California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online • Hacker News Board

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#141

Post by s73v3r_ » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:43 PM UTC

mehrdadn wrote: post #51

13of40 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'm hard of hearing." Prove that I'm not. At that point it's one dark pattern against another.

> "I'm hard of hearing." Prove that I'm not. At that point it's one dark pattern against another. First of all, he said "deaf", not "hard of hearing". Second ̶o̶n̶e̶, so you're fine with lying to get services you otherwise wouldn't if no one can actualy prove you're lying?

"Second one, so you're fine with lying to get services you otherwise wouldn't if no one can actualy prove you're lying?"

When it comes to them being dishonest about forcing me to call in order to endure a pitch to upsell me? Absolutely.

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#142

Post by Semirhage » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:46 PM UTC

leekyle333 wrote: post #17

The New York Times doesn't allow you to cancel your subscription online.

I had this issue with a water delivery service when I lived on the East Coast US. In the end I sent an email saying that I was moving back to Italy, stopping any further charges from them on my CC, blocking them by email, and they could do whatever the hell they wanted with my account.

That worked.

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#143

Post by FireBeyond » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:46 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #44

fishbone wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please listen closely, our menu options have changed

We are experiencing higher than normal call volume. Every. Single. Day. I would like to give executives the option to stop this or go to prison for this never ending nonsense. I think most would choose to stop.

At some point, when it happens day in, day out, day or night, doesn't it become the new normal call volume?

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#144

Post by kstrauser » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:48 PM UTC

mygo wrote: post #81

harryh wrote: post #12

For places that require a phone call I came up with a trick to cancel via email. If they reply back via email and say I have to call them, I tell them I'm deaf and can't talk on the phone. Works every time.

I actually have a speech impairment (a stutter) and you’d think people would be willing to accommodate. I can speak just fine when I have complete agency over the words I choose to say, but it’s the absolute worst when I have to read out some long specific access code or account number and say it 100% correct. Stutter even once and they think I meant 2 P’s when I just wanted to say a single P. And then it becomes thi…

It's morally OK to just lie about it. If I can tell them "I'm physically unable to speak", you can too.

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#145

Post by ddoolin » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:48 PM UTC

Skunkleton wrote: post #134

dv_dt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, maybe it's my IoT-get-off-my-network/lawn hackles being raised here, but why does your doorbell need a subscription in the first place?

Basically because of NAT. Because the devices on your network can't all have public IP addressed, you have to have them all connect to a central public server. Public servers cost money->ring costs money. Of course the reason things are architected this way is so that more people can make money...

Can this be solved by using IPv6 and addressing everything publicly?

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#146

Post by FireBeyond » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:48 PM UTC

dawnerd wrote: post #108

jchw wrote: post #94

Cancelling by phone sound bad? Planet Fitness will only let you cancel in person or by certified mail. I moved to California recently, and I still had a Planet Fitness subscription (it was the closest gym to me and it was open 24/7, I won't be doing it again) and now I'm curious if I can use this against them.

They'll likely find some loophole around not calling it a subscription. "You're timesharing with our gyms"

They already do. It's not a subscription, it's a membership.

LA Fitness is another that lets you sign up online, and cancel only via certified mail.

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#147

Post by tothrowaway » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:50 PM UTC

Another way to get out of subscriptions is to change your billing credit card to one generated by a service like Privacy.com. Then just close the card out.

Some sites/services are getting more savvy about pre-paid cards though (DigitalOcean won't accept one). I tried to use a burner card on a snail mail advertisement offering a $50 gift card to sign up for a trial of a magazine subscription. Didn't work.

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#148

Post by always_good » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:51 PM UTC

turc1656 wrote: post #110

This is a good law, but I'm genuinely curious...is this really such an issue? Personally, I can't remember the last time (maybe ever?) having this issue. Maybe I don't have a lot of subscriptions. Maybe I don't cancel often. Maybe I come off on the phone as not budging an inch. The last time I recall having even the slightest bit of an issue was cancelling my AOL service ~18 years ago and even that wasn't as bad as e…

I once hornily punched my credit card number into a camsite to get "200 free coins". After using them all (I gave them all to one cam girl after feeling bad for her), I tried canceling the subscription.

The around the cancel was literally commented out in the html.

I forgot about it, got charged 2 weeks later, and issued a chargeback. Never got charged again.

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#149

Post by kstrauser » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:52 PM UTC

mehrdadn wrote: post #124

harryh wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did think about this, but I don't really think I'm taking anything away from the actually deaf. It's not like a parking space where if I park in it, then it's unavailable for a handicapped person. There's someone's job to handle these requests and they have a limitless capacity. If anything, it actually takes less company man hours to respond to an asynchronous email request than a synchronous phone request. I agre…

Finally! It's nice to see an attempt at a level-headed response, and from the person it was actually directed to (and that you had actually put thought into this). Funny enough, though, no one's actually answered the question I actually asked, which I still have... which is whether this is legal?

No, it's not illegal. First, under the ADA they can't actually ask you to verify any disabilities: that's between you and your doctor. Second, you don't have to be explicitly diagnosed as having a disability to have one. I've been to too many concerts over the years, and while no doctor has diagnosed me, I can truthfully say I have a hard time understanding people over bad phone connections.

Re: California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

#150

Post by gnicholas » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 10:53 PM UTC

tothrowaway wrote: post #147

Another way to get out of subscriptions is to change your billing credit card to one generated by a service like Privacy.com. Then just close the card out. Some sites/services are getting more savvy about pre-paid cards though (DigitalOcean won't accept one). I tried to use a burner card on a snail mail advertisement offering a $50 gift card to sign up for a trial of a magazine subscription. Didn't work.

Some cards also offer virtual card numbers, which you can put a time and dollar limit on. I have a 2% back Citi card that happens to offer this handy feature.