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[jigglet]

You can do It in your couch with the controller... Is in italian..but you can can disable the auto renew or delete the subscription

And you're saying every single newspaper, video subscription service, music subscription service, gaming service etc etc all uses the exact same un-subscribe process? The same location on their sites? I can just follow your instructions on say, my web hosting account, and blindly get to the unsubscribe option regardless of what service I'm using?

If you can't answer yes to that, then you will understand the point I was making.

The latest newspaper I subscribed to didn't have an opt-out service on their site. I had to physically phone them to cancel my subscription (finding their actual phone number was a journey in itself). There was a tree-structure like 5 levels deep that I had to navigate before I was able to talk to a real human, then answer a series of questions in order to get my subscription cancelled. It was a PITA.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

You don't need it. We all know your international phone number is smaller than your bank balance.

I'm so poor, I cry everyday. Me when I was a kid.

 

[mcjmetroid]

Im guessing someone was hoping for "awww fuck why does ms have to refund them?" replies lol

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/nintendo-switch-online-auto-renewal-beware.1569337/

Check this thread I made about this issue years ago for the apologists.

 

[Banjo64]

All 3 are bad, but MS are particularly bad as I’m sure you have to use their website to turn off auto-renewal.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that you can turn auto-renewal off on PS and Nintendo, and when you redeem a pre-paid code for online they will turn auto-renewal back on without warning you (if you have payment details saved). PS got me one time using this, and took £49.99 out of my bank for Plus. That’s the only time I’ve ever been caught with my pants down.

 

[Ozriel]

All 3 are bad, but MS are particularly bad as I’m sure you have to use their website to turn off auto-renewal.

I believe someone posted above that you can turn off recurring billing on your console

 

[Concern]

All 3 are bad, but MS are particularly bad as I’m sure you have to use their website to turn off auto-renewal.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that you can turn auto-renewal off on PS and Nintendo, and when you redeem a pre-paid code for online they will turn auto-renewal back on without warning you (if you have payment details saved). PS got me one time using this, and took £49.99 out of my bank for Plus. That’s the only time I’ve ever been caught with my pants down.

You can turn them off but for some reason on both psn and Xbox my auto renewal turns back on by itself. Scammy garbage.

I always get my subs cheaper elsewhere but when I look at auto renewal its turned back on.

 

[DenchDeckard]

*PS5 gamers

PlayStation 5 Owners Reportedly Prefer Boxed Games to Digital Ones

A new report from Global Sales Data suggests that PlayStation 5 owners prefer to purchase physical games over their digital counterparts.

gamerant.com

This actually doesn’t surprise me too much due to the larger install base and the more robust system MS has for past purchases and backwards compatibility. I nearly always buy my PS4/ps5 exclusives soo can trade them in after completion due to their more single player targeted story modes.

on topic, this is great news and hope we see some positive change due to it. I’m not a fan of auto renewal.

 

[Hendrick's]

Every damn trial is banking on this practice of you not knowing it auto renews and you have to manually go in and cancel it.

No. most are banking on you finding value in the service and wanting to stay subscribed.

 

[Excess]

How about companies stop automatically setting up renewing subscriptions after trial periods?

The contract is usage of services for a select period of time upon the agreement you commit yourself financially. This is to prevent abuse of trial periods.

The auto-renewal wasn't at all obvious at the time (no idea if it still is)

Anytime you give your payment information up for a trial, the presumption is that you will be charged. It's pretty straightforward.

The only reason they do it is that they hope you forget and they have access to your finances.

Assuming this is true, this is still a 'you' problem.

 

[Deerock71]

UK authorities: "Yup, they auto-renew, all right. Cheers."

 

[Punished Miku]

This is good. Auto-renew is bullshit in almost all cases.

 

[JLB]

All 3 are bad, but MS are particularly bad as I’m sure you have to use their website to turn off auto-renewal.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that you can turn auto-renewal off on PS and Nintendo, and when you redeem a pre-paid code for online they will turn auto-renewal back on without warning you (if you have payment details saved). PS got me one time using this, and took £49.99 out of my bank for Plus. That’s the only time I’ve ever been caught with my pants down.

This is not true. from games and apps->subs you can click on any of your current subs and: deactivate recurrent payment, change payment method and cancel sub.
Xbox is actually the platform where its way easier to do it.

 

[PharaoTutAnchAmun]

I wish every country is the world would make this a law

 

[graywolf323]

I wonder why they're just targeting Nintendo/PlayStation/Xbox and not the practice as a whole?

basically every subscription service out there operates the same way

 

[Magic Carpet]

There is an old story from the States decades ago about a family member who found out his Great Grandmother had been paying to rent an old rotary phone from the phone company. The phone company just kept the bill going because greed.

 

[TheDreadLord]

You may have given it permission to auto renew and forgot about it.

