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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

#661

Post by chrsig »

rootusrootus wrote: post #619
chrsig wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Many of us are trying to do exactly that. Can you explain how smugly proclaiming "see how we are better than you!?" furthers the conversation? It is not a constructive comment, it does not offer any meaningful insight to how we might improve the US. It's just divisive.

Showcasing a better system that the US could emulate is a great way to offer insight into how the US could improve.

Interpreting it as "See how we are better than you!?" -- literally no one has said this. Interpreting it like that is just putting insecurity on display.

Given the choice of two reactions:

- "Geez, that system does sound better than what we've got going on here, we should consider adopting it"

and

- "I get it, you think you're better than us! stop being so divisive!"

...which do you think would lead to positive change? which do you think is a more fair interpretation of what the OP actually said?

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

#662

Post by js2 »

jedberg wrote: post #482
Humdeee wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hold on here, does that mean that Cancel button only appears based on location?

I believe for the New York Times it’s based on billing address. So if you change your billing address to California you should get the cancel button.

I most recently cancelled my NYT sub a couple months ago. I was able to do so w/o interacting with anyone. I'm in NC.

I think they've just finally relented on forcing you to interact with a human.

They have also allowed me to keep reading past my subscription termination point, but they keep asking me to re-subscribe. At some point, I assume I'll start getting blocked entirely.

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

#663

Post by throw10920 »

vaidhy wrote: post #596

Great job FTC/Lima. We need it and you delivered. On a separate note. Why is it really hard for HN community to make a compliment? Yes, some companies will try to skirt around. But most of us seem to agree this is a step in the right direction and being hopeful is nice.

> On a separate note. Why is it really hard for HN community to make a compliment?

You can find a bunch of compliments in this thread, and others. Don't portray the "HN community" as a monolithic entity with a single will. It's not. And trying to guilt-trip the community into making compliments is bad form, really annoying, boring to read, and goes against the spirit of intellectual curiosity.

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

#664

Post by daedalus_f »

theK wrote: post #623
antasvara wrote: post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Thats changed then - several years ago they gave me a right dance involving phone calls and emails. Lost me as a customer for good.

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

#665

Post by chrsig »

wussboy wrote: post #629
chrsig wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Can you expand? I don't understand what you're trying to communicate.

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

#667

Post by GloriousKoji »

ww520 wrote: post #607
derbOac wrote: post #591

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one reason I miss one-time credit card numbers. My main credit card used to allow you to generate one-time numbers. You could control the limit on the numbers, how long they would last, you could edit this, and so forth and so on. I loved it because you could give a different unique card number to each site, that would self-destruct after a specified amount of time. It was great for stuff like this because if…

Citi and Capitol One have the virtual credit card feature.

While I'm super glad that Citi added the Virtual Account Number feature back to their credit cards, I'm puzzled by the fact that the virtual credit card numbers can no longer have an associated total spending limit. Now it's a daily spending limit which is fairly useless.

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

#668

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#669

Post by js2 »

waylandsmithers wrote: post #535
jedberg wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe for the New York Times it’s based on billing address. So if you change your billing address to California you should get the cancel button.

Wow. Maybe I'll actually try this. I've wanted to subscribe at various points but knew it would be basically impossible to cancel so never bothered

I've subscribed and cancelled the NYT several times over the years. Cancelling has never been "basically impossible." At worst, I've had to do an online chat and say "please cancel" three times that took 5 minutes of my time.

Most recently (a couple months ago), I was able to cancel online w/o having to interact with a human at all.

The NYT is a really mixed bag and regularly infuriates me, but it also has some columnists I really like, and occasionally has some terrific long form reporting. Hence why I've subscribed and cancelled so many times.

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

#670

Post by t0mas88 »

hnarn wrote: post #78
t0mas88 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's illegal in Europe. You have to be able to cancel via the same means as you signed up. So if you can signup online then you must be able to cancel online.

Source?

Here is the Dutch implementation, because it's the first I could find in English: https://business.gov.nl/regulation/automatic-renewal-subscri... As is says there "Consumers must be able to cancel their agreement in exactly the same way as they signed up for them."

It's based on an EU directive, but a recent one so not all countries have it live yet. More details on the EU directive and the German implementation starting next year: https://www.mofo.com/resources/insights/211006-new-two-click...

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