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

(www.ftc.gov)
1737 points pseudolus | 1 comments | 16 Oct 24 13:09 UTC | HN request time: 0s | 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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1. enragedcacti ◴[16 Oct 24 15:17 UTC] No.41860091[source]▶
> could they argue that they require someone to physically come out to turn off service?

In the case of in-person consent the rule requires that they also offer an online or telephone cancellation option.

> Could they make the signup and cancel process worse at the same time [...]

"must be at least as easy to use as the mechanism the consumer used to consent to the Negative Option Feature.". I read that it must hold true for every specific consumer based on how hard it was for them to consent.

The rules also sets general restrictions to the online and phone options in addition to the "at least as easy" restriction. For Online the cancellation option must be "easy to find" and explicitly bars forced interaction with representatives or chatbots during cancellation unless they were part of the sign-up process. For Telephone the cancellation must be prompt, the number must be answered or accept voice messages, must be available during normal business hours, and must not be more costly than a call used to sign up.