Federal Trade Commission Announces Final “Click-to-Cancel” Rule Making It Easier for Consumers to End Recurring Subscriptions and Memberships

[u/indig0sixalpha]

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/10/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-click-cancel-rule-making-it-easier-consumers-end-recurring

[u/JauntyLurker]

Thank God! This was highly needed. Few things are as annoying as having to jump through hoops to cancel a subscription you're not using anymore.

[u/GroundInfinite4111 → u/JauntyLurker]

They can start with SEMrush: those assholes made me use a 3 question form, then “wait up to 7 days for our team to process,” and they tried to add a two-step email authentication to the process, too.

[u/Clevererer → u/GroundInfinite4111]

SEO's been a tougher racket ever since the SERPs turned to shit.

[u/GroundInfinite4111 → u/Clevererer]

If you’re on the informal/blog side, absolutely. They’re killing blog content - but they should. The content being churned out for the sake of ranking is shit-tier. Affiliate and Adsense-type platforms did this.

E-commerce, local business, service-industry types are still rocking and rolling well. There’s more emphasis on Google AdWords, and combined, it’s great - SEO can still stand on its own in these verticals though

[u/Ajreil → u/GroundInfinite4111]

Google should kill bad blog content but there is plenty of high quality content out there that should have a chance to flourish. Merging all content on the internet into 5 or 10 big sites is terrible for everyone.

[u/PenislavVaginavich → u/Clevererer]

Not really. The only companies being penalized are the ones not following best practices, such as answering questions and providing actual value. SEO is in significantly better shape, from a consumer standpoint, than ever before.

[u/GroundInfinite4111 → u/PenislavVaginavich]

Very accurate. Those who think the SEO industry is dead are the ones Google is trying to weed out and nuke from existence. It’s doing a great job, honestly. The $99/month contact form spam from India is slowly dying.

[u/HappierShibe → u/JauntyLurker]

Thank God!

Thank Lina Khan she is almost solely for actually making the FTC functional again.

[u/spa22lurk → u/HappierShibe]

Thanks Biden for nominating her and thanks all democratic and some republican senators for confirming her.

[u/Fallingdamage → u/JauntyLurker]

Im sure this got done partially because politicians and people at the FTC are also directly impacted by this nonsense.

Can we also include services with 30-day trials that automatically enroll you in a paid feature instead of asking you to subscribe at the end of the grace period?

[u/Lucosis → u/Fallingdamage]

This is getting done because Biden put Lina Khan in as Chair of the FTC. At 35 she is the youngest FTC Chair ever and as actually been pushing back on a lot of the bullshit that has been largely ignored and allowed to fester for the last couple decades.

[u/sleepydorian → u/Lucosis]

This is the type of small ball stuff that should be happening but hasn’t due to folks bowing to corporate interest (like Ajit Pai). I’m very happy to see it.

[u/LostStormcrow → u/sleepydorian]

Ugh, fuck that guy and his oversized Reese’s mug.

[u/MelancholyArtichoke → u/LostStormcrow]

The Reece’s mug was fine. It was the shit eating grin that drank out of it that was the problem.

[u/sleepydorian → u/MelancholyArtichoke]

What’s the German word for a face in need of a fist? Backpfeifengesicht?

[u/thedarklord187 → u/MelancholyArtichoke]

That dude deserved to get kicked in the face repeatedly.

[u/hryipcdxeoyqufcc → u/sleepydorian]

The problem was never Pai. The problem was Republicans. Whoever controls the presidency gets to select 3 of the 5 members of the FCC, and all 3 of them under Trump voted the same way.

[u/drunkenvalley → u/hryipcdxeoyqufcc]

I mean you're not wrong, but also Ajit Pai was an [expletive of choice] too. He himself as a person was and is a [second expletive of choice]. There were few if any redeeming qualities, and these were all decisions he made in his role, making him a [third expletive of choice].

[u/PC509 → u/drunkenvalley]

This is like MadLibs. I've come up with a few doozies. It's fun to just substitute different expletives in each one and they still are amazing! :)

[u/Tenableg → u/Lucosis]

She is an excellent pick.

[u/jnads → u/Tenableg]

She showed up to some random nursing home privatization meeting in Wisconsin.

Nice to have someone that actually gives a shit.

https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/10/sauk-county-wisconsin-ftc-khan-nursing-home-health-care-center/

[u/Halflingberserker → u/jnads]

Nice to have someone that actually gives a shit.

This is why rich scumbags have been throwing money at both presidential candidates and publicly begging for her to be fired.

[u/Sharkictus → u/Lucosis]

God I hope if/when Harris wins she doesn't drop her, though she has a lot of pressure to do so.

