Cable firms to FTC: We shouldn’t have to let users cancel service with a click
arstechnica.com
Customers may "misunderstand the consequences of canceling," cable lobby says.

Cable firms to FTC: We shouldn’t have to let users cancel service with a click — Customers may “misunderstand the consequences of canceling,” say lobbyists::Customers may “misunderstand the consequences of canceling,” cable lobby says.

  • ZeroCool@slrpnk.netEnglish
    1681·
    10 months ago

    “The proposed simple click-to-cancel mechanism may not be so simple when such practices are involved. A consumer may easily misunderstand the consequences of canceling and it may be imperative that they learn about better options,” NCTA CEO Michael Powell said at the hearing. For example, a customer “may face difficulty and unintended consequences if they want to cancel only one service in the package,” as “canceling part of a discounted bundle may increase the price for remaining services.”

    This sounds like a “you” problem. If your service were any good this wouldn’t be a concern because nobody would have a reason to reach that page. Take those discounted bundles and fuck right off.

      • ZeroCool@slrpnk.netEnglish
        37·
        10 months ago

        Yep, it’s a terrible argument but it’s the only one they’ve got. They can’t admit the easier it is to cancel service the more customers they’ll lose. Nor can they say that the cable industry has spent a fortune researching how to make canceling service just frustrating enough that people will put it off long enough for the urge to eventually pass. And believe it or not, exploiting people’s laziness has been a surprisingly effective customer retention strategy for decades.

      • xavier666@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        Consequences?

        Is the button an unsubscribe button or a button for a guillotine?

    • fidodo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      38·
      10 months ago

      I’m sure these lobbyists are being paid millions to prevent buttons that would make them make more money. Makes total sense.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        10 months ago

        You can’t just sarcastically say a statement that no one else was even implying to… I don’t even know wtf you’re trying to do here.

        No one is arguing that these buttons will benefit cable companies. All the arguments I’ve read so far in here boil down to “people should be able to cancel services they don’t want even if it fucks the cable companies” sometimes combined with a dose of “and I hope it does fuck them”.

        • fidodo@lemmy.worldEnglish
          21·
          10 months ago

          I’m not rebuking anyone, I’m making a sarcastic comment targeting the lawyers and their stupid argument.

          The relevant part I’m commenting on is the quote, not the comment.