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At least in Europe, these sorts of dark patterns are very much illegal and I've never seen them in the wild (from Europe based businesses).
by brnt 4y ago
At least in Europe, these sorts of dark patterns are very much illegal and I've never seen them in the wild (from Europe based businesses).
- morelisp 4y agoPrior to this year, German consumer contracts were even worse than American ones. Three years was the normal, with three month notice periods, limited cancellation windows, no prorated refunds, and just as many dark patterns.
- brnt 4y agoHadn't expected that from Germany! What changed? Here in NL the law requires that cancellation must always be possible through the same channels as signup, and I assumed this was due to a EU directive implemented everywhere.
- rambambram 4y agoI was flabbergasted that even NS (Dutch railway) tries this shit. I subscribed to one of their products through a simple webform, and to cancel I had to contact their webcare people in some kind of webchat. No thanks.
- brnt 4y agoYou're right! NS is the worst experience I've ever had. They also can't run trains worth a dime.
- morelisp 4y ago> Hadn't expected that from Germany! What changed? I didn't see anything about EU compliance in the relevant news (and it was relatively big news for such a quotidian change). Possibly the number of people with useless gym etc. memberships after corona was the last straw - these were often 2-3y autorenewing contracts, for fairly large amounts.
- scrollaway 4y agoI have sometimes seen shitty things from insurance companies. Such as: "Your insurance is renewing on August 1st and you need to send us a filled 3-page PDF to this address in order to cancel it 30 days prior" My strategy: Fire off an email to whatever billing email is on there, say "I will not be renewing this insurance", and cancel the direct debit. They will try to charge, send a couple letters, and it's all safe to ignore because I've stated my intent to cancel in time.