We’ve all been there: you start a free trial for something, forget to cancel it, and all of a sudden you’re subscribed. Or maybe you thought a subscription was a free trial. We have so many subscriptions these days that its not uncommon to realize you’re paying a lot more for it than you thought. And then canceling is a whole can of worms if it can’t be done right away.
Government watchdogs have taken notice, and are increasingly keeping track of how companies treat customers trying to stop subscriptions. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon and argued that the online retailer tricked people into signing up for its Prime program and made it hard for them to cancel.
“The primary purpose of its Prime cancellation process was not to enable subscribers to cancel, but to stop them,” the agency stated in a news release.
Amazon said in an email that the FTC’s claims were “false on the facts and the law,” adding that “by design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership.”
The FTC is sticking by their guns, and is proposing rules that would require companies to make it “at least as easy” to cancel a subscription as it was to start it.
For example, if you can sign up online, you must be able to cancel on the same website, in the same general manner,
The new rules are expected to take effect next spring or summer, said James A. Kohm, associate director of the enforcement division at the F.T.C.’s consumer protection bureau.
“Help is on the way,” he added.
C+R Research found in a May 2022 survey that on average, consumers initially thought they spent $86 per month on subscription services. But after examining their expenses, they saw they actually spent $219.