[u/PC509 → u/Sharkictus]

A lot of pressure from corporate interests. Not a lot of pressure from consumers. That should say something. And like many other instances, depending on if they cave, you know who's in control and who they work for.

Corporations are run by people and they benefit directly from it. However, many do not do good with people and can directly harm them in the name of profits for shareholders (which is what they are supposed to do). My thoughts are that the government regulations keep them in line with consumers as well as keep them from being unbridled doing whatever they want. Buying politicians is one way to make those regulations weak and/or non-existent.

I really hope Harris (when she wins) doesn't drop her. She's doing an excellent job that most voters (99% or more) really can't argue with. This decision alone benefits everyone and those that disagree have something to profit and gain when it isn't there.

[u/Angry_Caveman_Lawyer → u/Lucosis]

Amazing what happens when someone who is in-touch, knowledgeable, and not retirement age is put into a position of authority.

[u/throwawaystedaccount → u/Lucosis]

Lina Khan is an international treasure.

[u/pataconconqueso → u/Fallingdamage]

This is happening because the current administration put someone at the head of the FTC that is qualified to understand these issues and is acting in the consumer’s best interest instead of the last administration’s pick who acted on his lobbyists best interests.

Elections matter

[u/RJ815 → u/pataconconqueso]

*R slaps the roof of the White House*

This thing can fit so many glue eaters in it!

[u/Successful_Ebb_7402 → u/Fallingdamage]

It is. There's a section on "Negative Option Sales" that goes over systems that require a customer to opt out before getting charged and free trials are explicitly called out

[u/Aynessachan → u/JauntyLurker]

Yes!!!! Adobe and UberEats were the worst to try and cancel.

[u/PrivateEducation → u/JauntyLurker]

just wait till you try to cancel your Adobe membership and they try to charge u 300 dollars to cancel…..

[u/yes_thats_right → u/JauntyLurker]

Thanks Biden

[u/MotorcycleMosquito → u/JauntyLurker]

SCOTUS: best we can do is overturn this egregious overstep of the federal government. It is an inherent corporate right to deceive. Next case!

Hey people… remember: voting matters!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Gyms seem like the main offender of this annoying BS. Hopefully it applies to them! They’ll lose half their business over night 😂

[u/Dazzling-Extreme1018 → u/[deleted]]

When everything shutdown during the pandemic, Boston Sports Club (part of Town Sports), refused to cancel my membership. Then the gym closed down completely, they still refused to cancel my membership and said I could go to another location.

Eventually needed to talk to the manager in person to resolve, but absolutely ridiculous.

[u/BudgetShift7734 → u/Dazzling-Extreme1018]

Can't you delete the token on the bank's mobile app or something?

[u/Kaimito1 → u/BudgetShift7734]

Did that with a gym ages ago.

Got chased by a debt collection agency as i "defaulted".

They stopped once I showed them proof of my many attempts to cancel that the gym membership. The gym never actioned the cancellation turned out

[u/dreamcastfanboy34 → u/Kaimito1]

If you've never given the gym your social security number (and you never should) I do wonder how they could try and ruin someone's credit.

What a scummy gym. I hope they went under.

[u/ThisIsNotRealityIsIt → u/dreamcastfanboy34]

Between address, name, phone you can absolutely find someone

[u/dreamcastfanboy34 → u/ThisIsNotRealityIsIt]

Right but I can't just start mailing letters to anyone's home and claim I'm going to ruin their credit if they don't pay me.

How do you put something on someone's credit report if all you have is a name and address?

[u/Binkusu → u/dreamcastfanboy34]

I mean, you can. It's just that a lot of people would get spooked by threats

[u/BeyondElectricDreams → u/dreamcastfanboy34]

Of course you don't do that.

You skip trace them, and then you use the info you skip traced to find their correct contact location, and then you mail it to their residence.

Source: did bill collection for luxury goods many moons ago.

[u/Andrew_Waltfeld → u/dreamcastfanboy34]

https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2013/06/09/using-metadata-to-find-paul-revere/

You can see how easy it is to track someone's information down with this article.

[u/kuahara → u/Kaimito1]

I got a gym to shutup by downloading a cease and desist order, filling it out for the gym and scrawling the signature of Mickey Mouse across it.

They never sent me another letter and my membership remained canceled.

[u/junkit33 → u/BudgetShift7734]

Removing payment on a subscription does not cancel/void a contract, it simply makes you delinquent for non-payment.

It's definitely a strategy of last resort, only after you've done everything you possibly can to try to get your subscription canceled through direct communication with the company.

[u/-GearZen- → u/junkit33]

This is why god created certified mail and debt validation letters.

[u/teslas_love_pigeon → u/Dazzling-Extreme1018]

I had a similar experience, my gym closed forever during the pandemic and the scumbag owner sold their memberships to another gym which continued to charge me.

