There should have been alarm bells from the beginning, when realising the subscription service isn't a traditional subscription. There is no direct debit. You give them your bank details and they take a payment every month. I'd imagine this is how they are able to get around trading standards when it comes to subscription services but here's hoping they are punished by the law in the future.For those who are unaware, once one signs up they added to a WhatsApp group to chat among others prior to each meet up. You can tell when someone's subscription has finally come to an end when they are randomly removed from the group and a new person is added in their replacement. There's nothing specifically wrong with that, but it is unusual.Regardless, to get out of Chapter25 taking your money you have to email them asking for them to stop taking money. They'll then email you asking for feedback and confirm they won't cancel your membership till you give them feedback.After submitting feedback and asking a second time to cancel, they'll give you other ways to keep spending money with them, alternative group options etc and then advise they won't cancel your membership until you've replied to them.This will continue until you threaten them with further action. I'm being very serious here and have the 'receipts' to back it up. Be prepared to argue via email (because they won't speak on the phone) at a snails pace (they reply every 3 to 4 working days) as they continue to take payments.Apart from the absolute mess of cancelling, the meet ups are rather lackluster. If you're lucky, the venue will be nice, if you're not, it won't. Any complaints about the venue are ignored. In many ways this goes for members also.I've witnessed a host having to pick up the tab of members who left and don't pay their bill. These are the same hosts who seem in over their heads with how to manage and maintain large groups of strangers with vastly different reading skills, experiences and preferences.If you get 'stuck' on a table with people who hated, didn't finish or didn't even read the book, then you're out of luck. It's a wildly varied experience every month, giving a hit or miss feeling for something you're paying for.There is no quality control, no management, hosts seem left to flounder and the business seems only interested in your reoccurring revenue. There are all kinds of book clubs out there which will be better than what Chapter25 offers.
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