Have you signed up to get something sent to your home regularly? Has a company offered you a “free trial”? Or maybe you have a membership or subscription that bills your credit card automatically. Those can be convenient set-it-and-forget-it ways to get the products you want. But what’s your experience been when you tried to cancel? The FTC wants to hear your story.
The FTC is thinking about expanding an existing rule to make it easier for people to cancel when they want to stop deliveries or subscriptions. What happened when you’ve tried to cancel? Was it a straight-forward process or did you have to jump through hoops? Could you click to cancel online or did you have to call a certain number or email a particular address? Did the company respond quickly or did you feel like you got the run-around?
We’re eager to learn from your experience and it’s easy to make your voice heard. File a public comment online by June 23rd. It doesn’t have to be a fancy legal brief. We’re interested in real comments from real people – and hearing from you will help us do our job better.
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I've tried to unsubscribe to "Noracora" and they won't leave me alone!!!!
Please make it easier to get these telemarketers away.
OMG! You have opened up a real sore spot. I have so very many problems with this issue. I have been entered into a 'club' with a monthly fee of $14.50 which was unbeknownst to me...simply by ordering a top! They kept taking it out of my account!!! In addition, Best Buy has a program that covers appliances...took me months to 'cancel' yet they still kept debiting my account for two years afterwards. As does Geek Squad! You can add to that my troubles with security packages for my computer....Avast is brutal. As, many times as I told them, wrote them, emailed etc. I couldn't make them stop charging me for my plan automatically as well as an additonal plan they added. The major problem is that many of the representatives are overseas. Both parties do not understand each other and often have just left me hanging for 30 minutes or more. Happened with FTD Florists yesterday - it's all abyssmal. I am afraid now to order services I need because most cannot be trusted. It's overwhelming and lots of work and patience to get one's money back!
T-Mobile said I had to include $18 a month for 360 insurance coverage on my new phone. They said after a year I could “jump” to a new phone but when I tried the store said I wasn’t eligible. Since I left Verizon for them I did not know their requirements. Three times I tried to cancel and they said they would, but did not. They eventually lowered it to $14 then after 2 years I was able to cancel.
In reply to T-Mobile said I had to… by Davida Pearson
I would have gotten in touch with my financial institution, and had those payments stopped!!
Dish TV network, advertising $99.00 price lock for three years. I ordered one receiver. and 3 for other TVs. On ordering, I asked about the cancellation on the recorder line. They said $40.00. Could you cancel at any time?
Installer arrived with just the receiver and nothing for the three TVs. Have TV service with DirecTV. How can I turn off DirecTV when I only have one receiver?
A system programmed to Power down has Not been used. Never has been used.
I can't cancel. Want $20.00 per month for the rest of the subscription. Did not get what I ordered.
Call four different numbers found on Google for complaints. Oscar kept me from canceling. He kept me online for 1 hour and 20 minutes, saying his system would not let him order the three units for the TVs. Oscar said to call back the next day for units only, not to cancel. I received a bill for one receiver and three months of free channels. The receiver is disconnected from the antenna.
Yes, it time for Click to Cancel.
They make it so easy to sign up for the trial, subscription, etc. The fine print says "for your convenience automatic renewals at the prevaling rate". I no long subscribe to magazines from online ads because they are difficult to cancel. If you can subscribe with "click" why does it often take a phone call to try to cancel?
Cancel with a Click -YES!
My best friend has an Amazon account, for months hey have charged her for the reduced price when you have EBT or whatever, as well charging her the full price. So twice a month she is paying for 1 Amazon account. She has called customer service several times. The first few times they couldn't help her. Told her they didn't see why she was talking about. This very last call she made to customer service (mind you long wait time and put on hold several times, maybe it was legitimate) she finally was able to get the issue somewhat resolved. She got refunded her money but it was for just 1 month and is no longer getting charged twice. I don't understamd why they didn't look back t all the other charge and refund her.
My comment is not necessarily with subscriptions, although I
have created a new email address in the past because I got to many to unsubscribe from and after a company or 2 had a breach the spam increased. That leads me to a suggestion and thought. People search sites, data brokers and even I believe one of the 3 credit bureau companies has a program/another side to their company, it's been awhile since I read up on it. Believe it's for big companies to utilize for "marketing" information collection or something.
What im getting at is I feel amd believe data brokers similar to people search companies are just as bad and possibly enabling/helping hackers as well.