This permission is often automatic. Meaning that you manually need to turn it off. It should be the opposite way. In addition, many of these services won’t even care to warning you that they are going to charge your card. MS at least warns you some weeks in advance.

 

[hemo memo]

That's nice and all, but like, how about consumers be more responsible for their own finances?

How about companies not implementing scummy practices?

The default should be off.

 

[Three]

Assuming this is true, this is still a 'you' problem.

Well, apparently not anymore?

 

[SLB1904]

The ol "I'm definitely gonna utilize that Gym membership next month" .

That's literally me.

 

[Skyfox]

/clicks unsubscribe
/clicks reject all

No feedback. No confirmation. No email.

End result?
No trust!

 

[CeeJay]

That's literally me.

It's a fact that as long as you have a gym membership then that is nearly as good at keeping you fit as actually using it

 

[chonga]

Interesting that as part of this Microsoft is going to email existing members and tell them they can cancel and claim a refund.

Game Pass are going to nose dive. The Activision acquisition will most likely need to be put on hold now.

 

[Braag]

I paid 1 year of amazon prime without noticing.
I have no idea how I had even subscribed to it, a friend said if you order something from Amazon there's a box to also sub to prime, so maybe it was that.
But yeah, this is how subscription services often operate.

 

[RPSleon]

Wish they would do this shit for my girlfriends countless subscription services. Hemorrhaging money.

 

[RPSleon]

I paid 1 year of amazon prime without noticing.
I have no idea how I had even subscribed to it, a friend said if you order something from Amazon there's a box to also sub to prime, so maybe it was that.
But yeah, this is how subscription services often operate.

Man thats shit. They literally get you to sign up, seemingly, without you knowing. Twice ive accidentally signed up to prime. Its criminal how you can accidentally do it! One time was when my girlfriends payment didnt go through so it switcher her account to my card because i used my card on her account once to buy something. So i guess that time was different, but still shit.

 

[Fuz]

UK did the right thing getting out of EU.

 

[Jigsaah]

This is great. Looks like Microsoft is being proactive about this. I would assume this would apply to everyone that uses Gamepass, not just UK users?

Personally, I use an app to keep track of all my subscriptions. Truebill.

 

[NickFire]

I support regulation of this. As long as I have kids I will be keeping tabs on what they play, purchase, etc. But that doesn't mean it should be free reign to bury additional fees / costs into ToS (that I rarely ever see until after purchase anyway). Even those of us who are diligent can miss this stuff. It was a few years ago (and the disclaimers seem better these days), but I once learned a game I approved had re-occurring charges the month after approval (second charge). As far as I am concerned, everything should require explicit opt in only, separate and apart from initial purchase.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Auto renewal should be opt in. But we all know why they do it lol.

 

[JCK75]

I think a solution would be you get to choose on your account..
because personally I have a few annual subs and I
a) don't want any of them to ever end and
b) I don't want to have to remember to renew them.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Obviously the answer to this is to make auto renew opt-in, people will soon re-sub if they want to.

That's nice and all, but like, how about consumers be more responsible for their own finances?

This.

If you’re absent minded enough not to realise that you’re being billed regularly for something you don’t even use, I think £20 missing from your account every month is the least of your worries.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

These subscriptions TELL YOU they're going to auto-renew. You can turn that off immediately, you can set a reminder in your calendar to do it later.

How lazy/careless with money are people that they cannot be bothered to do the above? I heard an ad on a podcast recently for a company that will go through your many subscription services for you and cancel ones you don't use. Is that where we are now? People paying so much money per month for stuff that they've forgotten what stuff they're paying for?

Boggles the mind.

I wonder if you can subscribe to this as an annual service?

 

[reinking]

I see a lot of "people are lazy" post. Some, default to auto-renew. The subscription service model is becoming a part of life where many people have multiple subscriptions. Between TV and gaming services I currently have 10 active digital subscriptions. That is not counting the current subs that are not active or subs not related to TV/gaming. I take responsibility for those services but as I rotate services in and out it becomes a PITA.

IMO, it should be enforced that all subscriptions begin default to not auto-renew. Once a person clicks to auto-renew it should become their responsibility. There is a reason most subs require a CC and start auto-renew.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Instead of the gov getting involved, how about every once in a while people look at their monthly credit card statement and see if there's any sub plan charges not worth doing anymore?

How many credit card lines does an average person even have every month? Maybe 20 lines to verify?

It's that hard to look at 20 lines, the UK government has to get involved?

Wow.

 

[reinking]

You can turn them off but for some reason on both psn and Xbox my auto renewal turns back on by itself. Scammy garbage.

I always get my subs cheaper elsewhere but when I look at auto renewal its turned back on.

Always check if you add a gift card or something to "add funds" or services. I have had the same thing happen with both companies.