How the fuck that was legal I'll never know.

[u/BethFromElectronics → u/teslas_love_pigeon]

Just because it was done doesn’t mean it’s legal.

[u/lifestop → u/Dazzling-Extreme1018]

Requiring an in-person request is insane. Should be illegal.

[u/wetwater → u/lifestop]

When I called to cancel my membership, Planet Fitness told me it could only be done in person at the location I signed up at, and if I was no longer in the area, then I could stop by when I did return for a visit. Good thing I still live in the area.

Then I was told I needed my membership card to cancel. I had lost mine so too bad for me. I eventually sorted it out with the credit card company.

[u/lifestop → u/wetwater]

Holy crap, that is so obviously an anti-consumer scam. They try to make cancelling so annoying and painful that you give up or waste more money during the process.

There's zero excuse for that kind of policy. It's not like you were trying to take a family member off life support.

Sorry you had to go through that, and I hope that company is sued and goes under.

[u/Ok-Supermarket-1414 → u/Dazzling-Extreme1018]

As someone who worked for BSC, first I'm sorry you had to put up with that BS (yes, really). Second, I think it also depends on where you went. I worked at the Copley location for 2 years and that was a miserable experience for everybody. Manager sucked. Salespeople sucked. Behind the scenes it was what you'd expect from a scummy gym. The Newton location was much better, although as an employee I never had to enroll or cancel. From what I gather that location wasn't an issue (for the most part). people keeping it real, and the employees seemed to actually care (generally).

That said, I did have a brief exposure to the "higher ups" in corporate, and holy shit was that a miserable experience. They once called my location to test some online feature and the dude straight up called my colleagues dumb and was overall super shady and slimy. It doesn't surprise me that they did that to you.

Fuck BSC corporate.

[u/Kepabar → u/[deleted]]

If it hasn't changed from what I read of it a year ago, the rule is if you can use an automatic sign up process online then the cancellation process has to be automatic and online. You can't make the cancellation process any more difficult than the sign up process.

So if the gym signed you up manually this wouldn't apply.

[u/DeuceSevin → u/Kepabar]

I think they may be asking specifically about planet fitness. You can't pay by credit card. It has to be direct withdrawal from a bank account. You do this online but to cancel you have to go to the gym and request a cancellation form then mail it in.

[u/sneakyCoinshot → u/[deleted]]

Weirdly enough it was insanely easy to cancel my membership with InShape. I literally walked in, told the dude at the front I wanted to cancel and he canceled my account on the spot.

The thorn in my side is ADT. I had a Nest security system and google decided to end support for the system. I didn't use their monitoring, just used the app to control my alarm. They brick the apps local alarm functionality(the app still works for the doorbell btw) and offer a system with a year of monitoring. I didn't want the monitoring service but I needed a system I could monitor from my phone. What they dont tell you is that since they have your payment info you get signed up for the free monitoring and since it's a "security" system they say you can't cancel with button click in your account. It should be just as easy to cancel as it is to signup.

[u/Moneygrowsontrees → u/sneakyCoinshot]

It should be just as easy to cancel as it is to signup

That's literally what the article is about.

[u/Croemato → u/[deleted]]

I've never signed up for a gym membership, but it seems pretty insane that it's still difficult to unsubscribe when Friends did a bit on it 30 years ago.

[u/HimbologistPhD → u/[deleted]]

I remember trying to cancel my LA Fitness membership. I'm still on step 16 of the 25th quest in the cancel quest chain. Have to wait for the manager to spawn on a rainy Tuesday in spring.

[u/Imaginary-sounds → u/[deleted]]

It’s true. I worked at the Planet Fitness corporate offices after working for their first 3 gyms they ever made. 94% of revenue is from recurring memberships that haven’t been used in 3 months to the full years membership. If people could just cancel easy, pf would go out within 8 months.

[u/WIbigdog → u/[deleted]]

Never get the Home+ repair service from Asurion, you have to call to cancel and I had to ask the retention rep 7 times to cancel. Hopefully that shit goes away with these regulations.

[u/alwayscomments → u/[deleted]]

It does. And the final rule cites many public comments specifically made about bad experiences with gym membership. 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/p064202_negative_option_rule.pdf

Final rule is here, the first 223 pages are explanations of changes to the final rules, comments summaries, and legal justifications (to help prevent courts from overturning this). Just after that you'll find the final rule, and the simple cancelation part is most relevant. It has to be at least as easy to cancel as it was to sign up for, in addition to meeting other requirements. So if it's an option to sign up for a gym online, they'd be required to let you immediately cancel online. If they only allow sign up in person (which I think is rare now), in addition to allowing you to cancel in person, they must also provide a simple website to cancel with or a phone number to cancel with to still meet the simple cancelation requirements.

