Subscriptions and Bill Payments.

Names and identifying details have been changed to respect the privacy of individuals.

This subject applies to the world over. You could end up bleeding dry by subscriptions for every tiny thing in your life these days. You sign up for recurring payments for access to a product.  Basically, we don't own anything anymore. We're just renting, even your own existence. We used to buy Television and that was it. Plug it in, job done. Watch what you want. But now you get the Telly, then you've got to subscribe to Netflix, then Prime, then Disney, then Sportify. Then, just to watch one sold show, you'll be paying more in monthly subscription and what do you get for it, buffering, adverts and the same recycle garbage across all the platforms. It's not just TV, we used to buy music album once CD, Cassettes, vinyl whatever. You now, subscribe, monthly forever. Miss a payment and you lose access to every song you've ever liked. How the hell did we all fall for that?

We went from proud collectors to digital squatters. You don't own the tune; they’re just lent to you until Spotify decides, you've had enough. Same story with software. Remember when you could buy Microsoft Office on a disk and install it for life? Not anymore. Now it's Microsoft 365 which is basically just fancy language for, we're going to charge you every month for typing letters and making spreadsheets. Even cars are at it. Now, you find new motor and half the features a lot behind subscriptions. Heated seats, that's ten euros a month. Remote start, extra five euros. Some BMW drivers are literally renting their steering wheel controls. You pay tens of thousands for the car, and they've still got their hand in your back pocket every month.

We used to own stuff, real things. You bought it once and it was yours.  Now, you rent, stream, lease or borrow everything. You're not a customer anymore. You're a subscriber. Locked into a system that feeds off you drip by drip until you've got nothing left but a pile of bloody logins, and direct debits, even your heating is a subscription, if you've got one of those fancy smart boilers, you pay monthly just to keep it connected. What happens when you miss a payment, they lock your thermostat from a central office and freeze your ass out.

Don't even get me started on mobile phones. The upgrades, the cloud storage, the app subscriptions, they've made it impossible to just use a phone. Now, you've got 10 different charges a month Just to take a selfie and check the bloody weather Subscription. Subscription Clothes, food, pet food, everything is designed now to trap you in a loop. They don't want you to buy. They want you to depend. They want you to pay every month until the day you drop, and nobody reads the small print anymore. You sign up for a free trial, then forget a month later, you are 50 euros down and haven't used the service once, they rely on that, they build their profits on it.

In The Netherlands, your late payment bills will be transferred to the debt collector (inccasso) the extortion syndicates. Those will add extra amount to the original payment that you initially found difficult to pay. They will be laughing at you while you're losing track of your money. You have the options if bills become too heavy to pay at once or request for instalment payments but you have to arrange it on time.

Your Granddad had it right, they bought a thing, and it lasted. They didn't need monthly payments to keep the fridge running or the TV showing pictures. They looked after their things because they owe them. Nothing's yours and nothing lasts anymore. You're constantly told the new versions better, the new package, the new plan, the updated model, they’ll sell you planned obsolescence dressed up as innovation, It's theft in slow motion. They've convinced the public to be okay with renting their whole life and if you stop paying, they shut your stuff off, delete your files, cut your access, you're locked out of your own digital house and you're left with nothing. This is more than just a business model, this is control.

If you don't have a DVD collection, you have a streaming library that disappears, the moment your card gets declined, you don't have books. Your Kindle files can be removed whenever they fancy. You don't have software; you have permission to use something as long as you behave and keep paying, freedom is gone. Ownerships gone. And nobody seems to care. We're too busy managing our monthly plans to notice, we've become permanent tenants in a system. Designed to bleed us. You want to rebel in 2025? Don't sign up. Use or buy second-hand own things again, because if we carry on like this soon, we'll be paying a subscription, just to exist.

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