Earlier this year Governor Kathy Hochul announced she is negotiating with subscription service companies to make subscriptions and memberships much easier to cancel and more transparent. She is hoping the changes will be approved in this year’s budget.
How many subscriptions or memberships does your family have? A quick poll of The South Shore Press newsroom shows 7 is about right. Many subscriptions and membership services are renewed automatically so you may not even realize the initial term was over and a new term kicked in. Take a look and see what your paying for.
If you look at your credit card auto-pay, you might find you are paying for things you forgot you had and rarely or never use. Statista found that 85% of households had at least one paid subscription that was not used even once each month. Netflix is at the top of the list of unused services.
Subscription services are a part of daily life but canceling them is often needlessly complicated. Hochul already signed legislation requiring businesses to notify consumers of upcoming renewals and provide clear instructions on how to cancel subscriptions. Different timelines in number of days apply to when a cancellation must occur after requested.
To further protect consumers, Hochul proposed additional legislation she says, “Will ensure cancellation processes are simple, transparent, and fair, ensuring that it is just as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up. These actions will reinforce New York’s commitment to safeguarding consumer rights and preventing predatory practices.”
Hochul’s representative said in a statement, "Governor Hochul has signed significant consumer protections into law that are helping to crack down on telemarketers, fight back against Pharmacy Benefit Managers, allow New Yorkers to easily cancel gym memberships and end medical debt," "The Governor's Executive Budget proposed strong consumer protections, and we are in the process of working with the Legislature on a budget that meets the needs of all New Yorkers."
Hochul’s proposal doesn’t apply to any company regulated by the Federal Communications Commission such as internet, TV, radio, or phone service. Experts say this would likely make the law much less effective.
Concerned Democrats say leaving these companies out makes the legislation essentially toothless since so many people use these services.
“Without deleting that provision, consumers are not much better off than they were before,” said Norman Silber, a consumer law expert at Hofstra University’s law school.
Without a change in the proposed law, popular services such as Verizon, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Music wouldn’t be forced to make it easier for customers to cancel, or to give more notice before billing them.
The budget is already several days late and negotiations continue. Time will tell what kind of consumer protection around cancellations makes it through.