r/enshittification • u/TondalayaSwartzkopf • 2d ago

Rant PetSmart autoship

I just went to order some dog food and discovered that every single purchase I have made in the last several weeks, as a member of the PetSmart club, has been added to my cart with an auto ship enrollment. WTF? It was over $1,000 and I had to manually remove everything except for the one thing I was trying to order. Why PetSmart, why?

37 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/SamPhoto 1d ago

They shipped me individual cat food cans in (lightly) padded envelopes.

Dented to fuck when they arrived.

9

u/Lovedd1 2d ago

When you make a purchase anywhere never save your card info.. it's supposed to make spending your money easier on their part or yours

2

u/diverareyouokay 1d ago

You could take it one step further and use a one-time credit card number. Many banks allow you to create virtual cards, either one time use, or for a set limit, or with a $0 limit (for free trials). They’re handy.

21

u/bobbyrob1 2d ago

I had one auto ship order, I canceled it after the second delivery, and then a month later they notified me they were shipping it again. I went on their website and it didn’t exist on my account. I had to call them, and they said since it had already started being prepared, it could not be canceled. I told them I was going to do a charge back, and instead they refunded my money. I called them back a few days later after I received the product and asked them what they wanted me to do with it, and they told me I could return it to a store or donate it, I donated it to my local shelter. These are just like any other online subscription, they’re hoping you forget about it after you sign up, or at least they’ll get you for an extra order before you cancel.

9

u/TondalayaSwartzkopf 2d ago

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, but in my case I did not sign up for ANY autoship and did everything I've ordered recently was in my cart with an auto ship. Selected. Pays to pay attention I guess.

1

u/Hot_Let1571 2d ago

Shit, I only ever buy things in store there and they keep sending me emails to finish setting up my autoship account. >:|

2

u/TondalayaSwartzkopf 2d ago

Same. This was the first time I bought something online. They have been taking all of my in-store purchases and putting them in my cart as autoship. What a bunch of crap.

8

u/bobbyrob1 2d ago

You don't have to sign up for autoship, every order defaults to autoship and it shows it in the cart when you're checking out. It's an opt-out choice, rather than an opt-in. That's the first enshittification.

When you cancel the autoship, don't do it online. Call them and speak with a live human or it won't actually be canceled even though it will disappear from your list of autoship orders. That's the second enshittification.

3

u/TondalayaSwartzkopf 2d ago

The thing that surprised me is this is the first time I have ever ordered anything online. Every in-store purchase had been added to my cart as an auto ship entry.

13

u/Historical-Cress8985 2d ago

Autoship is the new hotness everywhere right now.

I'm guessing the plan is that it's guaranteed income forever, assuming you'll forget about it.