{"id":4529,"date":"2020-06-09T16:07:14","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T10:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/?page_id=4529"},"modified":"2020-06-25T15:45:05","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T10:15:05","slug":"subscription-trap-dark-pattern-how-do-i-contact-zee5-from-usa-while-visiting-india-i-had-subscribed-to-their-programming-i-am-charged-every-month-their-website-does-not-open-in-usa-how-will-i-ca","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/archive-my-content-amc360\/subscription-trap-dark-pattern-how-do-i-contact-zee5-from-usa-while-visiting-india-i-had-subscribed-to-their-programming-i-am-charged-every-month-their-website-does-not-open-in-usa-how-will-i-ca\/","title":{"rendered":"Subscription Trap. Dark Pattern. How do I contact ZEE5 from USA? While visiting India I had subscribed to their programming. I am charged every month, their website does not open in USA. How will I cancel the subscription? I feel cheated by ZEE5. https:\/\/qr.ae\/pNKINl"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">I read recently that the ZEE5 website is subject to a hack \/ data breach. Probably the company has cut off access to the website from USA. In which case, it will reopen website access from USA after the breach is fixed. In which case, you should be able to log in back to the website after a few days and cancel your subscription.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">OTOH, and I hope this is not true in your case, this is just yet another company that practises Dark Pattern in Subscription Trap, and the most egregious Dark Pattern at that.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Subscription Trap Fraud: People buy what they think is a free trial of a product but unwittingly get signed up for a pricey monthly subscription that uses <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RoachMotel?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#RoachMotel<\/a> tactic to become virtually impossible to cancel. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/McoXV4REQg\">https:\/\/t.co\/McoXV4REQg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ketharaman Swaminathan (@s_ketharaman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/s_ketharaman\/status\/1195001064719896576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You said it. The most egregious Dark Pattern I&#39;ve come across in Subscription Trap so far: Don&#39;t let the subscriber log in to the website to cancel the subscription. Only consolation: Escape Incredible UI Hurdles. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9cLSmthynb\">pic.twitter.com\/9cLSmthynb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; GTM360 (@GTM360) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GTM360\/status\/1270027585498632193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">In which case, you have the following options:<\/p>\n<p>Contact the bank whose credit card or debit card you used to pay for the subscription and request them to stop the subscription. This rarely works but it has the least effort, so I&#8217;m placing it right at the top of your options.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">In case you bought the subscription by submitting a Debit Card on File, then simply empty out the bank account linked to the Debit Card. The company will try to debit the monthly fees but its attempt will be rejected by the bank for insufficient balance. Apparently, online recurring debit mandates can be reneged without attracting fine for insufficient balance and without negative updates posted to credit score. I learned this from an ex-Banker who faced the same problem with another company. But, I can\u2019t provide any warranty or guarantee for the veracity of this information. So, should you wish to follow through with this approach, please consult an expert.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">In case the website does not provide a CANCEL option, look for some other way to cancel the subscription e.g. call a Hong Kong number e.g. WSJ.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Whenever someone tries to sell you a subscription by saying you can &quot;cancel anytime&quot;, find out if you can also &quot;cancel anywhere&quot; so that you can avoid unpleasant surprises \u00e0 la <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WSJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WSJ<\/a> , whose subscription can be bought online but canceled only via phone. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/HeightOfOmnichannel?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#HeightOfOmnichannel<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ketharaman Swaminathan (@s_ketharaman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/s_ketharaman\/status\/1161193229418737664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 13, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">In case you can\u2019t find any option to cancel the subscription, complain about this company to the regulator and \/ or cancel the Credit Card used to buy the subscription.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">Related answer:\u00a0<a class=\"q-box qu-cursor--pointer qu-hover--textDecoration--underline\" title=\"qr.ae\" href=\"https:\/\/qr.ae\/pNy60b\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ketharaman Swaminathan&#8217;s answer to How can I reverse unauthorised online transaction. I subscribed to LinkedIn Premium. After 1 month they took 7080 INR. I reported to my bank and now after 60 days they say that the merchant has declined. What can I do?<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">For future, my $0.02: Whenever you sign up for any new subscription, follow this guideline I\u2019ve given in\u00a0<span class=\"q-inline\"><a class=\"q-box qu-cursor--pointer qu-hover--textDecoration--underline\" title=\"sketharaman.com\" href=\"http:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/ten-ways-to-protect-yourselves-from-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">Ten Ways To Protect Yourselves From Fraud<\/a><\/span>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"q-box qu-color--gray qu-borderWidth--retinaOverride qu-borderWidth--thick qu-borderStrictLeft\">\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">Sign up for subscriptions of news, streaming video and other services only via Play Store, App Store, PayPal or some other third party website \/ app that allow you to cancel the subscription anytime.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block\">Above all,\u00a0<em><strong>Caveat Emptor<\/strong><\/em>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I read recently that the ZEE5 website is subject to a hack \/ data breach. Probably the company has cut off access to the website from USA. In which case,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3722,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4529","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4529\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketharaman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}