The Economist was reported to the Deceptive Design Tip Line over its cancellation process. According to the report, cancelling requires clicking through three or four screens that emphasise the “value” of the product, and as the customer progresses the button to continue cancelling is de-emphasised while the button that exits the cancellation flow is made very prominent. The report adds that at the end the customer must telephone or use live chat between 8am and 6pm EST to finish cancelling, and that when the reporter reached a support representative they were asked repeatedly whether they really wanted to cancel and reminded of the product’s value before the cancellation was finally completed, after a conversation lasting more than ten minutes.
The Economist: Difficult cancellation process
“The cancellation flow is the worst I’ve seen from a large international company. They require you to click through 3-4 screens that attempt to communicate the “value” of the product (pretty standard). As you progress through the cancellation workflow, the button for continuing with cancellation is deemphasized, while a button that takes you out of the cancellation workflow is featured very prominently. This was frustrating, but unfortunately, is all too common these days. Once you get through this workflow, you reach a page that requires you to call a number or live chat someone between 8am and 6pm EST to complete the cancellation. Because I tried to cancel on a Sunday, I had to go through the process again on a Monday morning. When I got in contact with a customer support rep through the live chat, I expected to be able to cancel with a simple, “I would like to cancel.” In response to this, they took 3 minutes to reply, and then asked if I really wanted to cancel, because I may get value out of other parts of the product. This sort of “value reminder” response happened three times before I was finally able to cancel. In total, I had to have a 10+ minute conversation with the customer support rep before they canceled my subscription.”