US Court nullifies FTC requirement for click-to-cancel

Here is an idea, make your service value for money and people will not want to cancel.

If your product is so poor that the only way you can retain customers is to make it too hard for them to cancel then your product needs to be improved.

That is a novel idea! But ironically it is not actually the issue that was in front of the court.

You just offended siriusxm, every newspaper, and every gym in the country.

Office365. I only have it because it’s necessary for work not because I want to use the product.

WaPo and NYT were both very easy to cancel.

WaPo was easy when I canceled last November. The lost time I canceled a NYT subscription, it still required a phone call.

They say it requires a phone call but amazingly an email that's says you will charge back any future charge works too.

Almost like they can do it without the phone or something.

Don't forget swimming pool season pass.

I will buy my next season pass when I have a history of entry transactions that proves I could have saved by buying one...

If your product is so poor that the only way you can retain customers is to make it too hard for them to cancel, then your business model should be illegal.

Ok, but also, I just want to stop paying for things sometimes.

Subscribing to a services isn't a vow of "until death do us part" and I don't want businesses trying to act like it is or make it so.

Man what the fuck is it with gyms? I'm not even in the US, but even in the Netherlands where these kind of things are generally super simple and hassle-free (by law) I've had some nightmarish, headache inducing situations with gyms. I've literally never encountered anything else, ever, nearly as bad as dealing with gyms and their contracts in my entire life. It was a million times easier closing brokerage accounts with decent chunks of money in them than it was to cancel a gym membership I once had.

Most gyms are over subscribed - if everyone who has a membership actually went to the gym they wouldn't have enough space/equipment for everyone. They would need to raise their rates to afford more. That is those who have a membership but don't go to the gym are subsidizing those who do go to the gym.

The more expensive gyms are not this way. They will let you cancel easily. They will often out of good customer service pause your membership if you don't visit at all for a month. However they cost twice as much and often have worn out equipment that a much cheaper gym would have replaced. As such if you really visit a gym one that makes canceling is hard.