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Another consumer first law I would like to see is that if a service detects you haven’t used it in the previous period, they refund your subscription fee. Ther

Another consumer first law I would like to see is that if a service detects you haven’t used it in the previous period, they refund your subscription fee. There is so much wasted money on zombie subscriptions that people forget about.

matte_black 8y ago
It’s not wasted, the money goes to the business.
dexterdog 8y ago
Doesn't work for services like Dropbox where they are giving you non refundable goods.
Cyphase 8y ago
I understand where you're coming from (though I would never legislate it), but compare it to insurance. Should your car insurance company have to refund your premiums if you don't "use" their service in some time period, i.e. you don't file a claim? Should a life insurance company return all your premiums if you don't die during the covered term? I'm going to say no. In the case of insurance, you're paying for someone else to take on a risk that you either can't afford to take on, or that it doesn't make financial sense for you to take on. In the case of a streaming subscription (for example), you're paying for the ability to, at any moment, start streaming whatever content the service is making available. Even if you never use that ability within a given month, you still had the option, and that's what you were paying for. In fact, you could frame that this way: you're paying to remove the "risk" that you'll want to stream something at some point and won't be able to because you don't have an active subscription. And on a more personal level, I don't understand why people can't just manage their subscriptions better. Dark patterns that make canceling subscriptions difficult are one thing, but if a service makes it easy for you to cancel, and you just haven't done it, that's on you. That said, if a service wants to refund subscribers for unused service periods, that would be a great feature. Or, as a middle ground, send an email saying, "You haven't logged in in X months; do you want to cancel your subscription?" X could even be configurable, and cancellation could be automatic, e.g. cancel the subscription if the user hasn't logged in for 3 months.
- ec109685 8y ago
  The email with an easy action to take would be a good compromise. Insurance’s value is that any moment they are willing to pay out. With subscription services, if you only use them occasionally, the smart thing is to let them expire and then resubscrive when you need their services. However the hassle in subscribing and unsubscribing is too high to make practical.
Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
I knew a guy that bought World of Warcraft and chose the six-month subscription. He played for about 3 months, then stopped and forgot about it and didn't cancel his subscription. Three months later, he got charged the $78 for another six months. He called support and they refused to refund his money even though he wasn't playing anymore. Maybe next time he'll listen when I tell him to only buy 1 month at a time, especially on something he's not sure he'll enjoy.
- ghettoimp 8y ago
  Sounds like a perfect opportunity to call his credit card company and start a charge-back.

matte_black 8y ago

It’s not wasted, the money goes to the business.

dexterdog 8y ago

Doesn't work for services like Dropbox where they are giving you non refundable goods.

Cyphase 8y ago

I understand where you're coming from (though I would never legislate it), but compare it to insurance. Should your car insurance company have to refund your premiums if you don't "use" their service in some time period, i.e. you don't file a claim? Should a life insurance company return all your premiums if you don't die during the covered term? I'm going to say no. In the case of insurance, you're paying for someone else to take on a risk that you either can't afford to take on, or that it doesn't make financial sense for you to take on. In the case of a streaming subscription (for example), you're paying for the ability to, at any moment, start streaming whatever content the service is making available. Even if you never use that ability within a given month, you still had the option, and that's what you were paying for. In fact, you could frame that this way: you're paying to remove the "risk" that you'll want to stream something at some point and won't be able to because you don't have an active subscription. And on a more personal level, I don't understand why people can't just manage their subscriptions better. Dark patterns that make canceling subscriptions difficult are one thing, but if a service makes it easy for you to cancel, and you just haven't done it, that's on you. That said, if a service wants to refund subscribers for unused service periods, that would be a great feature. Or, as a middle ground, send an email saying, "You haven't logged in in X months; do you want to cancel your subscription?" X could even be configurable, and cancellation could be automatic, e.g. cancel the subscription if the user hasn't logged in for 3 months.

ec109685 8y ago
The email with an easy action to take would be a good compromise. Insurance’s value is that any moment they are willing to pay out. With subscription services, if you only use them occasionally, the smart thing is to let them expire and then resubscrive when you need their services. However the hassle in subscribing and unsubscribing is too high to make practical.

Sohcahtoa82 8y ago

I knew a guy that bought World of Warcraft and chose the six-month subscription. He played for about 3 months, then stopped and forgot about it and didn't cancel his subscription. Three months later, he got charged the $78 for another six months. He called support and they refused to refund his money even though he wasn't playing anymore. Maybe next time he'll listen when I tell him to only buy 1 month at a time, especially on something he's not sure he'll enjoy.

ghettoimp 8y ago
Sounds like a perfect opportunity to call his credit card company and start a charge-back.