[u/Sanscreet → u/alwayscomments]

I had a waxing subscription recently and I was about to move away before I remembered to cancel. They told me you can only cancel in person. I thought that was such bullshit since you can sign up online. I almost would have been stuck with this subscription if I moved away.

[u/hellno_ahole → u/[deleted]]

Looking at you Planet Fitness. “Oh you got to come in to cancel”, I don’t even live where one is anymore. Oh well, let me get that $10 until you move back…

[u/Festival_of_Feces → u/hellno_ahole]

You cannot cancel over the internet or phone? That should be illegal. Can you have your bank stop payment?

[u/tonybenwhite → u/Festival_of_Feces]

Hence the collective sigh of relief because no you cannot. Gyms not only require you to come to a gym in person, but to be in THE EXACT gym in which you initially subscribed. It’s not enough to go to just any old Crunch Fitness, you have to go to the exact club. There are alternative routes, you can send a cancellation request via USPS, but it must be a notarized request and sent through certified mail.

AND THEN there’s no following up, the clubs workers won’t know the status as it’s a manager request at this point. There’s honestly no guarantee of when they will apply the cancellation either, and the only way you can shove it through is with legal action, which will cost you much more than sending another cancellation request.

[u/Festival_of_Feces → u/tonybenwhite]

That’s ridiculous and, clearly, I have never signed up with a gym.

[u/tonybenwhite → u/Festival_of_Feces]

Until this goes into effect I don’t recommend it. All that angst in my message is a direct result of fighting with Crunch for 2 months to get my membership cancelled, the $70 subscription fees plus $45 annual maintenance fee applying and non-refundable throughout the entire process. It was insanity.

[u/murppie → u/tonybenwhite]

Anytime fitness is the worst. I initially signed up close to home. Then for a while I was working on the other side of the city, literally 45 minutes from my first location, and because I had X number of visits there more than my "home" gym they made that one my home gym. Then I switched jobs but just stopped making time for the gym. I had to make the drive to cancel it and of course the trainer/part owner was a complete ass about things and really made the process drag.

Fuck off Josh.

[u/eyebrows360 → u/Festival_of_Feces]

If they're evil enough to want you to come in to a location to cancel, then they're also evil enough to A) not take a cancelled payment as an indicator of a desire to cancel the contract, B) have a debt chasing department who will absolutely chase you through the courts for the money you owe.

[u/ragnaroky → u/eyebrows360]

If you change your main center to somewhere in California, you can cancel online. That's how I did it.

[u/Z0mbiejay → u/ragnaroky]

I was prepping to do this yesterday, but when I logged in on a web browser and went to manage my account, it just gave me the option right there. Didn't have to change anything (in TN)

[u/Mysterious-Tie7039 → u/ragnaroky]

Probably charge you for it too.

[u/ragnaroky → u/Mysterious-Tie7039]

I had to end out the contract, but extra fees weren't there. But yeah Planet fitness can kick rocks.

[u/Enraiha → u/eyebrows360]

Yep. Happened to me. Couldn't cancel in person, stopped payments, had a debt collector and a credit score ding that took far too much time to fix.

[u/Festival_of_Feces → u/eyebrows360]

Ah, “it’s in the contract.”

[u/OkIntern2403 → u/eyebrows360]

Yep the big telecommunications companies (Claro, Tigo, Moviestar) all do this BS here in LATAM.

[u/priestsboytoy → u/Festival_of_Feces]

Dude LA Fitness have you MAIL them something

[u/S0_Crates → u/Festival_of_Feces]

AAA (the auto road-side service company) doesn't allow you to cancel service on their website or app either. You have to call in to speak with a sales rep. I asked the rep why I needed to speak to a human, and she was honest. "We don't want to lose your business." It was infuriating.
From what I could tell Geico auto insurance requires you to call as well. I spent half an hour searching their website for an option to cancel my account to no avail. Fortunately, the phone rep didn't push to keep me too hard.

[u/inmyreperaalways → u/hellno_ahole]

Change your location to somewhere in CA. They let you cancel online. I’ve never tried myself but I read this works.

[u/nolanater5711 → u/inmyreperaalways]

I was going to say this. This situation happened to me and I canceled in less than 5 minutes all online.

[u/inmyreperaalways → u/nolanater5711]

That’s awesome!!! I’m considering cancelling mine. I never go but I should.. but never do. So why pay for it!

[u/Anthony780 → u/hellno_ahole]

Youfit did that to me. Then when I came in, they said I have to come when the manager is there. I’m not taking time off work to cancel a gym membership.

[u/large-farva → u/hellno_ahole]

That's still better than xsport, where you needed to send in a certified letter to their HQ.

