The Economist was reported to the Deceptive Design Tip Line over a mismatch between how easy it is to subscribe and how hard it is to cancel. According to the report, subscribing through the website is a trivial self-service process, but cancellation only appears straightforward: what looks like a simple button press followed by a confirmation screen and a choice of reasons does not actually cancel the subscription, instead presenting three options — contact customer support by phone, contact support by live chat, or keep the subscription. The report describes the live-chat route as a drawn-out series of retention tactics in which requests to confirm cancellation were ignored, so that a roughly one-minute subscription process was countered by a nearly twenty-minute chat. The reporter adds that the account-management page strongly suggests cancellation is as easy as updating other details, and that had the real process been disclosed upfront they would have been unlikely to subscribe at all.
The Economist: Deceptive Subscription Cancellation
“Trivial self-service subscription through website Deceptive subscription cancelation process. Appears as a simple button press, followed by a screen asking for confirmation and an option to select a reason from a set of choices. This does not cancel a subscription but presents three options: Contact customer support by phone, contact customer support by live chat, or keep the subscription. The live chat option was a needlessly drawn out series of retention tactics, while requests to confirm cancelation were ignored. A ~1 minute subscription process is countered by a nearly 20 minute chat. The account management page design gives the strong appearance of trying to provide assurance that cancelation is as easy as updating other details. If the process had been disclosed up front its unlikely I’d have subscribed at all.”