SaysWho? Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Canceling subscriptions should be as easy as signing up, newly proposed federal rule says - ABC News ABCNEWS.GO.COM Canceling subscriptions should be as easy as signing up, new federal rule says. Quote 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. Quote As part of an agenda centered around "lowering costs," the administration has tried to improve voter confidence in the economy through consistent but piecemeal efforts to bring down daily costs, from lowering prescription drug prices to canceling student loan debt. Quote Other efforts by the Biden administration to reduce daily bills and offset higher prices include targeting junk fees tacked onto tickets and hotel costs, requiring airlines to automatically refund passengers for delayed flights, and banning medical debts from credit reports. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarSolo Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Good, I’m still losing money on an Adobe Stock subscription I can’t cancel because they’ll charge me a cancellation fee that covers the rest of the subscription. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spawn_of_Apathy Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 So theyre going to have cancel buttons all over the screen? lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marioandsonic Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Fitness Planet in panic mode right now 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Vic20 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Cool, now do linked in! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littleronin Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 AOL is dreading this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepee Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Surely this is a huge loss for the dating site industry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 13 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said: Cool, now do linked in! Hibernate your account then unhibernate 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkStar189 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 I signed up for a Wired subscription a few years back and went through hell trying to cancel that. Canceled on the website 3 times and was still getting collection notices. Emailed customer service twice. It took 3 phone calls to finally get them to leave me alone. 3 separate calls each time the person saying “you’re all good now, we canceled your subscription”, but they didn’t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Wait did I become president?! I've been saying this for years! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepee Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 23 minutes ago, Xbob42 said: Wait did I become president?! I've been saying this for years! waiting for that pge breakup still man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 3 minutes ago, stepee said: waiting for that pge breakup still man That's on hold until they stop giving me $6 million per month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepee Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Just now, Xbob42 said: That's on hold until they stop giving me $6 million per month. Okay but if you don’t do within the year I’m going to make you watch this Spongebob movie on netflix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 sounds like demonrat communism to me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 5 minutes ago, Jason said: sounds like demonrat communism to me oh no cAnCeL cUlTuRe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Yes! Such a good, common sense rule to implement. That line in the article in the OP about what industries this could apply to makes me wonder what exactly the proposed rule says, but it's always too difficult to find the exact rules and major news orgs apparently have less of a need to link primary sources than my high school English teachers would like. Here's the FTC notice of rulemaking from March, and here's the actual rule that they were seeking feedback on. Here's the section on what is exempt: Quote Exempted Activities: The Commission seeks comment on whether the Rule should exempt any entities or activities that are otherwise subject to the Commission's authority under the FTC Act. In the comments, various interests, such as energy sellers and service contract providers, urged the Commission to exempt their industries. They argued existing state licensing and other requirements that already apply to their activities adequately address the problems noted above and further rules would only interfere with the existing regulatory structure. They note that some state laws (e.g., California) contain exemptions for activities such as service contract sellers and administrators, as well as state public utility commission licensees. Basically, as the rule was written to start, no one is exempt, but we'll have to wait and see what the final rule looks like after the public comment period. I don't really mind local power utilities being exempt from this, but if ISPs or cable companies get exemptions I'll be unhappy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Love it but it won’t stand up to judicial scrutiny with the end of Chevron 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 There was something recently I was looking up the cancellation method on. I forgot what it was but it was so complicated I ended up not subscribing in the first place because I didn't want to bother with trying to cancel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 I’ve seen republicans argue against awesome things like this with “there’s more important things a president should worry about!” which is so dumb that it hurts my very soul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzzzle Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 I still remember having a gym membership that required that I cancel in person, which would have cost me about $600 in plane tickets just to cancel. I got a new debit card to get away from it AND I STILL GOT CHARGED. I had some words with my rep at the bank, seeing as clearly they gave my fucking info to a third party vendor without my permission. I could have sued them into oblivion for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brick Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 10 hours ago, SuperSpreader said: oh no cAnCeL cUlTuRe Millennials are trying to cancel cancelling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 11 hours ago, Fizzzzle said: I still remember having a gym membership that required that I cancel in person, which would have cost me about $600 in plane tickets just to cancel. I got a new debit card to get away from it AND I STILL GOT CHARGED. I had some words with my rep at the bank, seeing as clearly they gave my fucking info to a third party vendor without my permission. I could have sued them into oblivion for that. If you mean you just had the same bank generate you a new card with a new number, gyms get marked as recurring charges and it's normal for banks to allow those charges through after getting a new card number so you don't have to go through updating all your accounts with the new card number if it gets lost/stolen. That's also not a great way to deal with getting out of a gym membership because they'll just send you to collections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzzzle Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 1 hour ago, Jason said: they'll just send you to collections. pretty sure that was made illegal a few years ago, at least in oregon and california. at the very least they can't force you to cancel in person anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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