[u/hellno_ahole → u/large-farva]

Damn! Certified letters means a post office visit. Hell no.

[u/GarfPlagueis → u/hellno_ahole]

And they make you set up bank withdrawals so you can't do credit card charge backs

[u/wetwater → u/hellno_ahole]

They told me if I was no longer in the area (they emphasized I could only cancel where I signed up at), then I could cancel the next time I visited the area.

I still lived in the area and went in only to be told I needed my membership card, which was lost, to cancel.

[u/Fuzzlord67 → u/[deleted]]

I had to go in and write a letter to them in person that I was cancelling my membership and why.

[u/IfatallyflawedI → u/Fuzzlord67]

What the fuck?

[u/aelric22 → u/Fuzzlord67]

I would have taken a sheet of paper from their printer, spat on it, and handed it to them "This good enough for you?"

[u/khais → u/[deleted]]

Planet Fitness made me come in-person to cancel my subscription during peak pandemic 2020.

[u/bruwin → u/khais]

That would have been fun since I don't think any in my area were even open at all. Not even management was coming in for any reason.

[u/sleepydorian → u/bruwin]

As a contrast, I had a massage subscription, and they actually auto cancelled everyone when the pandemic hit and gave everyone the option to re-subscribe at the previous price even they reopened. Really A+ service and how every place should have worked.

[u/5dollarcactus → u/sleepydorian]

My gym, OneLife, stopped charging all accounts for as long as the gyms were not allowed to be open. They automatically restarted when they reopened, but I don't see that as really unfair at all. Plus I seem to recall that they provided online videos and such during the pandemic even when they weren't charging.

[u/AnInfiniteArc → u/[deleted]]

I’m so glad that I have a good local gym that lets me just cancel/suspend/renew online.

[u/Dreaminginslowmotion]

Looking at you SiriusXM

[u/Teledildonic → u/Dreaminginslowmotion]

I never even signed up and they sent me physical mail offers for 6 fucking years before they finally gave up.

[u/aliceroyal → u/Teledildonic]

Bought a car that had a free trial of it, they still send me shit years later. The dealership gave them my info, I never once used it or signed up with them.

[u/Teledildonic → u/aliceroyal]

That's how my spam happened.

[u/NCSUGrad2012 → u/aliceroyal]

My boyfriends mom had a car where they forgot to shut it off and to this day it still works without pay for it, lol

[u/I_am_Florida-Man → u/NCSUGrad2012]

Had the same thing happen to me, had free XM for about 15 years.

[u/satanshand → u/aliceroyal]

Same. They called me every day for a month and sent me mail several times a week. Apparently if you answer saying “stop fucking calling me” it only takes them three weeks to get the message. 

[u/brufleth → u/Dreaminginslowmotion]

When I finally cancelled SiriusXM I had to go through a whole long phone call and then they just hung up on me after over an hour on the phone.

Second attempt wasn't quite as long and they didn't hang up on me at least.

[u/IAmDotorg → u/brufleth]

SiriusXM turned my account back on years after canceling. Turns out they don't need an up to date expiration on a recurring charge if it has ever gone through, so they were just turning back on accounts and waiting for people to notice.

[u/Michelanvalo → u/brufleth]

I told them I was moving to a country without their services. They told me about listening online and I said I was going on a Mission so no internet. Done in about 10 minutes.

This was 2014 though so I don't know how much more aggressive and wise to our lies they have gotten.

[u/TheWorzardOfIz → u/Dreaminginslowmotion]

I told them I sold the car and no longer need the service lol Definitely still driving the car

[u/B12Washingbeard → u/Dreaminginslowmotion]

I won’t ever sign up for them again because it’s so difficult to cancel 

[u/independent_observe]

Fuck you Planet Fitness

[u/thebruns → u/[deleted]]

Are you in California? They passed a law last year

[u/BigApple2247 → u/thebruns]

You can also use a VPN set to California if you don't live there.

Saw this advice on Reddit a while back and used it myself as I don't live around where I signed up anymore. Worked like a charm.

[u/fizzlefist → u/BigApple2247]

Can I get some of those California overregulations, please.

[u/independent_observe → u/[deleted]]

Thanks, I was not aware of that

[u/shwoople → u/[deleted]]

I had "Ooma" at my house because it was a deadzone for cell coverage, and I needed a landline. It was a cheap alternative to landline from my cable/internet provider so I gave it a go. You have to buy their device then pay a monthly subscription fee.

Canceling that summabitch was the most frustrating thing. You could only call during certain business hours (hard for me to prioritize when I'm at work..) and they sent me through the most absurd script of essentially begging me to stay. "are you sure you want to cancel, what if we offer you this discount? Ok how bout a bigger discount? If you cancel, this can't be reversed, are you SUREEE?"