Recently I read through some of the people searches privacy policy, term conditions and the website. After research and antivirus/anti-malware companies recommending to request your personal info be taken off the site. I attempted to do just that.
1st off it's stated I would have to keep checking to make sure it's off and doesn't reappear again.
2nd it is not a simple process getting the info taken down
3rd I requested from 2 sites my info be removed and to do what they could to not let any info associated to me back on their site. I received no responce and my info is still up on the site..
4th I didn't pay for any of the services so I'm unsure what other info they hold of mine and potentially selling to people.
Lastly just reiterating, I feel it's just WRONG that it's not a simple process to get your personal info removed and have to stay proactive/consistently checking all sites (potentially missing some) just to go through the strenuous process of a MAYBE removal all over again.
Thank you for your time reading and the good work.
Have had a couple of free trials that were canceled before the trial ended but then the money was still taken off my card so had to call the companies and was offered some discounts if I chose to keep the service and when I declined and requested a refund I was told they could only give me half of my money back. I kept on telling them that was not acceptable since it had been canceled on time and still they had taken out the money. After being persistent and way to long on the phone I was reimbursed my money. But lately I have had to keep my money stashed in my accounts because the last 6 months when the free trials have ended they keep trying to charge my card so I have had to go to the website and cancel more than once to get them to stop and on 2 other occasions have had them try charging my Paypal account when I had not used my PayPal account to start the free trial. I have become leary to free trials and feel they should be held accountable for not canceling services when canceled then taking money off people's cards without consent.
I attempted to terminate my T-mobile phone plan, which I'd had for over 20 years, two lines with unlimited, following my wifes passing in February 2023, as I had not been happy with that organization, nor the quality of service provided, since 2007, really. I went into the local store and told the person at the counter, as I was paying my normal monthly bill, that I intended to leave the company and asked what I needed to do to make that happen, as I had my own phone which was purchased not through T-mobile and I assumed there would be some sort of ties that they had connected, as they are quite proprietary in my opinion, He made a phone call and then advised me I would need to call customer service and obtain a number which i would take to the new carrier and they could use to remove the connection T-mobile had placed on my phone. I contacted customer service a few days later, still in February, and explained what I wanted to do. I was told what my outstanding balance would be and I arranged to make that payment over the phone and received the code necessary for new carrier to pair with my phone. a couple days later I went into the new carrier store and was added to an existing account there. approximately one month later I received another bill from T-mobile stating that I owed another final bill. They have sent me two bills since March, each have been unlike the bills they've sent me for past twenty years. These bills just acknowledge that it is sad I decided to sever our ties and a sentence claiming I have an outstanding balance , but no details about what that might be for.
Optimum cellular phone service I never had and have been fighting the automatic payment every month since October 2022. They put charges on my credit card and they refuse to stop billing me. They could not port my phone number and provide service but charged my credit card and I have not been able to get out of this cycle. No matter what I do they just refuse to stop charging my credit card. I never had one minute of service with Optimum cellular. How is this legal?
Sometimes cancelling auto renew goes through without a problem, but the first thing I do if that does not work is to remove my credit card information from that vendor. Other times I have had to threaten to turn them in to the FCC for misleading customers into signing up in the first place. And yes, I have turned some into the FCC and will let the FCC deal with the miscreants of the internet.
If they bill me again on my credit card, I file a dispute with the credit card company and the credit card company credits back my account for the charges I was billed after having told the seller that I was not renewing the subscription or whatever type transaction was being billed on auto renew. Can of worms for sure.
I support the proposed a new consumer protection rule to require companies to make it easier for consumers to cancel,t the ‘Click to Cancel’ rule.
It’s simple. If I can sign up for something in one click, the government should require companies to let me cancel with one click, too. The government should require easy-to-understand information up front to ensure I know what I am agreeing to before I agree to it.
They never send any payment coming due notice, after the charge hits your account they won’t offer a refund. They have setup these subscriptions as almost theft. It’s hit and miss how easy it is to cancel sometimes it’s hard to find the process for the company.
