One-Click-To-Cancel Law Goes into Effect in 180 days.

[Nancy OShea]

Have you ever had a gym membership or other recurring subscription you couldn't cancel without going through endless hurdles?  You're not alone.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/10/federal-trade-commission-announces-final...

[John T Smith]

Hmm... one thing says "simple mechanism to cancel the negative option feature and immediately halt charges"

So I wonder if that means that Adobe will no longer be able to charge 1/2 of the remaining time of a subscription as an early cancel fee?

[Monika Gause]

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@John T Smith  schrieb:

So I wonder if that means that Adobe will no longer be able to charge 1/2 of the remaining time of a subscription as an early cancel fee?

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If that is the case, then discounts for long term subscribers will make no sense anymore.

[BobLevine]

It shouldn't mean that at all. This can be debated until the cows come home but early cancelation penalties have existed forever. It's a contract, so I would think, you click to cancel the subscription, you get a popup telling you what the final cost will be and you get charged.

[Nancy OShea]

Nope.   The law means that businesses cannot obfuscate the CANCEL option beneath layers of screens and onerous hurdles intended to discourage customers from being able to cancel.  It makes no mention of penalty fees that one may incur.

One blatant case involved a Fitness Gym with multiple locations.  Member moved out of the area and wanted to cancel.  Was told by the local Fitness Gym the only way she could cancel was:

1) Go back to the original location 60 miles away...

2) Find the General Manager (who was never on site) to sign-off on her "application to cancel"...

3) Then wait for approval from corporate headquarters.

Totally absurd!