Key Facts:
- CHOICE consumer organisation joins alliance to combat subscription traps and hard-to-cancel online subscriptions in Australia
- Research shows 75% of Australians struggle to cancel subscriptions, with losses estimated at $46 million due to deceptive practices
- Five consumer groups signed an open letter to Assistant Treasury Minister requesting government protection against manipulative subscription practices
- Senator Fatima Payman leads 'Click to Cancel' campaign calling for mandatory easy cancellation methods and ban on manipulative pricing tactics
- Three in four Australians face difficulties cancelling subscriptions, with one in ten continuing to pay for unwanted services
New alliance of consumer groups against subscription traps
"The internet is like the wild west, and we need a sheriff!"
Western Australia's only independent Senator, Fatima Payman, is pleased to announce that the CHOICE consumer organisation has joined a new alliance to save Australians from hard-to-cancel online subscriptions.
The CEO of CHOICE, Ashley de Silva, has joined colleagues from four other consumer groups in signing an open letter to Assistant Treasury Minister Dr. Andrew Leigh.
The open joint letter was proposed by Senator Payman, who is promoting her own 'Click to Cancel' campaign to force companies to stop using deceptive trade practices online.
The letter says:
In response to this enormous and growing problem, we, a group of consumer organisations, have gathered together to jointly request that the Commonwealth Government introduce protections to safeguard Australians from these deceptive and manipulative practices that exploit vulnerabilities in all of us. Research from the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) has found that three in four Australians have had difficulties cancelling a subscription and one in ten simply give up and continue to pay for products and services they no longer need or want.1 CPRC has estimated that Australians are losing approximately $46 million as a result of deceptive and manipulative practices, known as dark patterns. This is based on losing only a nominal amount of just $5.
Senator Payman says she's excited and grateful that CHOICE has decided to join in by agreeing to join the alliance and sign the joint letter to the government.
"CHOICE is Australia's largest and leading consumer organisation, and it's been protecting Australian consumers for about 60 years, so it is fantastic for them to throw their weight behind this issue," Senator Payman said.
"Hopefully the government will sit up and listen to us all, and act quickly to stop this enormous rip off in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
Senator Payman has taken the lead on this issue in Parliament and will not give up until the issue is resolved.
"Anyone who subscribes or registers for anything on the internet has come across this huge and expensive problem," Senator Payman said.
"We need mandatory, easy cancellation methods and reminders for subscriptions, a ban on drip pricing and on manipulative scarcity tactics, as well as forced registration and dynamic pricing," Senator Payman said.
"The internet is like the wild west, and we need a sheriff!"
The open letter is available here: f3b93a_3ebd5e70e4ab462cb4ab2256c2ff7dd8.pdf
Supporters can sign the Senator's own 'Click to Cancel' campaign here: Click to Cancel
Senator Payman is
