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.

Re:Mike Gatto for President

[Dutch Gun]

This seems like a common-sense law, and it comes in direct response to abuse by these companies. I'm generally not in favor of legislation of this sort until it's been established that there's a clear problem, but this sort of thing has gotten out of hand. For companies that complain about over-regulation, maybe if you didn't treat your customers like shit, we wouldn't have to expressly forbid that sort of behavior through explicit legislation or regulation.

My own experience with this "make it a pain to cancel a service" tactic was from an EA MMO from quite a few years ago: "Earth and Beyond" I think it was called. It was a pretty horrible MMO, got boring extremely fast, and there was very little content in the game. After a couple months, I tried to cancel, and realized I couldn't even do that online. I had to call an EA rep who's job it was to try to talk me out of cancelling. I had to do a lot of talking and repeatedly request a cancellation. While it was certainly not as bad as that infamous Comcast customer service call we've all heard, it was still extremely irritating, and I vowed I would NEVER sign up for an EA MMO ever again.

What the hell are these companies thinking? Do they not realize the annoyance or even anger they generate with these idiotic tactics? If someone is cancelling your service, it's likely they're already not too happy with you, so you're now going to try to harass you into staying?

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...

Re:theres an easer way of course.

[rahvin112]

It's far easier to just call them say cancel then when the retention folks get on the line tell them you are moving. When they ask where, tell them the state prison, that you are serving a 20 year sentence for assaulting the local phone company rep that wouldn't cancel your account after you asked politely.