MS got me years ago with Xbox Live Gold. My CC on file on the Xbox store had expired and I never updated it with the new expiration date. They sent me an email telling me my Gold had lapsed because they could not charge my card which was what I expected and wanted to happen. A month later they charged it. When I called, I was told that the card was updated on the Microsoft website (if you remember there were two different store fronts). They pulled the updated info from the MS storefront to the Xbox storefront "for my benefit." I was pissed at the time. Not because of the cost but the fact that they took it upon themselves to determine what my intentions were. Thing is, they wouldn't even refund it even if I had been broke and needed the money back and we all know what happens if you call the bank to reverse the charges.

 

[Concern]

Always check if you add a gift card or something to "add funds" or services. I have had the same thing happen with both companies.

MS got me years ago with Xbox Live Gold. My CC on file on the Xbox store had expired and I never updated it with the new expiration date. They sent me an email telling me my Gold had lapsed because they could not charge my card which was what I expected and wanted to happen. A month later they charged it. When I called, I was told that the card was updated on the Microsoft website (if you remember there were two different store fronts). They pulled the updated info from the MS storefront to the Xbox storefront "for my benefit." I was pissed at the time. Not because of the cost but the fact that they took it upon themselves to determine what my intentions were. Thing is, they wouldn't even refund it even if I had been broke and needed the money back and we all know what happens if you call the bank to reverse the charges.

That may just be it. Only reason I've caught it would be because I'll get an email sometimes about auto renewal. Thing is I don't keep cards on any of them since the hack.

 

[Swift_Star]

Will Apple go under scrutiny too or are they special?

 

[Putonahappyface]

I thought Uk gamers only buy their games in boxes

 

[lame gag1990]

I always turn off auto renewal. Somehow, someway, Sony enabled auto renew for a year of PS Plus. Don't know how or when they did it but it happened. Could have been a bug. I've never been back since.

 

[Yoboman]

I think this is a great idea but would rather it apply to movie streaming services

If I havent logged in or used the features of a streaming service for a month I shouldn't get charged, and digital services absolutely have a way to measure and implement this

 

[ZehDon]

The contract is usage of services for a select period of time upon the agreement you commit yourself financially. This is to prevent abuse of trial periods...

Presenting pro-corporate exploitation apologetics that run to the detriment of enough consumers that government regulatory bodies are required to get involved is laughable. Borderline pathetic, frankly. No one here should care about preventing the abuse of trial periods to protect trillion dollar corporations. It is not my job, nor has it ever been, to be concerned about Microsoft when they hand out 1 month Xbox Live cards with major releases.

 

[CleverCaviar]

sounds like they all got read the riot act.

 

[Fbh]

Seems good to me, auto renewals are annoying and many companies clearly try to do everything they can to make consumers unaware of them.
Weird that they'd mainly focus on gaming though when pretty much every online subscription based service uses them: Productivity software, VPN's, Movie/TV/Music Streaming, hosting, etc.

 

[Captain Toad]

Would be a huge blow to Microsoft’s business model if this happens in the US.

It would be a major blow to any company with a recurring subscription plan. They know and count on a certain percentage of people forgetting to cancel memberships.

I think it forced automatic renewal should be illegal. There is no reason people should be required to remember to NOT buy something before a certain date. If I want to buy another year of PS+ or GamePass, I'll add it when I want to use it and it's no longer active.

 

[sainraja]

Good on Microsoft to pro-actively get ahead of it — will they be doing the same here in the U.S?

 

[Killer8]

I used to work customer support for a tech company and the amount of people I had to deny refunds to because they forgot to cancel their auto-renewal was heartbreaking.

A lot of people wouldn't be slobbering on the corporate cock as much if they had to tell dozens of people, who have literally run out of money for the month, that we can't refund a sub they're only two days into because they forgot to read their calendar.

 

[sainraja]

You may have given it permission to auto renew and forgot about it.

I could be completely wrong on this on both accounts but from memory.....both XB/PS ask for permission but the auto-renew box is pre-checked. Either way if auto-renew off was already the case then that's great.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I used to work customer support for a tech company and the amount of people I had to deny refunds to because they forgot to cancel their auto-renewal was heartbreaking.

A lot of people wouldn't be slobbering on the corporate cock as much if they had to tell dozens of people, who have literally run out of money for the month, that we can't refund a sub they're only two days into because they forgot to read their calendar.

As the life of consumers moves into everything being subscriptions, good luck with your calendar… you like some useful apps on your phone? Chances are that they require a subscription to operate (who pays for apps anymore? Bam! Enter subs). Gaming? Online subscription. Movies and TV? Multiple subscriptions. Online shopping and shipping? Subscriptions. Food delivery? Subscriptions (to save on delivery fine).

 

[Javthusiast]

Hate that shit with pornsites. I always sub through sales for like 10 bucks a month, then have to make sure to cancel in time cause they renew for full 20-30 bucks price the following month.

Remove auto renew from every subscription service out there, and make it an option you can click while signing up if you want it to be activated.