‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania • Hacker News Board

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#41

Post by pc86 » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:08 AM UTC

reillyse wrote: post #28

pc86 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this is accurate (for "globo-gyms" like Anytime or PF, not gyms that actually having training components and charge $150-250/mo), that doesn't explain why it made its way into legislation. Legislators don't care about business models and let's be honest most of them aren't smart enough to understand it even if they did care.

Obviously someone has bribed the lawmakers for that exemption. Simple.

It's not obvious unless you're more interested in scoring political points online than actually figuring it out. Gyms don't have a huge lobbying presence. I used to live in Pennsylvania and I used to work very close to the lobbying industry. Nobody from Planet Fitness or any fitness-related association is walking around the halls of the capitol twisting arms.

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#42

Post by hn_user2 » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:08 AM UTC

zja wrote: post #19

Not to excuse companies that make you jump through hoops to unsubscribe, but is there any reason you can't just call your credit card/bank and cut off transactions to a company that's giving you a hard time? I've heard horror stories about people trying to cancel gym memberships, and wondered why they don't just stop paying, and let the gym figure it out.

That stops the payment from happening. But it does not stop your contractual obligation to pay.

So it really depends on the business and how much information they have about you, and if they are dirty enough to send you to collections for it.

A gym is likely going to send you to collections. An online SaaS is more likely to just cut you off and cancel the account.

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#43

Post by incompleteCode » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:09 AM UTC

izzydata wrote: post #39

zja wrote: post #19

Not to excuse companies that make you jump through hoops to unsubscribe, but is there any reason you can't just call your credit card/bank and cut off transactions to a company that's giving you a hard time? I've heard horror stories about people trying to cancel gym memberships, and wondered why they don't just stop paying, and let the gym figure it out.

I remember seeing a website here that let you create prepaid cards that you could use for things like this. I'm not sure if you were able to refill the balance on them though, but it would be convenient to be able to just let them attempt to charge an empty debit card.

https://privacy.com - I don't use them as often as I should, but they do a great job.

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#44

Post by kornhole » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:11 AM UTC

izzydata wrote: post #39

zja wrote: post #19

Not to excuse companies that make you jump through hoops to unsubscribe, but is there any reason you can't just call your credit card/bank and cut off transactions to a company that's giving you a hard time? I've heard horror stories about people trying to cancel gym memberships, and wondered why they don't just stop paying, and let the gym figure it out.

I remember seeing a website here that let you create prepaid cards that you could use for things like this. I'm not sure if you were able to refill the balance on them though, but it would be convenient to be able to just let them attempt to charge an empty debit card.

I use virtual cards from privacy.com for just about everything I buy online. It allows you to set limits, cancel with a click, and be anonymous by giving the vendor any name and address you want. It is a good service, but I wonder if any competing services exist.

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#45

Post by m463 » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:11 AM UTC

conroy wrote: post #6

Surprisingly, the proposed bill exempts gyms and health clubs, which have some of the worst cancellation policies.

I remember cancelling a membership to a health club years back could not be done over the phone, it required a registered letter to the main office.

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#46

Post by tshaddox » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:11 AM UTC

zja wrote: post #19

Not to excuse companies that make you jump through hoops to unsubscribe, but is there any reason you can't just call your credit card/bank and cut off transactions to a company that's giving you a hard time? I've heard horror stories about people trying to cancel gym memberships, and wondered why they don't just stop paying, and let the gym figure it out.

As far as I know, this generally doesn't work. A few years ago I attempted to cancel a gym membership, and after 15 minutes on hold on the phone I hung up and tried looking into banning a certain transaction or vendor from making another transaction. As best I could tell with my bank at the time (Bank of America), there is absolutely no mechanism to do this. The only similar thing they provide is contesting transactions, but that's only appropriate in the event of fraudulent transactions (which a recurring gym membership arguably is not).

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#47

Post by kingcharles » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:12 AM UTC

zja wrote: post #19

Not to excuse companies that make you jump through hoops to unsubscribe, but is there any reason you can't just call your credit card/bank and cut off transactions to a company that's giving you a hard time? I've heard horror stories about people trying to cancel gym memberships, and wondered why they don't just stop paying, and let the gym figure it out.

LOL. I called my bank once to dispute a transaction and they terminated my account as it was easier to them than dealing with the support issue.

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#48

Post by m463 » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:12 AM UTC

LegitShady wrote: post #23

Victerius wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During the pandemic, I built a home gym in a spare space at home for a couple hundred dollars. I'm never paying for a gym again.

during the pandemic a couple hundred dollars wouldn't even buy me enough weights for a bench press, let alone the rest of the necessary equipment.

I was going to say there is always used gym equipment available (used a handful of times), but then I never tested the market in the middle of the pandemic.

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#49

Post by dvtrn » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:12 AM UTC

LegitShady wrote: post #22

QuikAccount wrote: post #4

Fully in favor of this. I recently had to cancel a subscription that had no "cancel subscription" button and instead forced you to contact customer service so they could try to sell you on discounts and etc. No, just let me cancel and get on with my day. Unfortunately, it seems health clubs(and I assume gyms?) are exempt from this when they are like 80% of the problem.

I've had issues with gyms and also a cable internet provider where the employees say they've processed your cancellation but I found later that for some reason it hadn't worked and I was still subscribed. A cable provider sent me a bill for $300 of equipment I had returned three months earlier and I was only lucky I kept the receipt from returning the equipment that I could prove I had done it. Since the items had be…

I used to have a gym membership that I only discovered later on could be canceled by mailing a letter to their HQ four states away.

Not an email. Not a phone call to some retention agent in a call center. A signed letter via postage.

From the tales I've read in my local city sub, I got lucky in that the billings did in fact stop quickly; others have had resort to threats of legal action after numerous letters, some even sent via certified mail to get the charges to stop.

Re: ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation introduced in Pennsylvania

#50

Post by steanne » Mon, Apr 18, 2022, 3:12 AM UTC

conroy wrote: post #6

Surprisingly, the proposed bill exempts gyms and health clubs, which have some of the worst cancellation policies.

as i recall pennsylvania already has some protections against gyms. they're probably just not doubling up.

edit: Pennsylvania Health Club Act