This is a new and disturbing trend – achieving something that is a disadvantage to the business you are dealing with, takes more effort than should be reasonably expected.
Examples:
Foxtel – sign up online without talking to a human. To cancel, you need to phone them during business hours, and be on hold for up to 30 minutes, then endure a retention specialist trying to convince you to stay.
ING Direct – I received a letter telling me that my fees had changed (I joined them because of the no fees…). The letter said I could see the changes if I visited a particular URL. They could have just told me, but they required me to take an extra step, and read a long document full of information that doesn’t apply to me, to find out I am now paying $60/yr for my “fee free” account.
Solution – a law in two parts:
The ease of making an agreement with a business should be matched by the ease of ending the agreement.
When information is needed to be shared with a customer, it should take the least effort on the customer’s part to see and understand the information. If the information can be provided particular to the client’s situation, that should be the only information provided.
** Although I don’t expect any law changes on this, I have recently discovered that getting married is extremely easy to achieve, but having an amicable divorce involves a mass of paperwork if the government is involved in any way (such as receiving any money from them).
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