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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

#621

Post by Spivak »

nickpp wrote: post #398
linspace wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, lucky you. I read your comment on my phone and came to my desktop to type comfortably my rant. Have you ever tried to cancel a loan? The following story may or not apply to you. It happened in a small country called Spain: Some time ago I bought a car. They offer you a very nice discount if you, instead of paying upfront, finance the purchase. Why? I asked the seller, it makes no sense. He gave me a list of more…

You took a loan and "the draconian interest rate" was a surprise ?! I would've thought that was the most important factor.

You're missing the "car dealership game" that has to be played sometimes. Lots of places will offer you a cash discount and/or 0% interest if you finance with them. They get cash kickbacks and sometimes a cut of the interest.

Now you, the savvy customer, see an opportunity here. You were going to buy the car in cash and so there's an obvious play; buy the car, take the financing, and then immediately pay off the loan (or when the 0% interest expires). It's a win-win right? Not for the bank unfortunately which is why nowadays there are early payoff fees and dealerships will try to make it annoying to pay them. Terrible terrible incentives but the discount can be worth the headache -- the discount is almost always more than the early payoff fee.

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

#622

Post by msravi »

Meanwhile in India, The Reserve Bank rolled out a new policy (from Oct-1 this year) for recurring transactions on credit cards that requires the cardholder to provide an "e-mandate" for subscriptions with an additional factor of authentication (AFA). The e-mandate can be withdrawn at any time by the cardholder, giving them control of their subscriptions.

https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=1166...

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

#623

Post by theK »

antasvara wrote: post #600
marginalia_nu wrote: post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to delete my Spotify account (in Sweden). Not just cancel, but delete because they inexplicably put my profile on the Internet in full display and I was not even a little bit okay with that. I think 7 different "yes I'm really sure, yes despite the sad violin music and yes despite the images of sad puppies", a support ticket, several emails going back and forth confirming I'm really sure, and then a few more…

I think the general idea is that if they make it difficult enough, some people might just decide that it's not worth canceling. I'm sure there's some metric that says most people canceling a subscription are unlikely to resubscribe, so making it difficult to do so probably increases the likelihood of keeping you by some small percentage, offsetting your likelihood of coming back. The NY Times is a great and slimy exa…

I hate so many companies just because of these “make it difficult” policies… it’s just disgusting. NYT did it to me as well, they will never see a penny from me again. Economist? It was just clicking around in the site! I unsubscribed and resubed from them multiple times and am a happy subscriber right now as well!

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

#624

Post by dgellow »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #564
eckesicle wrote: post #502

Meanwhile in Scandinavia: You are legally entitled to unsubscribe from any contract in any way that is most comfortable to you. [0] For example, you can: * send them a letter * send them an email * call them and tell anyone who picks up the phone * write it on a napkin and hand it to an employee All are equally legit and legally binding. Companies obviously do not want to deal with the manual overhead, so services ty…

I tried to delete my Spotify account (in Sweden). Not just cancel, but delete because they inexplicably put my profile on the Internet in full display and I was not even a little bit okay with that. I think 7 different "yes I'm really sure, yes despite the sad violin music and yes despite the images of sad puppies", a support ticket, several emails going back and forth confirming I'm really sure, and then a few more…

Send an email mentioning you want to delete your accounts and all your personal information from their system, according to GDPR. They have 30 days to comply.

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

#625

Post by sam0x17 »

rootusrootus wrote: post #561
aeternum wrote: post #546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems really annoying. You can unsubscribe to most things in writing as well in the US. The issue is that it takes only a misclick to subscribe, whereas writing and mailing a letter or getting a napkin and travelling to the company's HQ takes considerably more effort (few companies have humans answer the phone). Seems that Scandinavia needs to change their laws if the goal is to make it easy for the consumer.

> This seems really annoying. The most annoying part is that in any thread like this the top comment invariably ends up being some smug observation that is clearly better than the US.

Comments like that though are really just a viable solution in disguise -- make the U.S. more like said country

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

#626

Post by volgo »

throw10920 wrote: post #525
volgo wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I always enter a fake address in CA :)

That doesn't work if they use your billing address, unless your billing address is in CA, in which case you're probably located there anyway.

You can use Privacy.com to generate a one-time use credit card number that lets you use any fake address you want. It will charge properly and you can set limit

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

#627

Post by adrr »

RankingMember wrote: post #442
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This behavior is everywhere in the gym industry. It is so bad that the last time I joined a gym, I paid for a year up front with a physical check. I told them i don’t have credit or debit cards (lie) and can only pay by check. At the end of the year, I walked away and never got any letters about paying a renewal or anything.

This is the only way to do gym memberships with peace of mind right now. Gym membership cancellation practices are in desperate need of regulation.

I used to buy prepaid memberships to 24 hour fitness from Costco. Same with magazines like economist , just bought a prepaid digit subscription. Most places sell prepaid memberships because of the gifting aspect.

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

#628

Post by secondaryacct »

eckesicle wrote: post #502

Meanwhile in Scandinavia: You are legally entitled to unsubscribe from any contract in any way that is most comfortable to you. [0] For example, you can: * send them a letter * send them an email * call them and tell anyone who picks up the phone * write it on a napkin and hand it to an employee All are equally legit and legally binding. Companies obviously do not want to deal with the manual overhead, so services ty…

It's nice. I m French living in Hong Kong, and in both I sometimes have to cancel my credit card to get rid of newspaper subscription.

And often, the more the newspaper whines about freedom of the press the harder it is to get rid of their legal warning that I must pay !!! And there was no contract limit during the 1-click 5 minutes sub !!! Mediapart in France was so borderline writing me every week after I had to cancel my second credit card, being unable to send french snail mail from France, the only way they accept ! The first card was for LeMonde.

Totally made me hate the militant press, and in BOTH places, it's really insane. Like they treat their readers way worse than the government treat them, and yes, even in Hong Kong :(

At least NYT didnt threaten me legally and took a simple email. I was so stressed when I cancelled, there was again no frigging button. I will never again sub to newspaper it's just too much worry you ll have a forever parasitic CC bill until you force cancel the CC :(

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

#629

Post by wussboy »

chrsig wrote: post #569
rootusrootus wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This seems really annoying. The most annoying part is that in any thread like this the top comment invariably ends up being some smug observation that is clearly better than the US.

The solution to this is to help the US rise to the occasion, not complain about it on the internet.

Is it? We reject this logic in other areas (sexual assault comes to mind). Why is it valid here?

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

#630

Post by Zanni »

antasvara wrote: post #600
marginalia_nu wrote: post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to delete my Spotify account (in Sweden). Not just cancel, but delete because they inexplicably put my profile on the Internet in full display and I was not even a little bit okay with that. I think 7 different "yes I'm really sure, yes despite the sad violin music and yes despite the images of sad puppies", a support ticket, several emails going back and forth confirming I'm really sure, and then a few more…

I think the general idea is that if they make it difficult enough, some people might just decide that it's not worth canceling. I'm sure there's some metric that says most people canceling a subscription are unlikely to resubscribe, so making it difficult to do so probably increases the likelihood of keeping you by some small percentage, offsetting your likelihood of coming back. The NY Times is a great and slimy exa…

I'm sure it improves retention, but it also negatively affects their subscription rate (probably not as much or they wouldn't do it). The primary reason that I won't subscribe to the NYT is their cancelation policy. Barriers to exit are barriers to entry.
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