To cancel a PBS donation, contact the local PBS station that processes your gift and ask them to stop the recurring payment, either by phone or email. PBS is a network of independent stations rather than a single company, so the national pbs.org site cannot cancel for you and has no access to your billing.1PBS Help. How Do I Cancel My Passport Membership Benefit If you signed up through Amazon, Apple, Xfinity, or Roku instead of through a station, you cancel on that platform.
Find Out Which Station Has Your Donation
Go to the PBS Station Finder at pbs.org/stations and enter your ZIP code to see your local station’s name and contact information.2PBS Help. Can I Designate Another Station as My Primary Station Click the station’s name or call letters to open its page, then look for a “Contact Us” or “Membership” link with a phone number and email.
Old thank-you emails are the fastest shortcut. They usually name the station and sometimes include a member or donor ID. The mailing label on a printed program guide works too.
Cancel Directly With Your Station
PBS’s own help pages state that “you must email or call your local station in order to cancel your membership.”3PBS Help. How Do I Cancel My Membership Donors who expect a Netflix-style account page are often surprised; the billing lives inside each station’s own system.
Before you call or write, pull together:
- Your full name as it appears on the donation
- The email address you used when you signed up
- The last four digits of the card or bank account being charged
- Any member or donor ID from a past email or mailing
Ask the representative to confirm the exact cancellation date and whether one more charge will process before the recurring payment stops. Some larger stations, such as Cascade PBS in Seattle, offer online account portals where you can manage recurring gifts yourself,4Cascade PBS. Donation, Membership, and Account but most stations route you to a phone call or email. If your station’s site doesn’t show an obvious cancel button, don’t keep hunting; call.
Cancel Through a Third-Party Platform
If you subscribed to PBS Passport or a PBS add-on through a streaming service or device, your station cannot cancel it. The billing relationship sits with the platform.
Amazon
Go to amazon.com/myac, open “Your subscriptions” from the top menu, find the PBS add-on, select “Unsubscribe,” and confirm. If a self-service refund is offered, accepting it ends access immediately; otherwise access runs through the current billing period and no further charge posts after that date.5Amazon. Cancel Your Prime Video Add-On Subscription
Apple
On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, tap “Subscriptions,” select the PBS subscription, and tap “Cancel Subscription.” On a Mac, open the App Store, click your name, then “Account Settings,” scroll to “Subscriptions,” click “Manage,” pick the PBS subscription, and click “Cancel Subscription.”6Apple Support. If You Want to Cancel a Subscription from Apple If there is no cancel button, the subscription is already canceled. Apple requires cancellation at least 24 hours before the next renewal to avoid another cycle’s charge.
Xfinity
On an X1 TV Box, Flex streaming device, or Xumo Stream Box, open the PBS app and go to the Settings tab. Under “Account,” choose “Manage My Donations,” then “Cancel Recurring Donation,” and confirm.7Xfinity. Cancel Your PBS Passport Membership Donation from Xfinity
Roku
Log in at my.roku.com and open the subscriptions management section to cancel. The rule across any platform is the same: if you didn’t sign up through your station, cancel wherever you did sign up.
Stop the Payments Through Your Bank if All Else Fails
If you can’t get the station to respond, or charges keep posting after you’ve canceled, federal law gives you a separate tool. Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, you can stop any preauthorized electronic payment by notifying your bank at least three business days before the next scheduled transfer.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693e – Preauthorized Transfers You can give the order by phone or in writing. If you give it verbally, the bank may require written confirmation within 14 days; without it, the oral stop-payment order lapses.9eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.10 – Preauthorized Transfers
Expect a fee, commonly around $25 to $35. Treat this as a backstop, not the main route.
Get Confirmation and Watch the Next Statement
Always ask for written confirmation: an email from the station, a confirmation screen on the platform, or a reference number from a phone call. Amazon and similar platforms send a confirmation email to the account’s address after processing.10PBS Help. How Do I Cancel My Recurring Donation
Check your bank or card statements for one full billing cycle afterward. Depending on timing, one more legitimate charge may post. Anything beyond that goes back to the station’s member services with your confirmation attached. If the station can’t resolve it, dispute the charge with your bank as unauthorized; the written confirmation makes that dispute straightforward.
Get a Tax Receipt Before You Close the Account
Canceling now does not affect deductions for donations you already made this year, but you want the paperwork while the station still has you in its system. The IRS requires a written record for every cash contribution, and a written acknowledgment from the charity itself for any single contribution of $250 or more, obtained before you file your return.11Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Organizations Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements Most stations send annual receipts in January. If you’re canceling before then, ask for a receipt during the same call or email.