Few companies make it difficult to sign up for their services. In fact, many make it way too easy to enroll, offering free trials, discounts, and other enticing perks to prospective customers. However, what’s really scummy is when those same companies make it damn near impossible to cancel your membership.
A lot of companies use this tactic in the United States, especially news outlets and publishers. According to the American Press Institute, only 41% of publishers surveyed offered an easy way to cancel a subscription online. The New York Times is guilty of this practice, as are plenty of local and national papers throughout. It’s simply bad for everyone (except for these companies, of course).
This isn’t just my opinion: The FTC agrees if a company offers one method to sign up for a service, they should offer that same method for canceling as well. In fact, they’re now making it the law: Soon enough, you won’t have to worry about subscribing to a platform with just a few clicks, only to sit on the phone for hours as a sales rep tries to convince you to stay. That’s wrong, and it’s going away.
Under the “Click to Cancel” rule, the FTC makes it clear companies must abide by three pillars:
Make all pertinent financial information clear, such as the total cost of the product being sold and what cancellation deadlines are in place before a customer will be charged.
Make sure the customer has given consent before charging them for said service.
Most importantly for this article, companies must give customers easy and simple cancellation steps. Cancellation methods should be just as easy as methods used to sign up for the product.
The issue is, the rules won’t take effect until 180 days after the FTC publishes them, and since the rules haven’t been published yet, expect at least half a year before it’s the law of the land: Until then, plenty of companies will likely continue using scummy tactics to make it difficult to cancel services. When you come across this type of behavior, however, you can do something about it: Report the company to the FTC.
To do so, head to https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/ and fill out a report. After you do, it won’t only be shared with the FTC, but also with over 3,000 law enforcers throughout the country. It isn’t much, but it is an actionable step you can take to stick it to these companies before the Click to Cancel rule takes effect.