FTC proposes 'Click to Cancel' rule to simplify subscription cancellation process
The Federal Trade Commission wants to make it easier to cancel subscriptions anywhere on the web, easing the burden on customers who may not wish to use a service anymore.
Federal Trade Commission building
While it's seemingly always easy to sign up for a subscription, it isn't always as easy -- or immediately apparent -- when it comes time to cancel one.
Currently, there is no standardization for subscription cancellation processes. As a result, customers may be expected to follow lengthy, multi-step cancellation processes, be forced to call a company, or even be expected to cancel a service in person. The FTC hopes to change that.
"Some businesses too often trick consumers into paying for subscriptions they no longer want or didn't sign up for in the first place," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a press release.
"The proposed rule would require that companies make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. The proposal would save consumers time and money, and businesses that continued to use subscription tricks and traps would be subject to stiff penalties."
The rule comes as part of the FTCs review of the 1973 Negative Option Rule, which is used to combat deceptive practices relating to subscriptions and memberships.
The FTC has shared the changes it hopes to make in a document available on its website.
Its plan would require companies to provide complete and clear information on terminating recurring subscriptions. It also would require explicit definitions of what the customer is signing up for in the first place and penalize any company that misrepresented its goods or services.
Additionally, It would require companies to allow customers who signed up for their subscriptions online to cancel them online rather than via a phone call, email form, or in-person visit.
If the Negative Option Rule is amended, the FTC plans to set clear, enforceable performance-based requirements. Companies that continue engaging in deceptive or difficult subscription practices would be fined and penalized.
Read on AppleInsider
Federal Trade Commission building
While it's seemingly always easy to sign up for a subscription, it isn't always as easy -- or immediately apparent -- when it comes time to cancel one.
Currently, there is no standardization for subscription cancellation processes. As a result, customers may be expected to follow lengthy, multi-step cancellation processes, be forced to call a company, or even be expected to cancel a service in person. The FTC hopes to change that.
"Some businesses too often trick consumers into paying for subscriptions they no longer want or didn't sign up for in the first place," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a press release.
"The proposed rule would require that companies make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. The proposal would save consumers time and money, and businesses that continued to use subscription tricks and traps would be subject to stiff penalties."
The rule comes as part of the FTCs review of the 1973 Negative Option Rule, which is used to combat deceptive practices relating to subscriptions and memberships.
The FTC has shared the changes it hopes to make in a document available on its website.
Its plan would require companies to provide complete and clear information on terminating recurring subscriptions. It also would require explicit definitions of what the customer is signing up for in the first place and penalize any company that misrepresented its goods or services.
Additionally, It would require companies to allow customers who signed up for their subscriptions online to cancel them online rather than via a phone call, email form, or in-person visit.
If the Negative Option Rule is amended, the FTC plans to set clear, enforceable performance-based requirements. Companies that continue engaging in deceptive or difficult subscription practices would be fined and penalized.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
As more and more businesses are moving to a subscription model, this requirement is critical. Curiously, I wonder if implementing this requirement would actually lessen the push to break the App Store. I'm pretty sure one of the real reasons some vendors are objecting to the sole App Store is because they don't want it to be App Store-easy to cancel their service. If their own subscription management operation could no longer hustle subscribers out of cancellations, it may seem much more inviting to just pay Apple to handle subscriptions if they just have to be fair about it.
Excellent move on the part of the FTC, and something I've not been able to say with some of their other edicts.
Of course, it's all way too intelligent, so it'll never come to fruition. Sigh.
So, it doesn’t HAVE to be a product or service offered by Apple in order for it to be cancelable via iOS. However, the company offering the service needs to allow it to happen. Netflix doesn’t, which kinda sucks. If Netflix made it easier for me to cancel, like Hulu and HBO do, I’d probably sign up for Netflix more often than I do.
People are moronic dullards with no reading comprehension whatsoever so I don’t know how this FTC proposal would change anything.
They also make it hard to order things without signing up for Prime.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_4186
I have no idea why you keep mention “that other OS” or putting it in quotes and not just saying Android.
Good. That’s a change since the last time I canceled.
I'd welcome some authority ruling the same should apply to the settings on our smart devices whether a TV, a speaker, or a smartphone.