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Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by ozim on Friday January 19, 2024 @06:11PM (#39062661)
What’s wrong with people who have no legs, can’t they just put their adulting pants and start walking?

Cool that you are mentally and physically fit, I am as well.

But there are lots of people who struggle with range of mental disorders or disabilities. Some might have depression some might have ADHD, some might just be much more forgetful so they might think it is good to check account balance but 30 mins later they just don’t feel or remember they had to do it.

Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by robertlagrant on Friday January 19, 2024 @07:38PM (#39063383)
If you think that services should start unsubscribing people just in case they have ADHD, that seems a very odd way round to think. They're just businesses. I don't think it's reasonable to assume they can know what you want or intend.
Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by gmd63 on Friday January 19, 2024 @10:04PM (#39064258)
It's pretty **** easy to infer that a customer wants to save money when possible

That businesses and advocates play dumb when it comes to this basic fact is no longer astonishing to me, sadly

Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by robertlagrant on Sunday January 21, 2024 @10:25AM (#39079246)
They're not playing dumb, just as a magazine subscription isn't playing dumb by not phoning you up to see if you want every magazine. If you sign up to a subscription, you are saying you want it until it's cancelled. If you just want them one at a time, go buy each one in a shop.
Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by gmd63 on Monday January 22, 2024 @12:49PM (#39092690)
A magazine subscription is entirely different. With online services the company can trivially monitor your usage (and likely already do to sell your data / make UX decisions)
Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by ozim on Saturday January 20, 2024 @02:02AM (#39065360)
They don’t have to unsubscribe automatically, they could refund the money but keep subscription if someone wasn’t even opening their page in like 3 months.

I would say they don’t even have to refund automatically but maybe send an email at least - “Hey are you still with us?” - after they see no activity on account for a month and we also know for sure they track user activity very closely.

But we know - no one will even propose implementing such an email because it will be loss for the company. So that would be action for government to enforce.

Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by robertlagrant on Saturday January 20, 2024 @05:08PM (#39072938)
> But we know - no one will even propose implementing such an email because it will be loss for the company. So that would be action for government to enforce.

Doesn't this just add another hull to the titanic? People don't have 2 minutes to check their bank statements a month, but do have time to check their email regularly enough to catch this? I can't tell who this is for that would be strong enough to require governments to get involved.

Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by ozim on Saturday January 20, 2024 @06:45PM (#39073773)
That was my idea from top of my mind for corporations to show they care for the customers.

Proposing that they refund money would be realistic if they would at least agree to send out email - which I do believe will never happen.

So refunding money is fantasy, sending out emails is realistic but since they won’t do it, that makes refunds even more unlikely.

Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by robertlagrant on Sunday January 21, 2024 @02:29PM (#39082019)
15 years ago I remember a colleague who'd bought a TV a month earlier get a refund for the difference from Amazon because the TV had recently come down in price. That's great service, don't get me wrong. I just don't think this sort of thing should be expected, particularly when it's not about a price drop you couldn't know about, and it's just not clicking an unsubscribe link.
Re:Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to c... by ozim on Tuesday January 23, 2024 @02:13AM (#39100453)
What I propose is not the same scale.

Thing with returning tv would be more “I did not watch 10 days this month, reimburse these for me.”.

I don’t agree it should go this direction.

If someone did not even open list of movies for whole month or two that is a reasonable question to ask - should they get money back or at least a question via email if they really want any to keep the subscription.