Hulu Minus

   So, I have had Hulu Plus for a few months. I enjoyed it for the most part. I hate how many commercials there are for paid service, but it is still less than cable. I put my account on hold in July because there weren't any new episodes starting up again until September. This month my debit card expires, which isn't a big deal. My sister gave me 2 months free Hulu Plus for my birthday. When my hold was about to end I went on the website and applied my gift card to my account and my husband and I watched the premiere of Parenthood (love that show, or have I said that before). Then a couple days later I get an e-mail saying my account has been put on hold because my debit card has expired and they were unable to charge it. "Why do they need to charge my card?" you might ask. I asked the same thing. I sent them an e-mail assuming there had been an oversight. This is the message I got back:


Thanks for writing! I am really sorry for the trouble with the gift card. I took a look at your account, and it looks like your account is currently on hold due to a billing issue, so the gift subscription has not yet been applied. I'm sorry for the confusion here, but I'm afraid we won't be able to get it applied until your subscription is back in good standing. We have a couple of options here though!
First, you can pay the $7.99 by retrying the charge from your account page ( www.hulu.com/account ). Then, you can go to www.hulu.com/gift and apply the code – your gift subscription will kick in next month.
Alternatively, you can cancel your account from the Billing Information section of your account page ( www.hulu.com/account ). Then, you can renew your subscription with the gift card itself by resubscribing directly from www.hulu.com/gift. As a note, you will still need to have a valid card on file, with at least $1 on it so we can do the test authorization.
I'm sorry there's not an easier way, but I hope one of these solutions work! Let me know if there's anything I can help with. 

Nice enough response, but why do I have to pay to use a gift card. Even a dollar. I responded in a rather irritated way, then I got basically the same e-mail sent back with the wording slightly different. It is not that $1 is too much for me, it is the principle of the thing. Why would I pay to use a gift card? Does this make sense to everyone but me? 

I did a little research and apparently I am not alone in my distaste for Hulu Plus. The consensus? Don't sign up. Don't pay money for a mediocre service that charges you to use a paid in full gift card. Last night I got an e-mail asking if I was pleased with my recent customer service. Ha! I wrote back that I wasn't pleased. Now it is a waiting game. I am not sure what the solution is, but I know I won't be using their service anymore.