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If you needed any more evidence that these companies would rather extract value than provide it … If the FTC got nothing done but this and it stood up in court
by gigatexal 2y ago
If you needed any more evidence that these companies would rather extract value than provide it …
If the FTC got nothing done but this and it stood up in court it’d be a huge win for society.
I remember the relentless and annoying and capricious and arcane process I had to go through to cancel Comcast for my elderly mother.
Gyms do this, too! Super easy to sign up almost impossible to cancel.
- cinntaile 2y agoIt should be as easy to cancel as it is to sign up.
- gigatexal 2y agoIt’s common sense. Now let’s see if it passes legal muster. I’m not so sure. Judges can be bought. And lobbyists … I’m hopeful but I dunno.
- m463 2y agoI had a gym membership - when I moved, I had to send a certified letter to their corporate office to cancel.
- rubyfan 2y agoLunk alert!
- anonzzzies 2y agoIt is the reason I use digital cards for all memberships; I make a new one for each. People said 'the company will take action for non payment' but they never did ; I did this for the past 15 years with phone companies, cable/internet, online service, and, indeed gyms; works fine. But then again we don't have that insane weirdness called credit rating/score here, so maybe it doesn't work for countries where people accept that type of idiocy?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dartos 2y agoKind of wild that a cottage industry exists because of the difficulty in canceling subscription. Just scraping a bit of money out of each transaction, no doubt.
- bigfatkitten 2y agoThey probably won't sue you, but they usually aren't afraid to report it to the ratings agencies as a credit default.
- ChumpGPT 2y agoAlways use a virtual CC to pay for these types of services. You will also want to make sure you never give anyone access to direct withdrawal from your Bank Accounts. No auto payments either. When you want to cancel, tell them you are moving to Canada and have to cancel. they stop trying to sell you on keeping the service. Settle up and cancel your Virtual CC.
- javajosh 2y agoPractical advice. But we need to address the underlying problem. I mean, if people were getting mugged 50% of the time, it would be practical to take hand combat lessons. But in that case, too, you'd want to address the underlying cause most of all.
- gigatexal 2y agoYeah. We need to address the problem and the problem is customer hostile practices like this that try to trap customers. This is exactly what the FTC fixes.
- IncreasePosts 2y agoYou're on the hook for charges regardless of whether they successfully charge your CC.
- javajosh 2y agoInterestingly, I don't think a court would look kindly on intentionally obfuscated or difficult cancellation procedures imposed on a contract unilaterally. And I don't think the cost/benefit ratio favors a firm taking someone to court on this. (Collections may be an option for them, and I'm not sure how you challenge the validity of a charge or who decides.)
- wildrhythms 2y agoThey don't have to take you to court at all, they will just send your bills to collections and nuke your credit score.