Biden tries to cut through fog of confusion caused by deliberately deceptive customer service tricks Businesses that use labyrinthine subscription cancellation procedures, flaky customer service bots and other cynical schemes used to give customers the run around have been put on notice by the Biden administration. The White House on Monday announced a new government-wide effort dubbed "Time Is Money" this week that aims to …
I agree, about time.
But why do things only get done around election time? For 3 years our government has been deadlocked by...deadbrains...and *now* they think about actually getting the people's work done. Note that Biden is a lame duck at this point so we can't say it is for his benefit, but really guys, waiting until 3 months before elections to do useful work??
Don't just blame the D's, as is common with being political - if this was a good idea, why couldn't it get done by the R's years ago when they had power??
See? Useless self-important politicians aren't just on one side, they're everywhere. And America keeps voting for the same incompetence (the average is 10 years of serving in Congress) but expecting different results...
what's that quote from Einstein??
waiting until 3 months before elections to do useful work??
Biden administration has been systematically appointing and hiring what probably amounts to the most pro-citizen regulatory regime in my lifetime, and I remember the Richard Nixon days.
This is not just an "election year" thing. A lot of these actions have been in the works for several years. Many have gotten shot down by Trump-appointed judges already.
He put the strongest people in charge of the antitrust division of the DoJ's antitrust division, the FTC, the FCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that I can remember, ever.
Despite Republicans in the Senate whining and griping and trying every trick in the book to block them, it was Kamala Harris that often broke those ties in the Senate to get those people seated. Some were still forced to withdraw from consideration. (Gigi Sohn is one I remember specifically)
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/07/biden-fcc-nominee-gigi-sohn-withdraws-citing-cruel-attacks-.html
We will looking back on this era with nostalgia. I only hope that it doesn't all come to an end at the end of the year if the orange clusterbomb gets elected again.
It depends on when the proposal for legislation was raised. If there is no bottom-up pressure, it won't come out of nowhere. Public visibility for Dark Designs has only really come up in the last couple of years (e.g. legislation in India) so that is remarkably fast for US government which has a large contingent intent on returning to Civil War era practices.
If you subscribe to something in the app store, but don't intend to keep it permanently (you're just subscribing for a month or whatever the minimum period is) you can cancel immediately by hitting the cancel button but it will keep the subscription active until the end of the term. You don't need to set a reminder to yourself to cancel 'x' by Aug 27th and if you forget to set your reminder or it pops up by you are busy and dismiss the notification you get re-subscribed.
I'll bet getting around that is something companies selling subscriptions on the app store hate every bit as much as the 15/30% "Apple tax", because there's no way they'd do that if they were in control of their own billing/subscriptions.
I'm sure these regulations won't go that far, but if they really wanted to make it as consumer friendly as possible that's what they'd require. Imagine the whining from streaming providers alone if those rules were in force and it was easy for people to hop services month to month without having to remember to cancel before a deadline!
"If you subscribe to something in the app store, but don't intend to keep it permanently (you're just subscribing for a month or whatever the minimum period is) you can cancel immediately by hitting the cancel button but it will keep the subscription active until the end of the term. "
It might also be a good idea to pay for subscriptions with a gift card that you'll use up long before the next renewal comes along. In a year's time when they try to bill the account, it won't go through and they'll send you a notice that you need to provide a new card number. The prepaid cards aren't always accepted and usually can't be used internationally. I have a service I use that bills from a service in Europe (I'm in the US). I'm not sure if they've fixed that problem by having a payment processor in the US for US subscribers. Even a having a proper credit/debit card (not prepaid) can be tough to use in that situation with the need to log into your account and verify the purchase which is a convoluted process on some occasions.
As a matter of general policy, I don't have anything paid automatically. Somehow my mobile billing got set up that way and there's no way to change it other than shifting to a different company for a couple of months and then shifting back. So far, the one I have now doesn't suck as bad as the last one so I'm gun shy when it comes to trying yet another den of thieves. It's not all that much either and I've locked it down as much as I can so there's nothing that can be added on (chat lines, international calls, that sort of thing). Hmmmm, there has to be AI driven sex chats now so we must be due another explosion in "976/900" scams.