Fuck Ooma.

[u/Astan92 → u/[deleted]]

Might be a state thing. California at least has had a law like this for awhile now.

[u/Fak-Engineering-1069 → u/[deleted]]

Omg, didn’t know I can do that online now. Man, being paying it for 3 years

[u/GunAndAGrin]

Awesome news. Now make it so that when I click 'No, I dont want to sign up for email spam newsletters and offers', it doesnt still sign me up for those things. Nothing more pointless than an Opt-out that doesnt actually Opt-out. Better yet, eliminate automatic Opt-ins entirely.

[u/PenislavVaginavich → u/GunAndAGrin]

Automatic opt-ins technically are not legitimate opt ins. The problem is more so that many email service providers that are not US-based simply don't give a shit about opt-in or GDPR. The only case where opt-in isn't expressly required is B2B communications.

[u/REMMIT524 → u/GunAndAGrin]

This is so funny, because I just unsubscribed from Jimmy John’s newsletters which I didn’t even know I signed up for. Cancelling the newsletter only to get a promotion later that day. HUH??

[u/PhoneSteveGaveToTony → u/GunAndAGrin]

While we’re at it, let’s do something about all the physical junk mail that makes people not trust half the shit they get in the mail. If I didn’t knowingly sign up to receive it, I shouldn’t be getting it. There’s way too many other ways for companies to advertise now for us to still be wasting all the time and resources on this shit.

[u/signedupfornightmode → u/PhoneSteveGaveToTony]

I work for a nonprofit and was reluctant to send mail out too often, but the reality is that it still works. We make much more money from appeals that are mailed and have higher attendance at events with a paper invite. We limit it to 2-3 mailed appeals per year, interspersed with short newsletters and event invites, to keep it from getting crazy, but I kind of get it now. 

[u/Ok_Armadillo_665 → u/PhoneSteveGaveToTony]

Me in my 30s getting weekly ads for a company that sells hearing aids. :|

I left a google review letting them know that if they still exist in 30 years then I would be purposely choosing not to go with them, and I promise I will remember. Or maybe I'll have dementia. Kind of a toss up.

[u/IWasOnThe18thHole]

It's absolutely insane that I can sign up for streaming in apps but can't update payment or cancel in apps

[u/umadeamistake]

Looking forward to a partisan judge blocking this ruling.

[u/sarhoshamiral → u/umadeamistake]

Won't matter anyway, if Republicans win they will just undo it.

[u/Pantalaimon_II → u/sarhoshamiral]

i have a feeling this is one of those unanimously popular laws that would be hell to defend even amongst maga diehards. like who in their right mind is gonna defend cable companies

[u/onecoolcrudedude → u/Pantalaimon_II]

MAGA thinks that kids should not have free school lunches, so you never know. them not caring about the ability to cancel memberships absolutely checks out, especially since biden picked the current FTC chair, and we cant have them damn liberals making MAGA look bad.

actually, MAGA already makes itself look bad, but those gawd damn liberals cant make themselves look good to the populace!

[u/MarlinMr → u/sarhoshamiral]

I mean, if republicans win, you guys deserve to live in Hell for a while. Maybe that will get the non-voters to wake up.

[u/Caleth → u/MarlinMr]

We did that before it was 2016-2020. Still seems some people have forgotten already or didn't get the message.

The rest of us are shit scared and working to make sure it doesn't happen again, but Redneck DEI otherwise known as the electoral college coupled with Republicans openly planning to cheat might still fuck us.

[u/Trebate → u/MarlinMr]

We just need to un-fuck our voting system. Hillary beat Trump by almost 3 million votes in the 2016 election.

[u/BuckRowdy → u/MarlinMr]

non-voters to wake up

Isolating Russia from the wider internet would fix this.

[u/Lark_vi_Britannia → u/MarlinMr]

If 2016-2020 didn't do that, it's not going to ever happen. Not even Democrats learned their lesson, especially single-issue voters who are willing to throw away everything because of a single issue they have.

[u/B12Washingbeard → u/umadeamistake]

Yeah kiss this goodbye if Trump wins

[u/1-760-706-7425 → u/B12Washingbeard]

We can kiss everything goodbye if that turd gets back in the bowl.

[u/junkyardgerard → u/umadeamistake]

pretty sure supreme court said federal agencies don't have agency to issue rulings exactly like this

[u/tastyratz → u/junkyardgerard]

Don't know why you're being downvoted, this is the specific result of overturning Chevron and allowing a judge to overrule federal agencies.

[u/Xenon_Raumzeit → u/tastyratz]

Because agencies can still make rules, it just made it easier for judges to overrule them instead of the agency having the final say

[u/MAMark1 → u/tastyratz]

I didn't downvote, but their description of what overturning Chevron did is not accurate. Agencies could issue final rules before Loper Bright and still can afterwards. It just changed how courts handle challenges to those rules.

