Linked In Trickery

I tested “Hibernate” mode on LinkedIn the other day on a particularly frustrating day. Would it make a difference in any way, I wondered. A “Mental Health” day, let’s call it.

Answer for me was no… I needed to look something up mere hours after hibernating.

It wouldn’t allow me to reinstate for 24 hours. Which I actually appreciated.

What I didn’t appreciate was the offer when I got back in to “Try Premium” for free for a month. I’ve had premium since it became available years ago for $25/month. So what was this free trial thing??

Gotcha. To reinstate premium after hibernating for 24 hours I now have to pay $69.99 per month. From $300/year to nearly $850/year all for taking a 24 hour mental health break which was the option I selected when asked why.

When I submitted an inquiry to Linked In I got this as part of my response:

“I totally understand how you feel. As this is a system-generated functionality we are unable to change it manually. Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused in this regard.”

So much for #mentalhealth… it actually added to my frustration (1st world frustration, obviously). In all seriousness it’s such a devious way to extract more money from long time customers. Not what I would expect from a company I have long appreciated and held in high regard.