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FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

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Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#301

Post by FireBeyond »

Brybry wrote: post #248
astura wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do this with PayPal, Google Play, and privacy.com. Probably others too, these are just the ones I've used. The thing is that sometimes you need to actually cancel the service, not just stop paying for it, to remove your financial obligations. Depending on the contract you signed.

PayPal is not great at it. I assume you mean the settings->payments->automatic payments ( https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/autopay/ ) feature. Last year I had a company (DomainsPricedRight/OwnMyDomain aka GoDaddy) that I last did business (a one time purchase) with 18 years prior (2005), bill me under a new "subscription" with no input on my part. PayPal sort of allows you to prevent that but it seems only with compa…

Agreed, I had similar where I had signed up for a trial with a subscription, sure, and then went to cancel. "This can be done by 'manage payments' in PayPal." or similar. This existed, but the subscription was not there. But sure enough, it got charged. They did reverse it at least, but was more painful than it had to be.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#302

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

JacobThreeThree wrote: post #162
shepherdjerred wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should try cancelling the New York Times, Bon Appetite, or Planet Fitness

Cancelling The Economist was pretty terrible too.

I cancelled in May with their chatbox and not only was it hassle-free but instead of refunding the remaining pro rata portion of the year I got the entire year's subscription fee refunded without even asking for it.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#303

Post by cvalka »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #242
kibwen wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A number of credit card companies offer virtual card numbers that you can generate to avoid giving out your real number. I agree that it should be more normalized, widespread, and automatic, but it is already possible to start doing this today.

A problem mentioned is that whilst this cuts off the payment, in law it may not remove the liability to pay, so the company could in future chase you for the payments.

They never do that

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#304

Post by ccorcos »

thefourthchime wrote: post #156
ajkjk wrote: post #28

There are so many things like this that have needed fixing for such a long time. The fact that something is happening, even slowly, is so heartening. If your reaction is wondering if this is legal then you should be interested in the passing of new laws that make it unequivocally legal. Society should be able to govern itself.

Now, let's institute an actual price rule. I can't rent an Airbnb or book a plane ticket without being lied to about what the actual prices is.

There’s actually a way to do this currently: https://jake.tl/notes/2022-05-how-to-airbnb

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#305

Post by uxp100 »

mholm wrote: post #230
VBprogrammer wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a British person this is always so alien when traveling in the US. You could go one step further and suggest that perhaps tips which are practically mandatory should be included in the headline price but that might be a step too far.

Many restaurants have tried this, and end up switching back because comparing prices to other restaurants puts them at a disadvantage. I think the only way for it to happen is regulation that forces it. Might as well include taxes in that price too.

Staff often doesn’t like it either. Probably some combination of actually making less money and being overly optimistic about what they would be making if they were getting tips. a bar I was aware of that advertised paying $20+ and hour with no tips switched to a tipped model due to staff complaints.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#307

Post by bluGill »

Pigo wrote: post #212
pc86 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a great function of elected representatives would be keeping an eye out for these types of businesses that are societal "code smells" indicating something is wrong, and looking at the regulatory and legislative environment to see what would be changed to make those businesses obsolete.

Still waiting on anything to be done about rent to own businesses. The businesses that rely solely on exploiting the people in a bad position bother me so much, they should at least have some kind of limits on their usury.

Unfortunately the people they "serve" would get nothing as nobody can afford to lend to a bad credit risk at reasonable rates. Of course a lot of what they are selling are luxuries that people with bad credit shouldn't have, but then we have to ask what the alternative is. (most places have terrible public transit so you have to get such people in a car. You don't need a TV for movies but you can't really live life without internet anymore as many forms assume online and the alternatives don't work well)

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#308

Post by bluGill »

jfengel wrote: post #227
cptaj wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For sure. I hate excessive regulation, but if companies keep poisoning the well, action has to be taken

The problem is that "excessive regulation" often means "regulations that inconvenience me". Often regulations are put in place to help somebody else, and they are met with wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Some regulations help me. I'm glad I don't have to sort through all the pipes to find lead free ones. However some hurt me - I know very well how to do electric work and so having to hire an electrician costs me money I don't have (as opposed to an inspector who is much cheaper since they only verify I did the work right).

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#309

Post by megiddo »

arrosenberg wrote: post #142
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #96

It would be great to see the FTC go against predatory subscription services like Adobe. I'm fuzzy on the exact details, but I think they promoted a yearly subscription that was meant to look like a monthly subscription, where if you cancelled early they would charge you an exorbitant cancellation fee. I'm not sure how these new rules affect them. One recent idea I've had is that many online subscription services shou…

> I think they promoted a yearly subscription that was meant to look like a monthly subscription, where if you cancelled early they would charge you an exorbitant cancellation fee. I'm not sure how these new rules affect them. I don't think it's the same situation. What Adobe was doing was offering a yearly subscription, charged monthly. If you tried to cancel, it would ask for payment to either cover the rest of the…

I mean, maybe technically.

But the "its yearly with a cancellation fee" was not qualified in the sales information on the sign-up page. Maybe it was in the fine print.

Given that customers are quite used to a monthly fee is a monthly subscription model, it was disingenuous at best. Putting significant terms in the fine print doesn't exactly engender trust.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#310

Post by bluGill »

FireBeyond wrote: post #287
fooqux wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. The fact that multiple companies are springing up with the main selling point being "help you cancel subscriptions you thought you already cancelled" should be a wake up call to the legislature that this problem has gotten out of hand.

One that stung me the other day, Amazon, a $152 charge showing up on my card. Realized that it was an annual renewal of Prime. No email notification or anything. Dig around, there is an option to get a reminder email, but it defaults to off. This is a growing trend too, reduced or no notification of renewal, even on annual subscriptions, so you get hit with a three digit charge out of nowhere (not that it's not our r…

I refuse to sign up for subscriptions in many cases for that reason. Same reason I won't sign up for 6 months no payments or interest for things I'm buying - by paying cash I ensure I won't forget to pay in 6 months and then just get the minimum payment withdrawn. Large parts of the world are built to scam you and they know how to make scams seem like a good deal.
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