Hello,

I've been wanting to stop being a diamond member for a while now due to being short of money and I need everything I can grab hold of at the moment. However, I was unsure how to cancel the automatic renewal process so I had a staff member do it for me. However, I just got a PM from Chess.com telling me that my subscription is about to renew. Is it actually going to renew my subscription??

yes, it renews automatically but it's not a problem...if you want to change your membership, simply notify administration that you want to change it. 

It is so pushy and assuming of Chess.com to force members into autorenew.

It's not pushy, just standard business procedure. Besides, if unsatisfied, you can always talk to erik or kohai and instantly get your money back.

It is pushy and I wish businesses didn't act like businesses. Although I love love love Chess.com (it's pretty awesome), it's presumptuous to set up any 'autorenewal' unless I ask for it. I don't want to ask for my money back. I just don't want it taken when I didn't say to take it. Get me?

You can cancel immediately after paying without closing your account. Once done you see a message about when your premium membership will need to be manually renewed.  http://www.chess.com/forum/view/premium_members/how-to-cancel-premium.

same here, got billed $99 without being aware an auto renewal was in place. It should be an opt in, not automatic in my view, am currently trying to get a refund.