It is a huge concern & we urgently need regulatory consequences to the pure manipulation these tech savvy sites! Our aging population is especially vulnerable-I just discovered my 87 yo mom has “subscribed” & auto deducted $$ & when I called the operator couldn’t find an acct #or email or any info to enable refund dispite being given the bill ID they provided….when I asked to complain to manager she hung up - this was AUDIBLE and AMAZON origins which my mother doesn’t even use or know about actually!! I did dispute also with bank - the hours involved are ridiculous & so often easily forgotten. Seriously - limited incomes devoured by corrupt unregulated hence those affected need those “assistance programs” that consume taxpayers & fed funds - HELP!
In reply to It is a huge concern & we… by Tammy Haskell
You're not the only one. I'm disgusted by the things these corporations have been getting away with for the past two decades.
Audible is the worst parasite of all.
I've had to call to confront them many times for sneaking in their memberships in the small print of many other offers.
I'm stunned that consumers are ignored and these criminal banks make it impossible to challenge anymore.
I just had a merchant increase their annual charge to my credit card that they have on file by a whopping 76%, without first giving me advance notice, and with no chance to cancel their service. This was for an annual VOIP telephone contract.
It sure seems like their needs to be a limit as to how much they can increase their charges. This is especially true in this case because the increase was NOT due to the expiration of an initial promotion. This was simply a price increase.
I’ve tried several times to cancel notifications from NYTimes newspaper/news blurbs to my email account. I do NOT subscribe to the newsletter Yet I still get several per day. Washington Post too. My next step will be decline & Mark as Spam if these don’t stop
Cancellation of Subscription Services is difficult for businesses as well as consumers. I have been trying to cancel a 7 year old subscription service for Cisco WebEx services. The original employee who signed up for the service no longer works for the company, and she holds the user logon and password; therefore making it impossible for me and my company to cancel a subscription service that we have not used for the past two years. The way the contract is written, as an Evergreen that renews automatically each year, you can only cancel on the 31st day before the next year. Cisco WebEx will not accept a written letter sent by USPS, only a request through their Portal, which I do not have access to. The NINE STEPS to cancel through their portal is in fact a "Request" only. Cisco still will have the option to deny the request. This is both harmful and deceptive business practices that Cisco has crafted to help members, regardless if they are even using the service.
I saw an ad on TV for Relaxium. It’s developed by a Neurologist to help you sleep. They were giving away 100 free bottles. You supposedly just had to pay the shipping fee. Two weeks later I got a charge on my credit card. I can’t remember the amount but it was expensive. It took me numerous phone calls to get this sorted out. Complete fraud.
Not only should there be 1 click to cancel subscriptions; 1 click should be applied emails as well. I have "unsubscribed" from many organizations emails, but my Inbox is 80% email I don't want. I don't subscribe to Free Trials because of needing to cancel by a trial period. Also, what is being done with my personal information in an organization I am no longer interested?
Years ago the UK based company called POWTOON illegally billed me for 4 years after I cancelled my education tier account. They charged my credit card $400 plus over those years 2017- 2021 unbeknownst to me.
I wrote letters to my bank and Powtoons to stop charging me and my card.
I provided all the documentation. I canceled that card and had a new number issued.
VISA denied my dispute and had the nerve to send an update to the UK company and they kept charging me yearly.
I don't trust our banks or system to do the right thing anymore.
VISA
Reading through our comments it's clear that corporations have chosen to defraud their customers by default.
Bad business decision and just plain BAD BUSINESS.
It's disturbing how low American corporations have sunk since 2001. Each year they get sketchier. Any time any reasonable protection for consumers come along, you can count on corrupt Congressmen and Senators with an R after their names to revoke those protections. End Citizens United now!
Yes. Make it easier to cancel subscriptions.
I am fully in support. Please keep introducing these protections. I have had a number of difficult experiences trying to cancel subscriptions and incurring unwanted expenses.
Please Please Please!!!
This rule would make my life so much easier and help me manage my finances more easily.
It wastes so much of my time when I have to call and sit on hold to cancel a subscription or trial.
This is an excellent idea. Too many companies are stealing money from people by trying to dissuade them from cancelling a subscription. If you're worried it's too easy to cancel your subscription, then your subscription must not be worth having. Time to make your product better or find a new line of business. The market at work.
It should be just as easy to cancel a service as it is to sign up for that service.
I support this rule expansion.
This is a good, consumer friendly proposal. Click to cancel will save consumers hundreds of dollars and no reason companies don’t make it easy, already.
