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Canceling Subscriptions Should Be As Easy As Signing Up, Newly Proposed federal Rule Says (go.com) 52
In an effort to beef up protections for consumers against corporations, the Biden administration on Monday announced a handful of policies to crack down on "headaches and hassles that waste Americans' time and money." From a report: Through the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the administration will ask companies to make it as easy to cancel subscriptions and memberships as it is to sign up for them, and through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new rule will require companies to let customers cut through automated customer service "doom loops" by pressing a single button to reach a real person.
"For a lot of services, it takes one or two clicks on your phone to sign up. It should take one or two clicks on your phone to end the service," White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden said on a call with reporters to discuss the new policies. Consumers could see the new rule applied to gym memberships or subscriptions with phone and internet companies. The administration will also call on health insurance companies to allow claims to be submitted online, rather than requiring insured customers to print out and mail forms in for coverage.
"For a lot of services, it takes one or two clicks on your phone to sign up. It should take one or two clicks on your phone to end the service," White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden said on a call with reporters to discuss the new policies. Consumers could see the new rule applied to gym memberships or subscriptions with phone and internet companies. The administration will also call on health insurance companies to allow claims to be submitted online, rather than requiring insured customers to print out and mail forms in for coverage.
I can't seem to find the cancel button (Score:1)
for my Slashdot subscription! When oh when will it end???
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At our age, none of us here on Slashdot remember the obscure method that we used to sign up in the first place. I think it was something involving fur and stone knives, with some whistling into modems.
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At our age, none of us here on Slashdot remember the obscure method that we used to sign up in the first place. I think it was something involving fur and stone knives, with some whistling into modems.
I got my first ADSL connection in 1997 so no whistling into modems was required. It was 2.2mbps down / 1.1mbps up, a real ADSL using a Nortel proprietary protocol back then. I was part of a team testing the service. When it became widely available to everybody, it was DSL (no "A") and an inferior performing product with connections wrapped in PPPOE and other BS like that. That first ADSL was really nice although.
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Signing up was for suckers, so I held out for several months until the 5-digit UIDs. They punished me later by only inviting the 4-digits to the anniversary party.
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I didn't post for ages, except anonymously, like a coward. I was still naively assuming USENET would last forever.
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Signing up was for suckers, so I held out for several months until the 5-digit UIDs. They punished me later by only inviting the 4-digits to the anniversary party.
[Holds fingers apart] Missed it by *this* much.
[Holds hands apart] Would you believe... this much?
Re: I can't seem to find the cancel button (Score:1)
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Don't forget: You're here forever.
Outback Steakhouse v. Rules (Score:2, Insightful)
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[Insert Worlds smallest violin]
Re: Outback Steakhouse v. Rules (Score:2)
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Government does something pro-consumer (Score:4, Insightful)
You might want to hold off the celebration . . . (Score:2)
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It's an election year, and the Democrats are desperate. This is nothing more than empty virtue signaling to garner votes from the gullible. If it even goes into effect, it will be challenged until it's dead.
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Apparently, some people do, in fact, need to have it explained to them.
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I mean, this is how it works? I vote for people who do things I agree with.
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Perhaps it's a bit subtle for you, but there is an important difference between "I vote for people who do things I agree with" and "I vote how I'm paid to vote."
And I know which is SOP in California politics.
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Tit for tat. The Democrats set the rules, of course the Republicans are going to play the same game.
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This needs celebration.
Don't worry, Trump will fix this. Can't have consumer business getting in the way of profit.
data brokers (Score:5, Insightful)
Now do data brokers. It should be as easy to remove my information as it was to get snarfed, by doing nothing at all.
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Re: data brokers (Score:2)
...and once my data is removed, I can sign up for another 30 day free trial and never pay a penny for the service. Great!
FTC Complaints (Score:5, Interesting)
Is the FTC going to make it easier to submit a complaint on their website? Because right now submitting a complaint to the FTC is more complicated than unsubscribing from Amazon.
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pre-cancel (Score:4, Insightful)
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Worst-case scenario if you cancel something accidentally is... you sign up again using the same process you've already figured out how to do. Worst-case if you can't cancel something is you lose money for something you don't want, which is effectively theft. Maybe all of this stuff should auto-cancel if you don't overtly agree to renew once a year. Sure, maybe you suddenly lose your Internet
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Worst-case scenario if you cancel something accidentally is... you sign up again using the same process you've already figured out how to do.
Unless you were subscribed to something that's no longer available (which happens when companies merge), or had a deal that's no longer available (which happens with special deals to get new subscribers) or had grandfathered prices (which is common with cell phone plans).
Not so simple as you imagine.
(But it should take no more than three mouse clicks to cancel an account. 1. "My Account" link on every page on the site. 2. "Cancel subscription" link on the Account page. 3. Confirm cancellation. And the fines
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Then they'll get complaints about accidentally canceling services they can't sign up for again because the special deal is gone.
(But I largely agree with you.)
....also for things like receipts (Score:2)
I keep getting nearly daily email receipts from "Superdrug Stores" - someone is using my email address, and my spam folder is now 80% these receipts.
There's an 'unsubscribe' button which I've hit a number of times, but apparently that doesn't work for their receipts.
These systems need a little more sophistication.
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Clicking links from e-mails.... I see the problem here....
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No, it's literally a receipt.
I have their partial CC info, what they bought, etc..
Each one is different.
Why would someone spam me with receipts for a months on end? It would be a bit of an interesting strategy, but highly unlikely this is anything but someone who gave a business the wrong email address and a business with a poor email validation system.
(And I haven't been getting any other spam.)
Typical government Rube-Goldberg (Score:2)
From NBC ...
The Biden Administration has unveiled a new, multi-agency regulatory initiative to target corporate practices that officials claim are designed to waste consumers’ time and needlessly burden them with red tape, in order to maximize profits.
Congress(or the FTC) can mandate that every subscription app have an unsubscribe button. That and a confirmation email. Done
Sirius XM, this is why you don't have a customer. (Score:2)
Sure you retain a few people, but you also never even see many other potential customers that do see how you treat existing customers.
Better idea... (Score:3)
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This is how I do it.
I use PayPal for all the recurring subscriptions that allow PP (almost everyone has a "Pay with PayPal" option, these days). They make it really simple to cancel the recurring subscription agreement.
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Incumbents (Score:2)
Press zero for an operator... (Score:3)
Through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new rule will require companies to let customers cut through automated customer service "doom loops" by pressing a single button to reach a real person.
"Hello and thank you for calling National Telecom, an award winning provider of communication services. Please listen carefully to the following menu options..."
presses zero
"You have requested to speak with a customer service representative. Due to high call volumes the next representative should be available in three-hundred and forty-six minutes. You call is very important to us, please continue to hold to maintain your place within the priority sequence...."
Because we all know they'll hire like 5 kids who work part time, half of whom have been trained to immediately hang up before saying a word to try and force you to use the "doom loop", and not a single one can do anything to help you without first speaking to their manager for approval. If they're gonna make this a rule they gotta give it teeth or companies will do less than the bare minimum out of spite.
Ever try to cancel SiriusXM? (Score:2)
You can sign up with a click, but to cancel you need to call in and wait, and wait. Hulu and Netflix make it pretty easy. But things like your cellphone, I think I want that to be difficult to cancel.