Biden/Harris FTC Moves to Finalize Rule 'Click to Cancel'

@#1 ... if you allow people to sign up for subscriptions online in a few steps or clicks, then they should also be allowed to cancel subscriptions in the identical manner. ...

Yup.

That's one reason why I never signed up for Amazon Prime ... the onerous danace that must be done to unsubscribe.

The government is suing Amazon over how hard it is to cancel Prime (2023)
www.vox.com

... Have you ever tried to cancel your Amazon Prime subscription? It's pretty tough, right? And yet you likely found it very easy to sign up for Prime. So easy, in fact, that you may have enrolled without even realizing it. Well, the Federal Trade Commission is suing the company over what it describes as "nonconsensual enrollment," as well as the excessively difficult process for customers to cancel Prime subscriptions.

According to the FTC, Amazon has deliberately taken steps to get and keep as many Prime subscribers as possible, even using "dark patterns," or manipulative web design, to do so. And it did so intentionally and knowingly, the heavily redacted lawsuit says.

"Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement. "These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike. The FTC will continue to vigorously protect Americans from dark patterns' and other unfair or deceptive practices in digital markets." ...

To cancel prime just cancel the credit card/debit card it is tied to.

@#3

Easier said than done.

And that is the problem.

For example...

VISA is sharing your information with vendors when you get a new debit card
www.reddit.com

... Found this out this morning. Got a reoccurring charge from Netflix after I had canceled my old card and got my new one. Went on the website and they have all the card info, I never gave it to them and never was notified my billing information has changed. According to Wells Fargo there's a new program where vendors can get your info when you request a new card, Exp date, CCV all of it straight from VISA. How in any way is this legal? This should be an opt in program if it has to exist. ...

@#5

fwiw, I had a similar experience.

I my Visa card was cancelled due to fraudulent charges.

Yet, I still received charges on the new, replacement card, charges from entities that I did not authorize for the new card.

@#6

I my

- should be -

oops. :)

I think it was like 3 clicks. Seriously, Amazon Prime wasn't hard to cancel at all.

What I'm dreading is the PITA it's gonna be to cancel Comcrap. As soon as I get the new municipal fiber installed, I've gotta deal with that.

Seems only reasonable...

OCU

@#9 ... Seriously, Amazon Prime wasn't hard to cancel at all. ...

Yeah, more recently.

But apparently before Amazon received the criticism ....

It is good that Amazon seems to have taken into account its customers' concerns.

That aside,

A simple click-an-delete-the-account would be most appreciative.

From the cited article...

... She described many current cancellation systems, which sometimes feature either unhelpful automated phone systems or endless transfers between agents, as a "doom loop." ...

Good.

I had to call a company for customer support recently.

Part of that required emailing me info.

Within hours, I had junk mail from them as well. For the next few days it was 4-5 emails a day.

All without me signing up for a single thing, nor agree to receive them.

When I clicked the unsubscribe link, it took me to a site with a long list of checked boxes for various topics the company was involved in where I had to uncheck anything I wanted to unsubscribe from. Despite having never subscribed to any of them.

Also, I had to read it three times to get all the double negatives to understand that unclicked meant unsubscribed.

I couldn't cancel my Amazon account even though there was ample evidence that my account had been repeatedly hacked by someone in China who was buying Rolex watches for all their friends.

Now I never buy anything from Amazon because they refused to protect me in any fashion whatsoever.

Since they're so easily hacked, I wouldn't even trust them to keep my PayPal account private.

So, screw Amazon. It's their loss.

Will this cover the orange lard barges donation pages that automatically click "make my donation recurring on a weekly bases" in tiny print at the very bottom of the page that is often off screen?

lawandcrime.com

""That single contribution " federal records show it was his first ever " quickly multiplied," the report stated. "Another $500 was withdrawn the next day, then $500 the next week and every week through mid-October, without his knowledge " until Mr. Blatt's bank account had been depleted and frozen."

He was forced to seek help from his brother after his utility and rent checks bounced and he learned his account had been drained of $3,000 in under 30 days.

"It felt like it was a scam," Russel told the Times, adding that the family reported the Trump campaign withdrawals to the bank because it thought Stacy had been the victim of fraud.

Another 78-year-old from California made what she thought was a one-time donation of $990 that wound up costing her more than $8,000."