Are Microsoft really so hurt for cash they're willing to sacrifice their userbase for a few bucks? It seems crazy they'd stake their reputation like this, especially considering their corporate focus.
Microsoft isn't, but somewhere within Microsoft there is probably team who's KPI for the year is "increase Edge ad revenue by $N million". This team is completely removed from the "make Edge a great browser" team.
American here. What’s the beef with Klarna?
It's a scam scheme for financially illiterate people IMO. The fact that it's added into a default browser in a most popular OS in the world adds insult to the injury.
I've even been overdue on a bill (I forgot about it) and they just sent me an email asking to pay, still no fees.
Of course if I had continued to neglect the bill, fees might have started kicking in at some point, but that's no different from any other postpaid service.
If I'm reading this right, the late payment fee is maximum of $7 for their 4 payment thing?
https://cdn.klarna.com/1.0/shared/content/legal/terms/0/en_u...
If you bounce a check or an ACH the fee seems to be $27 (but not more than you owe) for their 30 day plan: https://cdn.klarna.com/1.0/shared/content/legal/terms/0/en_u...
Their pay over time thing seems to be 0-29.99% which seems in line with credit cards?
I mean, sure, I guess making it easy for people who make bad financial choices isn't great... but it's also easy for people who are making good financial choices.
Is there even a single corporation on earth that won't eventually do this? All it takes for this to happen is some executive or manager deciding they want a bonus. Shareholders demand perpetual growth and by god they're gonna deliver it.
I'd say it should be illegal to profitably harm people like this but everybody knows these people always get away with everything anyway. They already break existing laws and get a slap on the wrist at best.