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I remember about 15 years ago, I signed up for Real Rhapsody's unlimited music service. I tried it for about two months, didn't like it, and found that canceli

I remember about 15 years ago, I signed up for Real Rhapsody's unlimited music service. I tried it for about two months, didn't like it, and found that canceling required me call them on a weekday during business hours (ending at 4pm eastern). I was still in high school at the time, and this is pre-smartphone so it would have been hard for me to do this during lunch, so it was pretty hard for me to cancel. Eventually I had to ask my mom to impersonate me, call them, and cancel it, but it was an idiotic thing. How uncomfortable are you that users will like your service if you have to trick them into staying subscribed? Granted, it was the Real corporation, I really should have seen crap like that coming.

bredren 5y ago
> How uncomfortable are you that users will like your service if you have to trick them into staying subscribed? It reeks of insecurity. The issue is that it may be an honest reflection that it fails to deliver actual value. I can think of many examples of organizations I’ve seen that have used / are a form of dark pattern opt-out/unsub now: - Wave Apps the accounting software with their payroll service. - burning man org in their 2020 ticketing presale - Ancestry.com What the FTC needs to get into labelinf purposefully confusing unsubscribe interfaces that trick the user into not performing the action of intent as fraud. If internal docs show intent to mislead, (which in many cases they will) companies should face criminal charges.
- inetknght 5y ago
  > If internal docs show intent to mislead, by the time a complaint is made then the internal docs have fallen out of the company's retention and backup policies...