The FTC is finally making it easier to cancel your gym membership

Oct 16, 2024 09:11 PM - 4 months ago 149027

The US Federal Trade Commission is taking action against subscriptions that are difficult to get free of. On Wednesday, it adopted a last “click-to-cancel” rule requiring businesses to make canceling a subscription arsenic easy arsenic signing up.

Under the rule, businesses can’t unit customers to cancel a subscription utilizing a method different from really they signed up. For example, if you signed up for a subscription pinch an online form, companies can’t require you to telephone them aliases chat pinch a unrecorded supplier to cancel. The FTC will besides require businesses to intelligibly disclose the position of their subscriptions and get customer consent earlier charging them.

The rule, which was first projected past year, applies to immoderate automatically renewing subscription, ranging from difficult-to-cancel gym memberships to mag subscriptions, and monthly payments for services for illustration Amazon Prime. It besides covers free tests that complaint if you don’t cancel successful time, on pinch continuity plans wherever you’ll person periodic merchandise shipments until you cancel.

“Too often, businesses make group jump done endless hoops conscionable to cancel a subscription,” FTC chair Lina Khan said successful the property release. “The FTC’s norm will extremity these tricks and traps, redeeming Americans clip and money. Nobody should beryllium stuck paying for a work they nary longer want.”

The “click-to-cancel” norm is portion of the FTC’s broader crackdown connected shady subscription practices. Earlier this. year, the agency sued Adobe for offering “deceiving” subscriptions that are difficult to cancel. The FTC besides sued Amazon complete claims it tricked people into signing up for Prime and slammed Microsoft’s caller changes to its Xbox Game Pass subscription.

Most of the provisions successful the “click-to-cancel” norm will spell into effect 180 days aft it’s published successful the Federal Register.

More