California Bill AB 2867 Proposed To Allow You To Cancel Comcast With 'Click Of The Mouse' (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Los Angeles Assemblyman Mike Gatto has introduced a bill that would allow Californians to cancel their internet or cable services online with 'one click.' The bill reads, ''AB 2867 allows Californians to conveniently unsubscribe from a service with a simple click of the mouse,' said Assemblyman Gatto. 'It just makes sense, that if you are able to sign-up for a service online, you should also be able to cancel it the same way.' Rapid advancements in technology grant consumers a wide variety of cable, internet and phone service products from which they may choose, and while companies make it simple to buy or upgrade services, a cancellation request is usually a prolonged ordeal where customers are sometimes pressured into extending their contracts. AB 2867 provides a convenient and consumer-friendly option for Californians to remove unwanted services without a long phone call.' Bill AB 2867 would in theory spare you from an 18-minute call with a Comcast representative in regard to cancelling your service.

Comments

Mike Gatto for President

[MetricT]

Seriously, *every* business by law should be required to be cancellable by one-click or similar. There are a number of them that want to spend an hour on the phone listening to the pretty music, hoping to wait you out.

a sign

[wickerprints]

Tells you how odious such "retention practices" are when the ability to quit a business relationship with a corporation without undue burden has to be legislated.

how many other things too?

[supernova87a]

Would this apply equally to:

-- gym memberships?
-- credit cards?
-- cell phone plans?
-- America Online?


Basically, anything where the business model is to rely on your inertia and hassle of cancelling the service, and the high pressure sales tactics to stay when you finally call them up? I constantly find it amazing that there are businesses that survive on this principle...

Two factor authentication

[Etherwalk]

Seriously, *every* business by law should be required to be cancellable by one-click or similar. There are a number of them that want to spend an hour on the phone listening to the pretty music, hoping to wait you out.

One-click with two-factor authentication, maybe.

You don't want someone who gets the password for a business to be able to cancel the ISP service of a heavy-traffic ecommerce site with one click.

Re:Two factor authentication

[taustin]

That won't actually be a problem, I think. The bill only requires provision to cancel the account online if you can sign up online. Business accounts of any importance usually don't get done that way. We had a sales rep come in and give us a presentation before we signed any contracts.

It's a good bill, well written, and I dearly hop that the chimpanzees in Sacramento shove it down Comcasts' throat until they choke on it.

Re:Two factor authentication

[Sneftel]

The "one click" thing is all spin; the bill actually just requires ISPs to allow cancellation through their website. Presumably the process would involve the same identity verification as phone cancellation (though more securely, since it's more difficult to socially engineer a website than a phone rep).