Off Broadway

The other day, the BroadwayHD.com website had a recorded live streaming performance of the current hit comedy, Fallen Angels, written by Noel Coward in 1925.  Yes, 101 years ago.  It stars Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara, both of whom got Tony nominations as Best Actress.  I was very interested in seeing it, and I've been interested in signing up for BroadwayHD for a while, at least for a month, since they have a few things I'd like to watch.  But I didn't want to sign up right now, since I not only have a long list of things to see, but also it's the baseball season that takes up a huge amount of my viewing time.  But -- this was a special streaming production, so...I figured, might as well.

I know that Amazon Prime has a BroadwayHD channel, but I thought that as long as I'd be signing up, I might as well do it directly on the BroadwayHD site.

My mistake.

I did a little search first, though, to see if there was a free trial period, since there was that "baseball season" hurdle thing -- and though I couldn't find a definitive answer on the website, I did see articles that said they did have a 7-day trial, and Amazon Prime said there was a trial.  So, I signed up.  And if I decided to stick around, it would be $19 for a month afterwards.

As I said, my mistake.

First, though it cost $20 for a month, on Amazon Prime -- which has the exact same site -- it's only $9 a month, for some reason.  Also, I noticed that I'd already been charged the $19 before the free trial period was up.  So, I wrote to the company to find out if, in fact, there was a 7-day trial.  No, it turns out, there isn't.  Though, yes, there is a free trial on Amazon Prime.  But no, they won't refund the $19 fee.

In fairness, it's my fault not finding out beforehand about the trial period.  And for not realizing that the Amazon Prime was half the price.  And has a 7-day trial.  So, I'm not mad at them at all.  (If anything, I'm annoyed at myself.)  I just think it's terrible customer service.  They certainly could override their "policy" about no refunds if they wanted to, rather than annoy potential customers (I'm certain I'm not alone in my confusion.)  Though, of course, they're under no obligation to do so.  And if people decide to cancel, so be it. 

And at the very least, as I explained them in my reply from my experience in reviewing tech for the Writers Guild and working in movie PR early in my career, they should make note on their site that they do not offer a free trial, so as to clear any confusion and avoid upsetting customers (which is the case I read on many social media posts).  Not doing so only serves to give the impression (rightly or wrongly) of being intentionally deceptive, since most such streaming services – like Amazon’s BroadwayHD channel – do offer a free trial.  Stating this clearly upfront would eliminate any possible uncertainty and sense of being misled, which most services try to avoid.

But it's their site and their decision.  I did cancel my subscription, and will watch the few things on my list and leave it at that.  A lot of their catalogue is on other sites, and may can be found for free on YouTube.  However, they do have productions unique to them, periodic streaming events, and it's well-organized.  If I ever do decide to check back to see if their library has increased with things of interest to me and consider whether or not to re-subscribe, though, it will be on the Amazon Prime channel, and not their own website.  Doing so at double the price would be foolish.

I pass this along for anyone who does ever have interest in checking out BroadwayHD.
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