It might also be a good idea to pay for subscriptions with a gift card that you'll use up long before the next renewal comes along
One of my credit cards lets me generate virtual numbers and assign whatever spending limit I want to that virtual number. So if I'm doing some sort of offer like the discount Sportsline memberships that come with free Paramount+ I use one of those so I don't need to worry about canceling. Sometimes it'll last a month or two longer as they keep trying to get you to re-up before cutting you off, as they think you're just temporarily over your limit or something. Also works well if you're buying something from what appears to be a shady site and you're worried your CC number might get out.
Of course not everyone has that feature on one of their cards, and it is extra steps to go into the app, create the new CC number, copy into the fields when signing up etc. Not as smooth as the app store but better than potentially getting stuck with a subscription extension I don't want.
Be careful with that. If your original acceptance was actually a contract which lasts until you cancel, simply defaulting on the payment may not actually cancel it. The supplier would simply let the charges build until they pass it to a debt collection agency, and then your credit rating tanks. Always better to at least try to cancel, perhaps by registered letter, which at least gives you some protection.
I do this for any online transaction aside from a couple that I use frequently (order-online groceries). ESPECIALLY for any kind of purchase through Google, Xbox, etc. Then I cancel the number after the purchase. Any attempt at a subscription payment or DLC fee will fail.
If somebody tries to send you to collections, document with the collection agency that the charge wasn't valid / was disputed with the original company. They'll kick it back to the original company (probably with a small fee for their trouble). You won't owe anything and it won't go on your credit history.
There are a lot of services that do that, but they don't advertise it. I've had many experiences where I have a thirty-day trial, cancel it on day 27 to be safe, and get the message that it will continue working through day 30. I know people who do that with Amazon services and streaming in general, but I couldn't make a full list and it could change at any time. However, since so many people are doing it, I wonder if there is a requirement somewhere that is making them. Otherwise, I would have expected them all to cancel as soon as they got the button press.
Great - but only if you know about it. This is the first I've heard this and there are many apps I'd have like to have tried but not bothered with because they make you sign up with a card for the free period and my automatic assumption has been that they'll make it as difficult as possible to cancel.
"I like how Apple makes it simple ..."
Unless you don't own an Apple device, in which case it's a nightmare. I subscribed to AppleTV+ through a browser for use on an other-branded set-top-box (fully supported by Apple, with their own streaming app). It was easy and took a couple of minutes to create the corresponding AppleID. You can even subscribe through the set-top-box if you want.
However, there is (still) no unsubscribe option in the set-top-box app and the cancellation button in the AppleTV+ website doesn't work unless you use their approved browser and OS - Linux is forbidden even though that's exactly what I used to sign up, without issue. This is contrary to their online help pages.
It took hours of trying different browser combos and settings to realise that would never work. I then spent over 90 minutes on Apple support chat - being given the run around in very obvious ways - until they finally said, "OK, I can do that". And then it took two minutes.
Apple wants you to buy an Apple device or subscribe through iTunes (not available on Linux in a way that satisfies Apple, by the way). Of course. none of that was explained up front.
Lesson learned: don't subscribe to AppleTV+. Second lesson learned: avoid online products that seek to impose "software facism" (I'm looking at you, Apple, Google and Microsoft).
Amazon does even better for prime (in the UK, at least)
Just sign up for the 30 day free trial, then cancel it immediately, and you get your 30 days with no danger of being charged at all.
I'd be interested to know if USA Amazon is similar (or indeed, other countries), or if it''s an EU thing...
Down in the US, the benchmark/example for this sort of bad behavior was the old "Columbia House of Records and Tapes".
"For just pennies a month you will receive three of our selected records or tapes (your choice) each month. If you like it, keep it. If you don't, simply return it to us."
They were always running black-and-white ads in the backs of magazines. I never signed up, but I heard tales of woe from those who did.
