Channels & viewing

[aaronlife]

I joined in June of 2023, via Roku in the Acorn App prompt to subscribe, and immediately I could not gain access to Acorn TV via the app, or the Roku Channel using my Roku credentials.  It told me i had a username/password issue and to try again later.  I figured there was a processing delay.  We watched some Netflix and went on vacation and came back and tried again, same issue.  I contacted Roku after reviewing similar issues online and was told to contact Acorn. I explained the issue to Acorn and they said quite clearly that it is an issue with Roku.  If you pay Roku for Acorn TV, and you don't have access, it's a Roku issue. They have no record of my payment or subscription. Roku shows I have paid for the subscription and that it's active.  Roku also refuses to issue a refund for a channel they charged me for, but don't provide me.  They first claimed they couldn't issue a refund because it was beyond 14 days.  When I explained again the other day that I have never had access to the channel and they still have not provided a solution (I get regular emails stating my problem is resolved, btw), they said they couldn't issue a refund because it was beyond 110 days.  This is starting to look conspicuously like negligent fraud.  They know they have an issue, they fail to take responsibility for it, and they continue to bill customers knowing these issues aren't resolved, and then they refuse to issue refunds after failing to provide a solution.  Sounds like grounds for a class action??  All I want is a refund at this point, but I hate to think of all the other people dealing with this while Roku fails to provide a solution.  When my parents joined Acorn they did it directly through Acorn and never had an issue.  When I joined Topic I did it through Roku and that worked fine.  It seems like Roku is not sharing information with Acorn to generate the user account so that the content can be accessed.  PLEASE RESOLVE THIS AND ISSUE ME A REFUND.  I keep being told a supervisor will call me back, and no one does, etc...

[Strega2]

Unfortunately, Roku says all subs via Roku are “prepaid, nonrefundable” so I wouldn’t have high hopes, but who knows? 

https://support.roku.com/en-ca/article/208756478#!

Most people here do recommend signing up directly with content providers.  This has a couple of advantages like: The content provider knows who you are. And you can log in on multiple types of platforms.  (Most platform payment systems limit you to signing on through that platform.)

[renojim]

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@aaronlife wrote:

I could not gain access to Acorn TV via the app, or the Roku Channel using my Roku credentials.

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There's never a need to enter your Roku credentials on a Roku device once it's linked to your Roku account.  If you subscribe to something through Roku you don't get any credentials for whatever service you're using.  It's supposed to be automatic - the app checks your Roku purchases and grants you access.  No username/password is required (or useful).  The provider really doesn't know anything about you other than you paid for something through Roku.  Given all the issues with Acorn (and Britbox for that matter) reported here, it really sounds to me like they're doing something wrong.

Sometimes it is possible to establish credentials with a provider by attempting to log in on their website using the email address associated with you Roku account (pretty much the only thing the provider may know about you) and using the provider's "forgot password" option to create a new password.  The provider most definitely doesn't know your Roku password.  Attempting to use your Roku password in any app or a website other than Roku's isn't going to get you anywhere.

If you were using the stand-alone Acorn app when you subscribed through Roku I don't understand why it would ever ask you to sign in.  It does get confusing when there's two ways to subscribe (through "The Roku Channel" or through the stand-alone app), but it doesn't sound like that's the issue.  Note that a subscription taken out one way doesn't work if you try to access it the other way.

Also, note that any subscription taken out through Roku only works on Roku devices linked to the same Roku account.

[aaronlife]

Thanks, yeah, it's definitely an issue with the credentials.  I signed up for Topic the same way and Topic worked fine, through the app.

It makes sense it only should work through the standalone app, as that is what prompted me to subscribe, just too bad it doesn't work.

I'll go to Acorn directly and create a membership there.