Opt-in, not opt-out
About a year ago, I "won" a free year's subscription to MacFixit Pro because (IIRC) I contributed a bit of advice and it was used on the site. I like MacFixit, and I have a great deal of respect for Ted Landau, so when he informed me of this, I basically felt it was more appropriate for me to pony up the $20 myself and let him give it away to someone more worthy. After all, I'd used his site for years as a reference and I felt he deserved the dough.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I got an e-mail to my throwaway address telling me my subscription was running out and that I needed to renew. As it happens, I stopped going to MacFixit on a regular basis several months back, and I didn't want to renew, so I blithely ignored this e-mail, and the several that followed.
Yesterday while I was checking my bank for my tax refund, I noticed a charge from TechTracker for $20 - a renewal fee for my MacFixit subscription, which I didn't want. As it happens, those e-mails I ignored informed me that if I did exactly nothing, my subscription would be automatically renewed - a policy which enrages me. I had similar trouble with GigaNews a few years back, except it was a $100 automatic renewal fee. Anyway, after contacting the TechTracker folks, I was able to get a refund, so at least they are responsive.
I like having my bills and subscriptions paid out automatically, but what I don't like is when this process requires me to opt-out of it, rather than opt-in. I shouldn't have to read the fine print to avoid getting charged. I think it's great that these companies offer the ability to have these charges paid automatically, but the opt-out method must cause them more grief in customer service than they gain. If someone forgot to renew, they'd likely notice if they used it and if the service was worth it, would renew anyway.
Comments
Opt-Out's are generally really evil things IMHO. They seem to be soley used to perform and hide actions that the user/consumer doesn't want but which benefit the company. They're some sort of narsty legal loophole which enables actions to be authorised without any actual authorisation taking place.
My (soon to be ex) ISP recently forced a slew of changes upon me. While wading through all the new 'agreements' I found a section in the new privacy policy which had changed sharing of information for marketing purposes to now be opt-out. Of course you then have to search for the opt-out form to submit. I'd imagine many people wouldn't have noticed this change, let alone found where it is documented or the opt-out form itself. Misdirection and removal of end-user control seem to be becoming more and more prevalent. Shame really...
Posted by: ben b | February 26, 2004 06:26 AM