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Actually we have such a law in the EU. Not sure what it's called, but I'm sure it exists. I believe the wording to be something like it has to be possible to c
by adamtulinius 6y ago
Actually we have such a law in the EU. Not sure what it's called, but I'm sure it exists.
I believe the wording to be something like it has to be possible to cancel in a similar way you signed up.
- elcomet 6y agoIf it exists, it is not followed. In France, Le Monde (most famous daily newspaper) requires you to send a paper mail (and not a regular mail, but a registered mail, which costs around 5-10€) to cancel your subscription. Even if you subscribed on the website, for a 100% online subscription. It's really shady.
- erk__ 6y agoIt may not be followed in every country, but at least in Denmark the "forbrugerombudsmanden" slams down on things like that, I think that they recently sent out a message that online services should be able to be unsubscribed online as well.
- martin_bech 6y agoAlso that you should sent out an option to cancel, before each withdraw for the membership.
- imafish 6y agoReally? Not done by any of the Danish services I subscribe to
- t0mas88 6y agoThat's illegal in the EU. So you could just send them a cancellation email and stop paying.
- KMnO4 6y agoThat’s the problem with credit cards. Once they have your number, it’s very difficult to “stop paying”.
- war1025 6y agoDo people really have the same credit card number for that long? I feel like every year I end up with a new card for one reason or another and suddenly I have to track down all the places that can no longer process my payments. I learned that you can request a replacement card with the same number, which I was initially very excited about. But when you get the new card it has a different expiration date, so it still needs to be updated most places.
- kevinmchugh 6y agoThere's a process for some card providers by which merchants can automatically update their card details for recurring purchases. Visa calls it Account Updater and at least Braintree has had support for it for over a decade.
- war1025 6y agoWell that would be super convenient for me. At this point I'm just slowly transitioning to always using my checking account number directly for payment since that is stable.
- Tagbert 6y agoThe risk with that is you have no ability to contest a charge. With a credit card, you can contest and the card issuer will do a chargeback to return the funds.
- perl4ever 6y agoIn my (recent) experience, periodic charges are automatically applied to a new card, even if it has a new number. For your convenience, if you forgot to update your payment info...
- kappuchino 6y agoAs for media companies with cheap offers and shady cancelation tactics, I discovered the following: I send them a cancelation by eMail citing a german court ruling that states (roughly) "If you subscribe electronically, you must be able to unsubscribe electronically". I additionally cc one or two journalists writing about consumer issues (sometimes on cancelation oh joy) on the topics from that exact media. Works every time. And if you want to rub salt in the wound, request a detailed gdpr information about you and your account. gdpr even applies if it is not a european country based media company.
- sjwright 6y agoThe GDPR does apply to foreign companies that trade within the EU but does not (because it cannot) apply outside of the EU’s jurisdiction.
- kuschku 6y agoThe GDPR also applies to non-EU companies in non-EU countries targeting EU nationals, although it can not be directly enforced (yet).
- sjwright 6y agoOnly if there’s a clear link to the EU. Not refusing to sell to EU residents isn’t sufficient to show targeting—but offering Euro pricing or Swedish language options might be. And at the end of the day, all law fits into the cross-section of jurisdiction and motivation. If you’re a Singaporean company offering global services, there’s no jurisdiction and (unless your activities are especially egregious) no prospect of motivation.
- hyperman1 6y agoWhich basically means that if the foreign company tries to collect, sends to an EU collection agency, .... they come in jurisdiction. So they can only bark but not bite.
- kappuchino 6y ago
- rypskar 6y agoI had a case with another company. They required a letter to cancel, so I sent an email. Got automated reply that they have received it and later an email that they required a letter. I sent back an email pointing to the law. After some weeks I got a claim from a debt collection agency. I sent the email history to the agency, it did take less than 1 hour before they answered that all claims where dropped since it wasn't a legal claim
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Denvercoder9 6y agoLet them come after you. Just cancel the service in the same way you signed up (send an e-mail if you've signed up online), and then stop paying them (or block the direct debits, or reverse the credit card charges). I haven't had any company that actually bothered to send it to collections (or even sue me). Only once I got a mail that I hadn't payed, and when I replied with the cancellation e-mail attached, they said "oh, ok" and never bothered me again.
- pm3003 6y agoI've had a German collection come after me for 2 years with payment notices. I had unsubscribed by mail (which they got) and some email. They stopped last year after I wrote to them I considered I didn't own anything (a human probably read the file and dropped it).
- lucasverra 6y agoyeah, when i saw that i got so mad that I created a virtual credit card, changed the billing method, and then deleted the card. You can not imagine the big smile on my face when i received the email "we cannot charge you".... Reaaaaaally big smile on my face
- danlugo92 6y agoHow can i create such a virtual card?
- mathewsanders 6y agoThere a few options for virtual cards. Ive been using https://privacy.com/ https://privacy.com/. I’ve been using this not only for subscriptions, but also when I’m making an online purchase at a store that I think may not have the best security in place.
- Reason077 6y ago> "In France, Le Monde (most famous daily newspaper) requires you to send a paper mail (and not a regular mail, but a registered mail, which costs around 5-10€) to cancel your subscription." What is it with French companies? BlueCity, the UK arm of the French "Autolib" car sharing service, had this same ridiculous "send us a letter in the post to cancel" policy. Since they charged to a credit card rather than use direct debit like most UK companies would, you couldn't easily cancel the payments through your bank either. Since I'm quite lazy I never got around to sending them the letter and the £5/month continued (and I did use the service, occasionally). Finally a few months ago they went out of business and the charges stopped.
- gryn 6y agoYes a lot of French companies do this, I signed up for gym membership at fitness park on the internet, they had the same behavior.
- virgilp 6y agoCan you not call the bank to block the card on account of fraud and get a new one? The subsequent payments would surely be declined...
- elcomet 6y agoIt's quite a hassle, you don't have your card for a few days..
- heavenlyblue 6y agoIn the UK, last time I did this my bank themselves have shared the updated details with which they could charge me again.
- virgilp 6y agoUgh, that sucks. I've changed banks for less.
- secfirstmd 6y agoI think you might mean the GDPR interpretation about signing up online meaning you should be able to access, modify, remove online etc.
- g_p 6y agoThere is a similar sounding provision in GDPR, which requires that it is as straightforward to withdraw consent as it is to grant it (i.e. it must be possible through the same procedure, so preventing postal letters being sent to a dedicated address). Not sure if there's a similar provision for cancelling paid services, but potentially if the service relies on consent for data processing, you could use GDPR grounds to force a cancellation through the same means you signed up.
- radu_floricica 6y agoIt's worth a try, but GDPR specifically excludes contractual information. So if you have pending bills, whatever info they need to charge you is not protected by GDPR. And even after you pay, they still need your name for accounting purposes (you received $100 last year? from whom exactly? will the law ask, and you have to be able to answer)
- avianlyric 6y agoI believe there is also another EU law that requires banks and credit card providers to support merchant blocking. If you’re struggling to cancel a subscription, contact your bank and ask them to block the subscription.
- mqus 6y agoI know only a law in germany where you have to be able to cancel your phone contracts with the same medium you accepted them... But I don't know anything about more broad laws.