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California law requires businesses to let you cancel your subscription online

niemanlab.org

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

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really need some kind of consumer protection against IVR gauntlets.

Interactive Voice Response System, to save a trip for others who didn't know the acronym.

Trip saved, thank you

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

#163
Tried to cancel an Upwork account, a message said I should call a number in USA. I called and a message told me I should call between x AM to y PM business days.

It is somewhat expensive to call from Brazil just to hear a recorded message saying the call was useless. In the end I was able to cancel using their web chat. The experience just confirmed my opinion about the company.

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

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

At least with LA Fitness, I said I wanted to cancel and the guy at the desk printed out the letter for me. It was pretty low hassle. There are other gyms that make it a more insane process.

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

#165
Last week I spent 1 hour and 20 minutes waiting for a Zipcar rep to answer my call. Creating my account was as simple as taking a photo of my license within the app and getting into a car. Companies that make signing up easy and cancellation difficult are the worst.

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

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Won't be fun if there is a vulnerability.

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

#168
I hate to say and use it, but my best tool in situations like this is disposable credit card numbers via the privacy app. I make a best effort to close the account, and if that doesn’t work I cancel the temporary credit card I used to sign up for the service.

Make sure to get your cancelation attempt in writing (email, etc) because some places will still try and collect.

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

#169

I hope this forces the NYTimes to allow online cancellations too.

I got rid of them when my card was stolen and then cancelled. They couldn't bill me anymore and my account was downgraded.

Better than WSJ, which continues to let you use the service but threatens to send the bill to collections.

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

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Our workplace is illiterate, thus we cannot process your emails.

That excuse isn't going to fly when they get sued for not accommodating a disability. If anything, it'll cause a lawyer to pounce on the case like there's no tomorrow.

Pretty sure the grandparent comment was missing a /s
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