Please enact this. Would make everyone’s life so much better thanks have a beautiful day
This is a fantastic rule and should be implemented immediately. It is so frustrating to sign up for something in 30 seconds online but then have to call to cancel... calls which can take hours and usually involve haggling with a 'customer service' agent while they do everything possible to prevent you from canceling. It could also potentially help businesses. There are many thing I've refused to sign up for because I don't want to deal with trying to cancel. I'd be far more likely to try different services and subscriptions if I know it will be easy to cancel
Yes, please! Having to track down a phone number to call and cancel is predatory. Be sure to include sites that require so many clicks to cancel that it becomes burdensome. Also sites where you think you have cancelled, but still have one more click,(hidden below the fold).
Additionally, sites should have to display and offer monthly pricing as default.
It should be as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for it. Why are gyms asking people to go in person to cancel? Why do subscriptions require you to call a 1-800 number to cancel?
I want a 1 click to cancel process. If a business doesn't provide value, then people should be allowed to leave easily.
It’s not just how difficult it is to cancel that’s the problem. Also companies try to keep all your money for a year subscription when you don’t even use any of it. It should be mandatory to refund pro rata what I didn’t use. If it’s $10 a month, I shouldn’t be out $120 for canceling a subscription on day 1
Love it!
Yes, this is a great idea. Some subscriptions do make it this easy. Things like food delivery. But I notice media organizations make much harder, like the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. you have to call them to cancel. It can’t be done through the app. Same thing with cable subscriptions.
The only acceptable solution is allowing a subscriber to cancel or modify any subscription via the same channel in which it was initiated. If a person subscribes online with no human interaction, no firm should require human interaction to cancel.
Please make it easier to cancel. These companies are parasites
It's such a nightmare to cancel any service, I actually have stopped signing up for anything new.
As I consequence, I consume less; which is both bad for the economy and tax revenue.
I think expanding rules and regulations around canceling subscriptions is a good thing. Often sites make canceling things difficult on purpose to take advantage of less tech-savvy users.
I purchased a Consumer Reports subscription which included website access as well as the magazine. I have cancelled the subscription several times and even get a confirmation message at the end of canceling. Yet, they continued to try to bill me for several months. We'll see if it happens again this month but why are they billing me for a cancelled subscription? They have an easy process but it doesn't do what it's supposed to. Not for me anyway.
This idea is only helpful if companies are required to give notification of recurring charges with enough time to actually cancel before the next charge occurs. Minimum 7 days. And none of this, you have to talk to or chat with an agent nonsense.
It’s harder than ever to keep track of what subscriptions you have that automatically renew when subscription are billed through Amazon, Apple, and Google accounts for streaming services, news subscriptions, apps, etc. I am working on canceling my OrangeTheory fitness membership. I have to cancel in-person at the gym location where I originally signed up and any regular billings within the next 30 days will still be charged to me. I signed up for a Loyalty Program with doTerra essential oils. The program automatically renews annually and automatically sends you and charges you for products monthly. The only way to cancel this program is to contact customer service. There’s no button or process online to cancel it. These things are frustrating and only benefit corporations while having negative impacts on consumers. I think new rules should be put into place that if a consumer is subscribed to something, and they haven’t logged in, interacted with, or used the service in the past 12 months that it is automatically canceled.
This should be a 100% requirement that companies have this on their websites.
Click to Cancel is one of the best ideas to come out of your agency. It is too easy to sign up for subscriptions, too easy for the subscriptions to not live up to their advertising and way too hard to get out of them. When my father died and I had to cancel all his online subscriptions, it was just one more layer of hell that took time and energy with absolutely no compassion from the business end. I am all in for
"CLICK TO CANCEL".
I support this proposed change. Please also ensure companies cannot re-subscribe you once you’ve unsubscribed. I have the experience sometimes of suddenly getting emails from a place a year after unsubscribing, and have to unsubscribe yet again. Or, every time you place another order, they sign you back up. This should not be allowed. I feel like I unsubscribe from multiple newsletters daily at this point.
I haven't had any issues when I canceled a subscription, knock on wood!!
It is a nightmare to cancel subscriptions (i.e. Sirius XM, etc.)
Would fully welcome a single click cancellation that eliminates the purposely complex and nearly hidden path to unsubscribe or cancel most firms employ currently. Thank you!
Birchbox was a subscription service that charged thousands of customers without sending products. Because they were recently bought out, they’ve begun charging customers again after months of no service, and it’s nearly impossible to cancel
Pagination