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FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

(www.ftc.gov)
1737 points pseudolus | 5 comments | 16 Oct 24 13:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.202s | source
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nerdjon ◴[16 Oct 24 14:52 UTC] No.41859743[source]▶
> will require sellers to make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up.

I am very curious what exactly this means? Is it the number of pages or forms you had to fill out? People you had to talk too?

So if for my internet I had to have someone come out to install it before service would start could they argue that they require someone to physically come out to turn off service? Or a call since a call would be "easier" than someone coming out?

Could they make the signup and cancel process worse at the same time at certain times of the year if there is a certain time of the year where cancelations are high to justify a worse process? Or does this require knowing what the process was like when each customer signed up?

It feels like this could be fairly easily manipulated. Throw in an extra page during sign up just so they can add in an extra "please stay" page when you try to cancel.

> most notably dropping a requirement that sellers provide annual reminders to consumers of the negative option feature of their subscription.

I assume this means sending yearly reminders that a subscription is about to charge and how to cancel? This is fairly disappointing if so.

I really wish they just required what Apple requires on the App Store. It requires 2 clicks, clicking cancel and then confirm. No upselling since it all happens within Apple's Settings.

Then any yearly apps I always get an email about a week or so (not 100% sure of the timing) that it is going to renew soon with instructions on how to cancel.

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unethical_ban ◴[16 Oct 24 15:04 UTC] No.41859908[source]▶
They didn't require someone to come out to get you signed up for service.

Litigation could resolve malicious attempts to "complicate" signups for the purposes of complicating cancellation.

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1. nerdjon ◴[16 Oct 24 15:13 UTC] No.41860050[source]▶
> They didn't require someone to come out to get you signed up for service.

I am struggling a bit to understand how Comcast could not argue that it is required?

I don't fully remember but I don't think I started paying anything for my service until someone came out to install when self install wasn't an option. (I could possibly see them justifying removing self install in the name of retention later, since how many people really have a choice in their ISP and will just not deal with waiting for someone to come?).

If service was unable to start until someone came out, to me that could be argued as part of the sign up process.

I am not necessarily agreeing that it is part of the signup process. But we know that these companies love their shady practices and will have their lawyers finding any loophole they can find.

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2. layla5alive ◴[16 Oct 24 15:32 UTC] No.41860268[source]▶
They didn't come out as part of sign up, they came out for install, which is a separate phase. You signed up on the phone or online. They don't need to remove hardware from your house to turn it off.
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3. nerdjon ◴[16 Oct 24 15:49 UTC] No.41860498[source]▶
I think you are missing my point here.

Is there a requirement that a signup flow is a single process that you do all at once?

What if they just moved the last contract you had to sign to something that you clicked on the technicians phone after they set everything up?

I get that it is part of the install process and we think of it as a different phase. But in reality how much of a diasctintion is that really?

I am trying to understand what is realistically stopping Comcast from saying that the signup process is not complete until service has been activated? Nothing I am seeing or what is being said here is telling me they could not argue this.

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4. kaibee ◴[16 Oct 24 16:16 UTC] No.41860872{3}[source]▶
> I am trying to understand what is realistically stopping Comcast from saying that the signup process is not complete until service has been activated? Nothing I am seeing or what is being said here is telling me they could not argue this.

In theory, the economics of this don't work out (Comcast/ISPs might be an exception). It would raise their onboarding costs a lot and raise their offboarding costs too. But if they're a local monopoly the might get away with it.

5. DrillShopper ◴[17 Oct 24 16:39 UTC] No.41871227{3}[source]▶
> What if they just moved the last contract you had to sign to something that you clicked on the technicians phone after they set everything up?

That doesn't side step this - if you sign up in person they have to provide a telephone or online option to cancel that is just as easy as it was to sign up.

Now you'll need to return the hardware if you're using Comcast's hardware. Nothing changes there.