Efforts being rolled out Monday include a new Federal Communications Commission inquiry into whether to impose requirements on communications companies that would make it as easy to cancel a subscription or service as it was to sign up for one.

The Federal Trade Commission in March 2023 initiated “click to cancel” rulemaking requiring companies to let customers end subscriptions as easily as they started them.

Also Monday, the heads of the departments of Labor and of Health and Human Services are asking health insurance companies and group health plans to make improvements to customer interactions with their health coverage, and “in the coming months will identify additional opportunities to improve consumers’ interactions with the health care system,” according to a White House summary.

The government already has launched several initiatives aimed at improving the consumer experience.

  • In October, the FTC announced a proposed rule to ban hidden and bogus junk fees, which can mask the total cost of concert tickets, hotel rooms and utility bills.

  • In April, the Transportation Department finalized rules that would require airlines to automatically issue cash refunds for things like delayed flights and to better disclose fees for baggage or reservation cancellations.

  • In June, the Justice Department, referred by the FTC, filed a lawsuit against software maker Adobe and two of its executives, Maninder Sawhney and David Wadhwani, for allegedly pushing consumers toward the firm’s “annual paid monthly” subscription without properly disclosing that canceling the plan in the first year could cost hundreds of dollars.

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    7 months ago

    Yeah, this is super annoying. It should be as easy to cancel as it is to subscribe, and details should be transparent. I don’t know what the law here should look like, but I think perhaps we could consider it a form of fraud (i.e. if it’s easy to sub, there’s a reasonable expectation that it is also easy to cancel).