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“Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says

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Re: “Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says

#351

Post by Dave_TRS »

asmos7 wrote: post #318
aristophenes wrote: post #316

I had to cancel my gym membership because I was moving, and it required me to send a physical letter. I did this, but found out later that somehow I owed like 2 dollars, so they didn’t count my cancellation request because my account wasn’t up to date (should be illegal). They continued to bill me the entire membership fee, but my credit card had changed, so they sent my account to a collections agency. Right when I…

Seriously regret signing up for that gym. The sales person lied about so much shit in hindsight. Signed up for the medium of the road package - tried to downgrade to the basic package told me I couldn't despite telling me when I signed up I could hop between them anytime.

My friend had a good suggestion I used. When you're signing up, I had them write down and sign beside the big lie I thought they were telling me about cancellation. Then when I cancelled and mentioned the terms, the manager said "unfortunately we would need to have that in writing". And then I produced my contract with it added in writing, signed by their staff member. Ridiculous the lengths one must go to have them follow through on what they say.

Re: “Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says

#352

Post by Axien »

strenholme wrote: post #344

Since I live in California, which has a “click to subscribe means you must have click to cancel” regulation, this isn’t an issue for me. After the New York Times published their inaccurate hit piece attacking Scott Alexander and Slate Star Codex/Astral Codex Ten, I was able to cancel online just clicking my way through. I now subscribe to The Wall Street Journal, which looks to be the most neutral newspaper right now…

That is crazy. I spent 20 minutes trying to cancel the WSJ. It is infuriating.

Re: “Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says

#353

Post by AYBABTME »

foobarbecue wrote: post #304
wonderwonder wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange that this hit HN today. 2 days ago I wondered what the cancellation policy was for the WSJ and checked. At the time I did not plan on cancelling but after finding out that it was "call to cancel" I called at that moment. I cannot stand the policy where it takes 3 seconds to sign up online but you have to call in to cancel. If I can help it I wont give money to companies that do it. In WSJ defense (barely) it…

I have wanted to cancel WSJ for over a year now but their process kept me from doing it. I started a few times and then was like I really don't have time for this nonsense right now. I wonder if I do it now if I can get my subscription fees refunded.

I tried canceling WSJ and they wouldn't take the call outside business hours. So I just called their Hong Kong office and cancelled with them, and refused to discuss anything but the immediate cancellation, and stopped them in their track when they veered off.

Re: “Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says

#354

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

havelhovel wrote: post #338
mercy_dude wrote: post #173

Good. The worst experience I ever had was with NY Times when I wanted to unsubscribe I had to go through multiple call/chats with a person and it was almost impossible since it was hard to get in touch with one. I am glad FTC is doing something others are afraid to do.

The Economist does this as well. Very frustrating to have to explain multiple times over chat that I just want to cancel and that no I don’t want any deals and that yes I understand the terms of the offer being made and that no I still don’t want the deal even though I understand you are telling me that this deal really is in my best interest. And yet I didn’t need to talk to any employees at all before giving them m…

The economist also does not have unsubscribe links in their marketing emails, the ones that you get after you’re a subscriber.

Re: “Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says

#355

Post by infecto »

Axien wrote: post #329
wonderwonder wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange that this hit HN today. 2 days ago I wondered what the cancellation policy was for the WSJ and checked. At the time I did not plan on cancelling but after finding out that it was "call to cancel" I called at that moment. I cannot stand the policy where it takes 3 seconds to sign up online but you have to call in to cancel. If I can help it I wont give money to companies that do it. In WSJ defense (barely) it…

I just canceled the WSJ. It is not terrible. They will try and convince you to cancel but will eventually let you cancel. The worst is SirriusXM Radio.

I was waiting for SXM to pop up. Literally one of the worst companies for this and I say this as someone who sadly worked for them for a little bit. You can manage everything in the web portal but to cancel you click a button and it tells you to call them. I know they have content and some people use them but they literally have so much friction in cancelling that it is a huge part of their business.

Re: “Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says

#356

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

ilikepi wrote: post #259
jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. To put something on a credit report you need only match 2 out of Name, Address, DoB, and SSN. This is one of the big reasons why the reports are so inaccurate. It's absolutely hellish for people with a very common name. Source: when I was young my job was to investigate adverse items on credit reports and find legal pretexts to get them removed.

> To put something on a credit report you need only match 2 out of Name, Address, DoB, and SSN. So any third-party vendor on Amazon has enough? Fantastic.

Yeah, the whole industry is insane and scummy. It's designed to give creditors as much gossip as possible, and congress has only taken rather tepid steps to reign it in. At the time I thought I was on the side of goodness, as my job was to find legal reasons to dispute these negative items on credit reports, submit the report back to the bureaus for a rescore, and ultimately get people their mortgage. But with the benefit of hindsight I can plainly see how I was a cog in creating the 2008 crash, and how the whole system was ultimately constructed to look the other way vs fraud if it meant the mortgage went through.

We badly need much stricter privacy rights surrounding personal information, but I don't see a viable political path to making it happen sadly :(.

Re: “Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says

#359

Post by grumple »

aristophenes wrote: post #316

I had to cancel my gym membership because I was moving, and it required me to send a physical letter. I did this, but found out later that somehow I owed like 2 dollars, so they didn’t count my cancellation request because my account wasn’t up to date (should be illegal). They continued to bill me the entire membership fee, but my credit card had changed, so they sent my account to a collections agency. Right when I…

I worked at a gym like this once upon a time. What an awful place. The workplace encouraged scummy behavior like this.

And boy am I glad I invested in a home gym so I never have to deal with that industry again.

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