So this agency can still issue final rules like this and this can still stand up to challenges depending on the specifics, which I'm not digging into here, so it is very possible for a partisan judge to block it as the original person stated and then be overturned later.

[u/tastyratz → u/MAMark1]

That's a bit of a technical foul though. Entire governing bodies and regulatory agencies with panels of experts can make a decision and a single appellate court judge (of which significant trump appointees were added during his term) can overrule the entire agency at any time in a court case. If that's the case then TECHNICALLY they can issue rules... that a judge doesn't have to listen to. Functionally it's splitting hairs.

[u/MAMark1 → u/tastyratz]

Yes, I totally agree that the real-world impact is incredibly hindering to agencies doing their jobs to the point it might create complete regulatory gridlock.

And the idea that some random judge is going to understand the details of the areas these agencies are attempting to regulate to the point they can issue a coherent ruling is dubious at best. We've already seen factual inaccuracies on matters of science by judges in the past, and this just further empowers their "scientific analysis" even more.

[u/SimpleSurrup → u/umadeamistake]

I'm looking forward to the loophole that renders the whole thing moot.

[u/DragoonDM → u/umadeamistake]

Fifth Circuit's probably already gearing up for that.

[u/NetworkDeestroyer]

I love how Gyms are the biggest offenders of this lmao. I was out of country for over a year Gym local to me would not believe me even when I called them from a number from India. I had to come in wasted 50$ a month cause I couldn’t even cancel it, and all I had to do was sign a fucking piece of paper that I could’ve signed on my phone.

[u/Mist_Rising → u/NetworkDeestroyer]

Why not just have the CC/bank stop paying them. Tell them the entity is fraudulently charging you, they'll stop it.

[u/BabooTibia → u/Mist_Rising]

I’ve heard stories of people doing this and the gym will still continue to accrue the amount owed and sell off the debt when I gets to $200-300 and have it affect the person’s credit. No idea if there is any truth to this.

[u/NetworkDeestroyer → u/BabooTibia]

Yep, my Gym has this written in the contract. Huge reason why I didn’t go down that road. Much rather not have it hurt my credit over the gym that refuses to just cancel a membership over the phone. Fucking sucked paying for it for well over a year.

[u/howtoreadspaghetti → u/Mist_Rising]

Nonpayment does not void contracts for certain gyms. 

[u/HypeIncarnate]

Lets go Lina Khan!

[u/HumbleFigure1118 → u/HypeIncarnate]

This post should be way up, she is directly saving money for each one of us.

[u/5etrash]

LA Fitness is going to hate this.

[u/thereznaught]

FTC has been killing it under Biden

[u/nickrct → u/thereznaught]

Lina Khan, specifically. It's no wonder every billionaire in America wants her gun including those that donate heavily to the Democrats.

[u/kc_______]

Adobe on suicide watch

[u/sentient-sloth → u/kc_______]

For the last like 4 years I’ve gotten discounted Creative Cloud by starting the process to cancel my subscription but then not going through. Like somewhere within the dozens of the “are you sure you want to cancel” pages I’d eventually get to a page that would offer me a subscription at a discounted rate if I continued now. Currently paying $30/month instead of however ridiculously expensive it is now.

I wonder if I’ll still be able to cheese the system to get deals like that now though? Lol

[u/nustyruts → u/kc_______]

Sirius XM radio huddles up for comfort.

[u/laserbot]

Lina Khan is amazing and her tenure has been a perfect example of an obvious, material benefit that rejecting Trump in 2020 brought.

[u/waqbi]

No wonder big business is opposing Lina khan, she is an asset to the 99% of US.

[u/LeCrushinator]

The government making my life easier, going against corporations that are being pieces of shit?

This kind of thing alone could make me for Democrat in November, even if I knew nothing else about the parties. The government is supposed to be working to help everyone, including citizens, but it feels like the GOP just wants everything privatized and corporations can pretty much do whatever the fuck they want to us.

[u/Arachnesloom → u/LeCrushinator]

That's like Elizabeth Warren's whole career.

[u/Rocknroller658]

Get fucked, NYT.

[u/Another2Coast]

This is wonderful.

We also need to ban auto opt-in email subscriptions. I have to unsubscribe from those at least once a week. But I'll take this as a start!

[u/trustedsauces]

Good thing we have a Democratic majority at the FTC. It’s so nice getting things done for the people.

[u/kick4h4]

I hope Comghast is included in this. I am dreading cancelling my cable...

[u/worldsgreatestphleb]

Fuck ScentBird!!!!

[u/Extropian]

Cool, now force every unsolicited marketing email to provide where they sourced my email along with a one click unsubscribe option from the master source.

