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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

#501

Post by consteval »

bluGill wrote: post #369
pests wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my area the homeowner can do all electrical work. Still needs inspected. Are you sure you need to hire an electrician in your jurisdiction?

This is specific to my town, if I lived across the street in a different town I wouldn't need to. Unfortunately I didn't know this detail until after I bought the house.

Typically, when this happens and it's a local law like this it's because something really bad happened in the past.

I know, for example, the town of Cripple Creek, CO requires all their buildings to be made out of bricks. Pretty annoying. But it's because the entire town burned down twice in the 19th century.

So, maybe, someone in the past killed a bunch of people with bad electrical work.

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

#502

Post by beretguy »

malfist wrote: post #486
thayne wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or they interpret any kind of interaction after a while of inactivity as "yes please sign me up for all your newsletters, even though I previously explicitly told you to unsubscribe me"

The worst for this is Shopify. If you've ever given your email to shopify, they will absolutely share it to a page you visit, even if you don't check out. Throw something in the cart at a random website? Now you're on their mailing list and get reminders to finish checking out. Doesn't matter that you never consented. I don't know how this isn't a violate of the CAN-SPAM act

Now is a good time to mention SimpleLogin. So... yeah. SimpleLogin.

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

#503

Post by consteval »

Eumenes wrote: post #283
Terretta wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this a real problem? I don't have one subscription service that I can't "click to cancel". After 16,000 public comments, and 70 consumer complaints per day on average, up from 42 per day in 2021, the idea is that FTC made the rule for an imaginary problem?

You don't have to be snarky. I have never experienced a service I couldn't cancel online. I didnt realize it was a problem. And yes, the government attempts to solve imaginary problems everyday.

To put into perspective how awful this problem actually is, I signed up for planet fitness 100% online.

I went to the gym and well, it sucked. So then I want to cancel. Okay I go to the front desk. Can I cancel? No. They tell me to read the website. Okay I go to the website. It says "well... this varies gym to gym". Okay I call my gym "... yeah we can't cancel, you have to send a formal letter to HQ"

A letter? Really? As a matter of coincidence, my card gets lost, stolen, and used. So I cancel. Finally, I think, it's over.

No, I still get charges on my bank account from planet fitness. So I wrote a letter, mailed it, and then like 6 weeks later (so... another payment later) it's cancelled.

Keep in mind I signed up online, on my iPhone.

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

#504

Post by tzs »

WalterBright wrote: post #377

Disney+ had a "cancel anytime!" message on its web pages. But I could never find a cancel button on any of them. So I called my credit card company and put a block on any charges from Disney.

Isn't it in the subscription details linked to on the account tab in your profile page? That's where it was the 2 or 3 times I've cancelled. The last time was a couple of years ago, but it looks like it was still there at the start of this year [1].

[1] https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-cancel-disney-plus

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

#505

Post by hamandcheese »

rootusrootus wrote: post #326
cortesoft wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I remember when Amazon Prime first started, I signed up for the free trial to get free shipping on something. Of course, I forgot about it and didn’t cancel, but then I got an email from Amazon saying, “hey, you didn’t cancel your prime subscription but you also haven’t used it at all, so we are going to not charge you and cancel it for now. Here is how you easily restart your subscription if you end up needing…

Early Amazon was pro-customer in a way that I think most people have forgotten. Maybe that was always the strategy? They were losing money for years, and maybe that was investing in the company, or maybe it was allowing really large losses to keep customers happy, planning all along to eventually clamp down when people were addicted. And here we are. Their return rate is still pretty terrible, IIRC. I bet they are tr…

> Maybe Amazon will start firing those customers.

But does this actually hurt Amazon in any significant way, or do they simply externalize this cost by penalizing the original seller?

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

#506

Post by metadaemon »

rootusrootus wrote: post #336
shepherdjerred wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The NYT was the worst. Had to call them on the phone. The guy I was talking to offered progressively better deals, until he basically offered me a year for next to nothing. I was angry at that point and determined to cancel, and said "No, JUST CANCEL" and he laughed out loud at me. Instant, permanent never-a-NYT-customer again. I often wonder how these companies predict the expected permanent loss of customers over t…

Plus it's wild they staff an entire agency to handle these types of calls. Talk about a loser's mindset.

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

#507

Post by FireBeyond »

Schiendelman wrote: post #500
FireBeyond wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon today won't even remind you that they are about to charge your card $150ish for an annual renewal, unless you specifically opt-in.

They still remind you automatically. I just got one.

I got mine two days ago, with no reminder. When I went in to the Account page, the "Notify me by email 3 days prior to renewal" was unchecked. While possible, I can't imagine a scenario where I'd have ever knowingly unchecked that.

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

#508

Post by metadaemon »

asdff wrote: post #436
bilsbie wrote: post #101

I wonder how this would work for gyms? They should clean up their act anyway. If other customers are like me I’ve been putting off joining for over a year because they’re so scammy and I don’t want to get locked in. I even went to sign up and walked out because the price ended up being double what they advertised with weird fees and the base plan not being useable once they explain it.

Gyms are so damn scummy with this. When I cancelled my last gym membership due to moving I had to show them that there would be no nearby gyms of that brand where I was moving in order to let me cancel.

Sorry that's probably because I used the moving excuse very often when I was younger to get them to shut up.

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

#509

Post by Teever »

justinpombrio wrote: post #265
Uehreka wrote: post #190

When people try and say that regulating stuff like this is impossible, I often think about how unreasonably great the regulations around “Unsubscribe” links in emails are. There really seems to be no loophole or workaround despite there being huge incentive for there to be one. Every time I click an “Unsubscribe” link in an email (it seems like they’re forced to say “Unsubscribe” and not use weasel words to hide the…

Unsubscribe links are a fantastic regulation, but there is a workaround. I must have received at least a dozen emails from Brown after graduating despite unsubscribing to every email they sent. The trouble is they're endlessly creative about the lists they put you on. I'd get one email from "Alumni Connections" and then another from "Faculty Spotlight" and then another from "Global Outreach" and then another from "Ev…

Sounds like a solution to this would be for the consumer to have the ability forward these emails to a regulatory body who would fine the offending party and give a cut of the fine to the offended consumer.

This would pair nicely with a progressive fine structure based on the income/assets of the offender that grows exponentially after every offense.

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

#510

Post by shepherdjerred »

Kon-Peki wrote: post #261
shepherdjerred wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I went through the cancellation process for NYT once before. Which is the entire reason I am not a subscriber at my current address. It's too bad, I'd pay for it otherwise.

Yeah, I would happily subscribe for a month to read an article I'm interested in if it weren't so hard to cancel.

This is basically what I do with The Guardian where I donate after reading.

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