Subscription prices often go up quietly. A price-rise alert tells you when one starts charging more, so it never slips by. Alerts are off until you turn them on.
Price-rise alerts are included with Grow and up. Getting them by text is included with Thrive and Thrive Duo.
Turn on price-rise alerts
Switch on Price-rise alerts
Turn on Price-rise alerts.
Choose how to reach you
Under How to reach you, turn on Email, Text message or both. Every change saves as you make it; in the dialog, choose Done when you're finished.
Under Recently spotted, you'll see rises we found over the last couple of months, marked "we told you" once an alert went out. Rises from before you turned alerts on are listed there, but never sent.
What counts as a price rise
A wrong alert is worse than a late one, so we only call a rise when the whole picture is clear:
- The old price was steady. The last few charges were within a few percent of each other.
- The new charge came on schedule, and it was the only charge from that merchant that day.
- It's higher by a real amount: at least 50 cents and 3% more than before.
- It's confirmed. If the old price was exactly the same every time, one higher charge is enough. If it moved a little, we wait for a second charge at the new price.
What doesn't count
Not a price rise | Why |
|---|---|
Bills that change every month, like hydro or a phone bill with extras | There's no usual price to compare with. |
Charges that come more often than monthly | They aren't watched, so alerts don't pile up. |
About two or three times the usual amount | Usually more than one cycle billed at once. |
More than 75% higher | Usually a different plan or a catch-up charge. |
A refund from the same merchant within 10 days | The extra was likely given back. |
Charges from before you turned alerts on | Shown under Recently spotted, never sent. |
How often you'll get them
One alert per new price, and at most one per subscription every 60 days. Alerts are news, not history: we only send one for a charge from the last three weeks.
Alerts ride in the same message as your bill reminders, so you still get at most one message a day.
Turn alerts off for one subscription
Open the subscription on the Recurring page, choose Remind me and switch off Price-rise alert. Its line also says what we're watching, like "We'll tell you if it starts charging more", or why we can't watch it.