Hi, European here.
To hear these horror stories how hard it is to cancel a service in the US makes me wonder how the Americans put up with this.
The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
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Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#132I'm listening to hold music right now, 30 minutes into my attempt at cancelling 3mbps home DSL service (not a typo), for which the price has crept up to $71 USD/mo. I first spoke with a customer service agent whose accent I couldn't understand very well. I have him ALL my account information. He mumbled something about being unable to forward me to the actual customer service agent (then what is your role, dude?), th…
I feel your pain. This is extremely annoying. I wish you the best of luck!
Done, and done. 14 + 44 minute phone calls, gave all of my information to 3 redundant people, including explaining to confused agents that I don't recall the account pin, well you have to have the account pin, well actually the previous person accepted my answer to my personal security question and the person before that texted me a temporary pin but now for some reason those alternate methods don't work for you?
Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you actually want there to be a big "Cancel" button in the top right corner of every subscribed service? I personally don't want that. Click to cancel? Sure. But perfectly symmetrical is not something I need and in many cases not something I want.
>Do you actually want there to be a big "Cancel" button in the top right corner of every subscribed service? ABSOLUTELY YES
Even better would be a little field showing the rate and due date:
[Cancel] [USD 12.99/mo billed on the 20th]Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have quite a number of them, and they're all pretty good. Here's a sample of what the CFPB has created and/or enforces: * Truth in Lending Act * Fair Credit Reporting Act * Fair Debt Collection Practices Act * Equal Credit Opportunity Act * Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act * Home Mortgage Disclosure Act * Consumer Financial Protection Act The CFPB was one of the most effective agencies for consumers
For the most part all that those things accomplished was lots of paper.
Paper as in money? I can point to how multiple of these have saved me money directly. Cash dollars. Overdraft savings alone have numbered in billions back in the consumers' pockets... and that's just one piece of legislation that is easy to measure.
A lot of people don't realize how many current credit card regulations didn't exist 20 years ago. For example: you'd have to manually figure out how much interest was costing you and now they have to print it right on the statements.
They've helped rein in some of the most predatory industries out there in numerous ways.
Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you describe your ideal cancellation workflow?
I'd be happy with this. 1. Login 2. Go to your account page. 3. That should have a link to billing management. 4. Somewhere on the billing management screen there should be some easy to figure out way to cancel. Details will vary but in general cancelling logically makes the most sense as part of payment management, so it belongs where other payment management goes such as adding or updating a credit card. If the sit…
Wherever the site has a link to "Subscribe" or "Upgrade" there should be a link to "Manage My Subscription" and that should take you to someplace where "Cancel" is easy to find.
Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#136Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think your comment is pedantic; while I appreciate pedantry, it's a bit absurd. It's a democracy; 'we' get what 'we' voted to have.
America hasn't been a democracy for a long time if ever. Between voter suppression, gerrymandering, the electoral college, and Citizens United the government no longer meaningfully reflects the will of the people.
Also pedantic. Yeah, we're a republic not a textbook democracy. And we continue to elect representatives who further erode the power of the people via the means you mention. "We" could have elected Harris (or somebody else) and avoided the current mess, but "we" chose chaos and regression instead.
Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#138Hi, European here. To hear these horror stories how hard it is to cancel a service in the US makes me wonder how the Americans put up with this.
My perception is that consumer protections are much weaker in the U.S. than in the E.U. It would be interesting if anyone has made any attempt at quantifying this.
We all know that there are other countries where far, far worse abuses of power take place, but I've wondered if the U.S. might be at some really unfortunate nexus of strong contract law enforcement + particularly poor consumer protections that leads to these particularly madding subscription cancellation-type services discussed in this thread.
Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#139I'm listening to hold music right now, 30 minutes into my attempt at cancelling 3mbps home DSL service (not a typo), for which the price has crept up to $71 USD/mo. I first spoke with a customer service agent whose accent I couldn't understand very well. I have him ALL my account information. He mumbled something about being unable to forward me to the actual customer service agent (then what is your role, dude?), th…
I wonder what would happen if one sent a cancellation letter via certified mail, then just stopped paying. If they come after you, well - you canceled.
Perhaps the letter alone would be adequate.
But frustratingly, the AT&T website appeared to allow you to replace your current (auto-pay) billing method with some other billing method, but I didn't see any way to remove all current billing methods, which makes just stopping paying nigh impossible. :-(
Re: The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule
#140Why do regular people like this? For real, is it all "Those People Have it Worse", or do they just like the government making things worse for it's own sake?
There's people who like this who will never benefit at all, does anyone know why?
I don't get it. Then again I don't get the appeal of tearing the wings off of flies either.