Photo: Bits And Splits (Shutterstock)
Most services are easy to sign up for. You enter some info, punch in those credit card numbers, and shazam! A subscription is born. The reverse isn’t always the case. Many companies make canceling their services way harder than subscribing, which should be illegal. And in some places, it is—a fact you can use to your advantage.
I’ve previously written about how the FTC is cracking down on this type of shady activity, and how, among other requirements, they expect companies to abide by a simple rule: It should be as easy to cancel a service as it is to subscribe to it. In a display of how intimidating and influential the FTC truly is (not very), most companies haven’t changed their behavior at all.
A ways back I subscribed online to a newspaper that was offering a good introductory rate. The paper kept raising its monthly fee until I couldn’t justify the cost. So, time to cancel—except the website’s cancellation page only invited me to give them a call, with no option to cancel online. Fantastic, let me just find time to call the newspaper.
It went about as well as you’d expect: The rep was so sorry to hear I was cancelling, then revealed I could keep my subscription at a “special rate.” No thanks, I’d like to cancel please. But apparently just for me, there was an even better special rate! No thanks, just a cancellation, please. To that, the rep responded, “Sir, if you cancel your subscription, how are you going to read your news?” JUST CANCEL. THE. SUBSCRIPTION.
Wouldn’t you rather just click a few buttons? Me too.
You can cancel these subscriptions online
Being forced to call in is unacceptable when subscribing takes 30 seconds online. But if the FTC isn’t going to do anything more than issue a warning or rely on regular people to report these shady companies, there is something you can do to fight back: Lie.
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As it turns out, this isn’t a universal problem: Some states have enforceable laws on the books requiring companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up. California is the shining example: Since 2018, the state requires companies to offer California-based customers a way to cancel online. Paradise.
If you’re one of the 290 million U.S. citizens who don’t live in California, that’s OK. You just need the company in question to to think you live in a state that requires them to offer you an online cancellation. All you need to do is change your billing address to a valid address in the state, and you’re good to go. Head to Google Maps, pick a California house you like, and pretend you live there for a minute while you cancel your news subscription.
This idea comes from this tweet, sent in reply to a Marques Brownlee thread about shady subscription cancellations. It turns out New York has similar laws, and changing to a NYC billing address likewise forced a theretofore absent “Cancel Subscription” button to appear on the Wall Street Journal’s website.
Hopefully, we see some federal legislation on this front. Until then, we’ll need to rely on the laws in individual states, and move to them for a few minutes while we cancel our predatory subscriptions.
