed a complaint about LinkedIn with the Better Business Bureau. I believe within two days of filing my complaint I was contacted by LinkedIn about resolving this issue. LinkedIn has a "C+" rating with the BBB, by the way: http://bit.ly/GjL4x

3) Canceled my LinkedIn account. The market value of this company is tied to the number of users they have. So I don't want my participation (even if free) in any way contributing to a company with such scummy business practices.

Further, I don't believe that a company with said scummy business practices will be in it for the long haul. Given that LinkedIn is now charging to view "expanded" profiles, I don't expect them to be around in five years, anyway.

If you are someone who uses LinkedIn to create business opportunities, I understand that this might be a step too far for you. However, I have found Twitter fills that need much better for me.

I hope this helps!

I, too, am frustrated and appalled that out of the dozens of online applications I use that offer both free and paid accounts, LinkedIn stands alone as the sole account that I cannot downgrade myself.

For anyone who has been having trouble in submitting a request through the Support form, you can always email LinkedIn CS at support@linkedin.com.

A year after LinkedIn employees are posting here I am trying to downgrade my account but there is no obvious link to self-downgrade. LinkedIn makes it as difficult as possible to downgrade.

Waste of time...

I just sent a message to them (webform) on downgrading and will report back if there are further issues.

Still the same.