How many times have you been frustrated with trying to cancel a subscription, and ended up at a dead end?
Most of us have been there. Many times. You want to cancel something, An online protection plan. A gym membership. A news feed source. A streaming subscription. There are so many SUBSCRIPTION-BASED SERVICES online. They lock you in. But later, when you try to CANCEL, you can’t find the right button to click, which is often buried or hidden away, or isn’t even there. Then, you have to email customer support, and wait. Or, you phone into a call center, if you can get through and it’s between business hours. Even then, they may intimidate you and bait you with additional pressure.
Easy to get in. Far more difficult to get out. Like mice and cheese and mousetraps.
Corporations do this *intentionally.* It’s called the RETENTION MAZE. It’s part of their business model. And, it’s deceptive as hell and unfair to customers.
CANCELING is difficult, by design. So, many people just give up. Just as many people forget they have a monthly or quarterly subscription, at all. This manipulation is how they screw people. Yes, we’re getting screwed and it costs Americans billions of dollars every year.
Not anymore. At least, not in New York City.
Companies can’t force their customers onto the phone, hang up on you, bury the instructions, or scare you about what happens if you leave. Price, renewal date and how to cancel must be spelled out before they ever touch your credit card. And if you can CLICK to subscribe, then it must be just as easy to CLICK to cancel.
This is what happens when BOLD PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT AND LEADERSHIP steps in, steps up, and works for consumers. They counterweigh the power and wealth and crushing control of companies who exploit millions. Of course, corporations and banks LOATHE any regulations whatsoever. This is because they make a shitload of profit off of their confused customers.
Earlier this year, NYC Mayor Mamdani pushed for and was successful in passing the very first CONSUMER PROTECTIONS in the country to force companies with businesses to BAN subscription traps and junk fees on their customers in New York. This bold new law went into action Oct. 1st.
“In our city, we’re drawing a clear line: if you can sign up with a click, you must be able to cancel with one,” Mayor Mamdani said.
Of course, corporations are livid. Online retailers tremble that these laws will spread to other regions, or go nationwide. They sued New York City (so far, unsuccessfully). Meanwhile, corporatist Trump flunkies at the FTC, which is in charge of consumer laws and online commerce, opposes Mamdani’s law. Violations in NYC are punishable by a $525 fine (higher for repeated offenses), and anyone who resides in New York can file a complaint now online against a company which breaks the law.
This is GOOD GOVERNMENT. This is GOVERNMENT WORKING FOR THE PEOPLE.
Of course, conservatives and corporations and capitalists hate it. Trump’s henchmen have defanged and destroyed federal agencies which protect consumers. The companies make out like bandits. Deregulation — what a giant screw job. They make a lots of money fooling people. This certainly goes for SUBSCRIPTIONS, and banking fees, and hidden charges, and all kinds of deceptive shenanigans.
Bravo to progressives in NYC and Mayor Mamdani for standing up for regular people and protecting consumers. They can call him names and mislabel his intentions, but he’s just done something really good for the people of his city.