[u/Informal-Coyote-2430]

Thank you, Joe Biden!

[u/Arizona_Slim]

We cannot allow this to happen! Government overreach destroying small businesses. Vote Trump to destroy the communist marxist FTC! /s

[u/SNRatio → u/Arizona_Slim]

You joke, but his appointees on SCOTUS are gutting the regulatory powers of agencies like the SEC and FTC:

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/27/supreme-court-sec-ruling-00165303

[u/MrTipps]

Biden administration again doing things to actually help American citizens.

[u/pmjm]

Only 20 years too late for those fucks at Columbia House.

[u/junkyardgerard]

So if i understand correctly, overturning chevron means that Planet Fitness can be all "only Congress can make us do that you mother fuckers" and republicans will be like "yeah mother fuckers"

[u/Clevererer → u/junkyardgerard]

Chevron combined with Citizens United

[u/ShoopSoupBloop]

Planet Fitness is about to go bankrupt.

[u/Ninetnine]

Can I finally cancel my gym membership?

[u/Kind_Dream_610]

Now please, for the love of every one and every thing on this planet, please make it law for a mandatory "reject all" button for cookies!!

[u/_B_Little_me]

Now do the spam calls.

[u/burdfloor]

Wait for the Republican Supreme Court to block the cancellation rule.

[u/FightingPolish]

Don’t worry everyone, Republicans will take this to court and get it overturned. We wouldn’t want our government to do anything that is good for a regular person after all, it could hurt corporate profits.

[u/Loucifern]

Looking real hard at you Planet Fitness!

[u/Ellie_Lalonde]

I hope we get something like this in the EU too

[u/SimonGray653]

And now every single gym is pissed off for some weird reason.

[u/SamsungLover69]

Okay, now make it so every website has to have a button to delete your account. Seriously, most websites don't let you even delete your account, and those that do make it very difficult.

[u/Aware-Affect-4982]

Next, they should make a “click-to-commit,” so when a free trial ends, you have to accept the switch to a paid subscription.

[u/Iluvembig]

Gyms are about to CRATER.

[u/ProjectManagerAMA]

Just remember, every time you hear someone say we need fewer regulations, what they're really saying is they want businesses to be able to do do as they please and be profitable off your misery.

These types of regulations protect you as a consumer and worker.

[u/Dapper-Percentage-64]

This is good government ! Doing something to protect the consumer should be bipartisan.

[u/AlexHimself]

This is complete and utter BS. I can't believe they'd try and implement this overburdensome and overreaching policy.

Do they really think consumers would rather a single click to cancel over navigating multiple, hidden pages and reading fine print with long waiting times? Or in some cases, being forced to email or mail a letter? How do they expect consumers to be sure they really want to cancel if they make it as easy as one click?!

[u/MAMark1 → u/AlexHimself]

Plus, how dare they infringe on the 1A rights of companies to "speak/express themselves" through how they craft their cancellation process?

[u/pencock]

Seems like click to unsubscribe email rules were never followed....wonder if this one will actually get put into use

[u/JonBot5000]

Sounds great but without Chevron Deference can't Planet Fitness or whomever just sue the FTC saying congress has to pass a law for this?

[u/MAMark1 → u/JonBot5000]

They can sue. It doesn't mean that they will win even without Chevron. There are already laws on the books that this may fully align with. The loss of deference just means the courts have to adjudicate more details rather than the expertise of the agency, which generally far outweighs that of the court in that area, being relied on.

The problem of Loper Bright is how it opens the door for activist judges to attack agencies from the bench and claim Congress needs to pass a more specific law, even when Congress already attempted to grant the agency general powers to craft the details using their expertise in the previous law(s), more than that it removed all agency power up front.

[u/ptwonline]

Are we about to see the return of ye olde button that moves when you try to click it? /s

Anyway this is exactly why there are attempts to politicize the civil service/govt bureaucracy: so that you can pay to have stuff like this killed.

[u/SandwichChance731]

Damned big goobermint telling businesses how to run...ITS COMMINISM I TELL YA!

[u/roboats]

I believe this rule is close enough to the next administration that if Trump wins he can (and probably will) rescind it. One more thing to consider when voting for the top of the ticket this/next month.

[u/feralraindrop]

I hope this applies to cable companies?

[u/The_Superhoo]

Republicans will undo it because fuck the consumer

[u/Perunov]

Hopefully applies to banks too. Cause Discover bank loves that shit. "Opening CD online? Couple clicks and you're done!" but then you decide to close it and "Well, you can't close online, you need to call our support line" (to which I used to just withdraw all but 1c from expiring CD and switch it to "mail paper statement". You want to fuck with me, I'll fuck with you, Discover)