Comment by didsomeonesay | Hacker News Reader

Comment by didsomeonesay | Hacker News Reader

Subscription providers will be as shameless as allowed by law. Or worse.

I try to cancel subscriptions immidiately after signing up when i only want the service for a limited time.

For an Italian newspaper's online subscription, after contacting them for cancellation via web form, my family was informed: you have to call a number and that cancellations will only be accepted 1 day before the end of the subscription.

Let me re-state that: you have to remember, one year after signing up, to call that number within a 24 hour window (maybe less, depending on their office hours), reach somebody, and hope for their honesty in confirming the cancellation, because your have no proof that you did so. Or you are locked in for another year.

Luckily, I had used PayPal as subscription payment method, wich has a separate web interface for cancellation. And also remembered the call after one year, for good measure.

But what a disrespect for consumers! Quite surprised this was apparently legal in Italy (we don't live there, it was an educational subscription).

> Quite surprised this was apparently legal in Italy

Did you verify that? Because I wouldn't be surprised if it's not actually legal, but that it's just a "we'll try it and no one fines us if we break the law" type of thing. When I lived in the UK (pre-Brexit) quite a few companies broke EU consumer laws all the time, such as mandatory listing of FULL price up front, but no one really seemed to care enough to actually do something about it so loads of companies (small and large) just did illegal stuff.

From what I can find, EU law isn't super-strong on subscriptions, although most countries do seem to have national laws. For example in Netherlands automatic renewals are only allowed month-by-month after the initial contract period, and you need to be able to unsubscribe with the same communication method that you used to subscribe. Simple common-sense no-brainer stuff, really.

You're completely right; I don't know, but challenging that or even just finding out more about the legal situation in Italy was beyond my language skills.

Adobe do that "cancellation window" trick too. I'd never seen it anywhere else, though; I thought they were uniquely scummy.

Youtube tv has it, but it's 3 days iirc, and you can still click a button to cancel.

Still annoying.

My waste removal company has it and it’s a 5 year contract. You have a window of 90-120 days before the 5 year contract renews for another 5 years.

John’s refuse in CT

Seems like a good candidate for some old fashioned bulk complaining. Hit up the BBB, Yelp, etc. It seems stupid to us, but most companies actually care about those silly review sites even though none of them are binding in any way. The BBB especially.

You could also remind them via an online contact form once a day that you think this policy is garbage...

>I try to cancel subscriptions immidiately after signing up when i only want the service for a limited time.

Maddening: Apple requires iOS devs to allow a trial to run its full course even if the user cancels early. There's an exception, though. Wanna guess what it is?

Yep, Apple's own services. Cancel an Apple Music, TV, etc. trial early, and it ends immediately.

Apple: "Rules for thee, not for me."

> ”I try to cancel subscriptions immidiately after signing up”

Yea, this has been my strategy also… best approach.

Also, i simply purchase way less in general since “subscription hell” started versus before that.

> hope for their honesty in confirming the cancellation, because your have no proof that you did so

Phone call recording app is a great, great idea.

Though this is relevant in the USA, not Italy, confirm whether your state has single or dual party consent laws for recording prior to implementing this if you want to use it in any sort of legal proceedings.

I've always taken the 'calls may be recorded for quality assurance purposes' message played before connecting you to go both ways. Does the grammar work differently in Italian?

Or, just mention it at some point.

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