
Ask HN: Any legit reasons for non-self-service service cancellations? - dinkleberg
Recently I&#x27;ve had several frustrating instances of being able to self-service signup for some paid service but then when I end up wanting to cancel it, it is not as easy. Generally in these cases you have to email them requesting a cancellation, and then they may have a follow up email requiring you to confirm more details. In a rare (and exceedingly frustrating) instance they required you to call them in order to cancel.<p>In my mind, this is a shady business practice which should be regulated against. If you can sign up in a self-service way, you need to be able to cancel in a self-service way. The way I see it, the businesses who do this are not proud of&#x2F;confident in their product&#x2F;service and want to make sure they keep some of the recurring revenue from those who can&#x27;t be bothered to go through the more complicated cancellation process (especially if it is a low monthly cost service).<p>I would love for this to be something regulated, but at the same time large brush stroke actions are risky and can negatively affect groups you didn&#x27;t realize.<p>I&#x27;m curious if there are any legitimate reasons why self-service account cancellation is impossible when you are also able to sign up and pay for the service on your own.
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clintonb
California law [1] requires online services to offer an unsubscribe option.
The only reason to add friction to the cancellation flow is to continue
earning revenue from users who give up easily.

[1]
[https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB313/2017](https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB313/2017)