It was Britannia Music in the UK. I signed up in the the early 80s and I bought many discounted LPs through them. I think (memory could be faulty here) that they told you what next month's special was and you could choose not to receive it by posting back a form. I've still got a couple of LPs that resulted from me forgetting to post it but overall I think I did OK out of my membership.
I also used Britannia for a while.
My only issue, and why I stopped, was that my music taste was a bit less mainstream - I'd buy CD's often enough, but they rarely stocked the ones I wanted. If they had a more diverse collection, I'd have happily kept on using them.
Seems a lot like "Bertelsmann Club" but the "Club" not only had a very long mandatory membership, you HAD to buy something ito fill a spending quote or else would have sent trash of their choice for premium prices to you and wether you liked that or not was your problem. Also, the "discounted only for club members" items in their shops pretty much matched the "noone likes this trash, have it for some cents" aisles in discounters. Cancelling the membership also was a real hassle, my sister needed three tries and finally a lawyer to get rid of them.
Dropbox has veered into scam territory. They've updated their taskbar icon to have a red block on it. Red means urgent (or even dangerous) in many cultures. The first time I saw that icon I thought there was an issue and I opened the application, but no, it's just attention-whoring.
I don't appreciate that. If they think I'm going to go for a paid subscription with that kind of attitude, I've got news for them : I'm voting with my wallet. No.
Even the services that do offer online unsubscription, often hide the button for unsubscribe in a color that looks a lot like the background, while the "Wait, I actually want to continue my subscription" is in a super visible green color.
Not as bad as being unable to unsubscribe at all, but super-unfriendly to users with vision disabilities.
Simple. Currently you can deal with the parasitic company directly or instruct your bank to stop paying them. Unfortunately the latter option has its own costs, so direct those costs back to the parasite (with an extra "processing fine" uh I mean "fee") and watch all the sign-out problems disappear.
Another positive outcome of killing scams is fostering innovation and reduce waste. Because easy money makes businesses lazy. Why innovate, if you could just charge 30% on every transaction.
Besides unethical practices attract and nourish a specific type of employee. I bet whole verticals of the economy become mostly semi-scams.
People have limited money to spend. By not locking them to scammers allows redirecting the money to value-adding competitors.
"Talks", "discussions" and "efforts" that are taking years, decades, until the sun burns out yet fail to show even the smallest result of whats allegedly intended ?
If any of the allegedly intended, any of the oh so worthy intents, efforts, whateverblabbernothinghappenings actually transform into something real that actually does whats allegedly intended, i might applaud.
As far as my cynicism infused sarcasm-a-tron is involved, big words, nothing done. Seen too much of this in germany, experiencing it every time another scammer pollutes my phone or my letterbox. Helping those in uncancellable subscriptions and similar evil stuff as best as i can, succeeding sometimes directly, sometimes sadly have to convince the victims to get a lawyer, as none of the "consumer protection agencies" or whatevers do anything useful.
IF any government REALLY wants this kind of scammery to end, why dont they put into law what they allege to intend ? Maybe because as long as its in discussion limbo, nothing happens but at least all are looking good and the scammers keep on scamming and the $currency keeps on rolling.
Me 2 on the cynical view. I think it goes like this. Propose s popular law/regulation to stop unscrupulous business practices. Receive campaign funds from said businesses. Win the next election^hhhhhhhauction. Quietly bury proposal in permanent "consultation" phase.
In the UK, you go to the government’s “companieshouse” website and look up the address of the company. Any mail sent there counts as legally received (including if the address doesn’t exist, the address is occupied by someone else, or they refuse to accept the Mail.
So you write by registered mail “I hereby cancel my subscription for xxx. Don’t charge me again. If you charge me again I will go to the small claims court for a refund”.
That probably won't work if you've accepted Ts&Cs and agreed a unique and specific way to cancel the sub. It's not unusual in contracts to have a clause specifiying that communications won't be recognized under the contract unless they are sent in a certain manner to a certain address.
In the UK, anything sent to your address at companieshouse counts as legally received. There is no f***ing way on Earth you can say “you sent this to the wrong address” if it’s sent to the company’s official address. Getting my Mail to the right department is your problem. If you can’t manage that - tough.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
