The Gathering Of Spirits Support Page & How To Cancel Your Subscription
On this Support page we address the most frequent questions and issues from subscribers to The Gathering of Spirits.
You matter to me!
On this page I’ll be explaining how Substack works, but the most important takeaway is that many issues can be solved in two ways: (1) manage your account yourself (2) contact us for help with your account and (3) How to cancel your subscription.
Manage your account – carrienewcomer.substack.com/account
Contact The Gathering of Spirits – contact@carrienewcomer.com
PLEASE DO NOT DISPUTE CREDIT CARD CHARGES from The Gathering of Spirits with your bank as a way of turning off your subscription or as a way to get a refund. Disputing charges with your bank because you cannot figure out how to turn off your subscription really hurts artists. We are charged onerous fees and our Stripe accounts may be flagged. Please scroll down to “How To Cancel Your Subscription” for easy step by step instructions. Or contact us if you need help.
Here is information about some of the most common questions and troubleshooting.
What is Substack?
Substack is a service that manages newsletter subscriptions for writers. The Gathering of Spirits is hosted on Substack. When you subscribe to The Gathering of Spirits, a Substack account is created for you under the email address used to subscribe, if you don’t already have one.
If you already have a Substack account, its best to use the same email address. This will keep things from getting confusing and having to navigate several different accounts.
How Substack Manages Subscriptions
Substack puts a lot of power in readers’ hands, and it restricts the things we can do because many readers subscribe to more than one publication. You will have to do many of the things you may think we would be able to do, although Substack support can help when necessary. For questions you can always ask us – contact@carrienewcomer.com
These are the most common issues:
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
EVERYTHING on Substack works off of your email address. Your rights to paid content, your other subscriptions are all based on your email address. A common cause of confusion is when subscribers have more than one email address, one paid and one free. We recommend users have only one subscription to avoid this confusion.
CHANGING YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
Many subscribers need to change their email address—they move, get a new job, decide to try another email provider—so you will need to keep it current to continue to receive emails from us. However, we can’t change your email address—but you can! Go to CarrieNewcomer.substack.com/account
At the top of the page, you will see your email address and an Edit button. Click on the Edit button, enter your new email address, and click on Change email.
IF YOU AREN’T RECEIVING EMAILS
There are two primary reasons for this: (1) emails are disabled, and (2) emails are being “dropped.” Check first to see if your emails are disabled. Go to CarrieNewcomer.substack.com/account
Scroll down to Notifications and make sure Posts is enabled. If it isn’t, turn it on and you will again receive emails. If you have questions contact us at contact@carrienewcomer.com.
FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS
UPDATING YOUR CREDIT CARD
In Substack, all paid subscription autorenew. That means that when the end of your subscription term arrives, the credit card you used to subscribe will be charged the amount of your subscription just as it would with a Netflicks or Hulu account.
CHANGING YOUR SUBSCRIPTION PLAN
If you want to change your subscription plan from or to monthly, yearly, or founder, click on Change next to Plan under Subscription and choose the plan you want.
VERY IMPORTANT
Whatever you do, please, please, please: DO NOT DISPUTE OR CANCEL THROUGH YOUR BANK! They charge us onerous fees when you do so. We are happy to help you if you can’t figure out how to adjust your subscription. WE WILL NEVER REFUSE A REFUND.
How To Cancel Your Paid Subscription
If, for whatever reason you are unhappy with your subscription to ANY Substack newsletter, here's how you can cancel your subscription vs disputing the subscription fee with your credit card company/bank.
Log into your Substack account via your computer or the app. Use the email address that you are receiving the publication.
Click on your profile picture
Select Settings
Your will see a list of all of the publications you are subscribed to
Click on the paid publication you want to cancel your subscription to.
Scroll to the Account actions section of the subscription and click on the link next to “To Cancel Your Paid Subscription, Click Here”.
You’ll have a choice of pausing or cancelling your subscription. If you cancel, you will remain a paid subscriber until your current subscription term ends.
OTHER QUESTIONS
The sections above address the issues subscribers are having most commonly. If you need have a situation that isn’t addressed here, write to contact@carrienewcomer.com
What’s the difference between a free and paid subscription?
Paid (Supporting) Subscribers help make The Gathering of Spirits Happen.
You directly support the work that I put into bringing this specific take on life, hope, music, art, culture and spirit. We try hard to provide many kinds of special thanks gifts for paid subscribers.
I also make sure that free subscribers to The Gathering of Spirits to others feel included and appreciated as important members of the community as well. There will always be public content for everyone.
I will occasionally send out Supporting Subscriber content to everyone with a pay wall. But there is always free content as part of those posts. I will also occasionally do special offers and fund drives twice a year (think of the NPR model).
Gift Subscriptions & Group Subscriptions are always 20% regular paid subscription prices
Thank you for your support as a free or paid subscriber.
I deeply appreciate your presence and support of the work I am doing here and the community that has been created surrounding the kinds of topics and ideas explored here.
A Deep Bow of Gratitude,
Carrie Newcomer