When many apps enable automatic renewal

I believe that everyone has more or less encountered the situation of being inexplicably deducted money and automatically renewed. Faced with the chaos of "automatic renewal", what do you do? Recently, the official requirement: remind users 5 days in advance of automatic renewal and provide a convenient way to cancel. What has this measure brought to consumers?

I believe many people have had this experience.

When the money in your bank card is inexplicably deducted, you will find that some apps are "automatically renewing". Before the renewal, these apps did not notify you that the service will expire and will be automatically renewed.

When you want to cancel automatic renewal, you find that the option to cancel automatic renewal is hidden very deeply and the cancellation steps are very cumbersome.

Such apps are everywhere, including video platforms, photo editing software, music software, online storage, food delivery platforms, and so on.

1. Video, social networking, music…Automatic renewal is everywhere

In fact, many people choose automatic renewal because it can "save money."

The price of Zhihu Yanxuan membership is 25 yuan/month, while if you choose a continuous monthly subscription, the price is 19 yuan/month.

The benefits you can enjoy when purchasing a Yanxuan membership include: e-commerce privileges, functional privileges, and content privileges.

The price of iQiyi's Gold VIP is 25 yuan/month, and the price of a continuous monthly subscription is 15 yuan in the first month and 25 yuan in the next month.

The benefits you can enjoy by opening iQiyi Gold VIP include: content privileges, movie viewing privileges, identity privileges, and life privileges.

The VIP price of Weibo is 15 yuan/month, and the price of a continuous monthly subscription is 10 yuan/month.

Weibo VIP can be tried for free for 3 days, and the renewal fee is 10 yuan per month upon expiration.

Weibo VIPs can enjoy rights and benefits including content rights, rare costumes, dynamic avatars, Weibo celebrity names, exclusive logos, etc.

The price of Bilibili's premium membership package is 25 yuan/month, and the price of a continuous monthly subscription is 15 yuan/month.

The benefits that Bilibili members can enjoy include: content privileges, dressing privileges, identity privileges, and audio-visual privileges.

The price of QQ Music's Deluxe Green Diamond VIP is 15 yuan/month, and the price of a continuous monthly subscription is 0.88 yuan for the first month, and it returns to 15 yuan/month in the next month.

The benefits you can enjoy by activating Deluxe Green Diamond include: member music library, lossless sound quality, VIP sound effects, personalized themes, download privileges, etc.

The price of Ele.me's Super Foodie Card is 12 yuan/month, and the price of a continuous monthly subscription is 10 yuan/month.

The benefits that you can enjoy by opening a Super Foodie Card include: no threshold red envelopes, order return beans, and exclusive extra packs.

The SVIP price of Baidu Netdisk is 30 yuan/month, and the price of a continuous monthly subscription is 23 yuan/month.

From the price point of view, for those who have these privileges, choosing a continuous monthly subscription is indeed relatively cheaper.

Because on many platforms, you can’t move forward without VIP.

But many people's "continuous monthly subscription" is not their own choice, but they are "tricked" by the merchants. ‍‍‍

2. The automatic renewal prompt is not obvious, the fee is deducted one day before the expiration date, and the cancellation method is hidden.

These apps sometimes launch some activities, such as free trials for a few days, or very low prices for the first month, to attract users. However, these activities often default to automatic renewal upon expiration.

Moreover, some of the "automatic renewal" reminders are not so conspicuous. The instructions for automatic renewal and how to cancel are also hidden deep.

For example, the automatic renewal service statement of a certain video platform can only be seen by clicking on the small exclamation mark in the picture below.

Its automatic renewal statement states that it will automatically renew 24 hours before expiration , and you need to follow its official account to receive notifications before the deduction.

The method for canceling automatic renewal is hidden in the lengthy "Membership Service Agreement".

In a certain music software, the automatic renewal service prompt is hidden in the small question mark behind the gray text in the picture below.

Its automatic renewal service reminder also indicates that the fee will be automatically deducted one day before the membership expires.

The specific method to cancel automatic charging is hidden in the "Automatic Renewal Service Rules".

The automatic renewal reminder is not obvious, and many people who are not careful will not notice it. Many people only see the words "cancel at any time", but they don't know that the app will automatically renew the day before the expiration date.

For example, if you try out the first month of membership at a discounted price, it will expire at 22:00 on March 3rd. You want to take advantage of the discount and cancel your membership at 21:00 on March 3rd. But sorry, the app will automatically renew your membership at 22:00 on the 2nd. This has led to many people not knowing that they have been "automatically renewed".

On the other hand, some people noticed the automatic renewal prompt when choosing to subscribe, but after experiencing it, they planned to cancel the automatic renewal, but they couldn’t find the cancellation option after searching for a long time.

3. "Automatic renewal" has been complained about more than 100,000 times

On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, there are more than 110,000 complaints about automatic renewal.

Among them, a small number of them are due to improper operation or unclear understanding of the elderly or children at home, which leads to automatic renewal of subscriptions. Most of these consumers have applied for refunds on the complaint platform.

Most complaints about "automatic renewal" are related to the charging methods of the relevant platforms.

A consumer said that a certain software prompted that there was a three-day membership trial for 0.1 yuan, but when activating it, it also required the activation of password-free payment. Later, he found that the software was not very useful and stopped using it, but later the software automatically deducted 99.9 yuan.

A consumer said that a certain app automatically renewed its subscription twice for two months.

A consumer said that he opened a membership of an App in September last year and inexplicably participated in the software's "Monthly Save" activity without knowing it. He turned off automatic renewal on February 4 this year and was inexplicably deducted 72.6 yuan.

One consumer said that he bought a 7-day membership for 1 yuan in January this year, but about 60 yuan was automatically deducted after 7 days.

Some consumers also said that they had opened a membership on a certain music software, and later the system automatically renewed the membership without any text message notification.

In addition to the above complaints about "automatic renewal", some consumers also complained that the option to cancel automatic renewal was too hidden, and they could not find the cancellation service following the prompts.

Some consumers also said that they wanted to resolve the problem through customer service, but the contact was fruitless or the customer service gave irrelevant answers.

4. How to check which automatic renewals are enabled? ‍‍‍‍‍

iOS users can check their auto-renewal software in "Settings" - "Apple ID" - "Subscriptions".

As for the Android system, it is currently not possible to view all subscription services from a unified entrance.

However, some apps will ask users to authorize third-party payment platforms for password-free payment when users sign up for automatic renewal.

This allows users to check which software they have authorized for automatic deductions from third-party payment platforms.

For example, in Alipay's "Settings" - "Payment Settings", there is an item called "Password-free payment/automatic deduction", in which you can see all the software and mini-programs that can be used for automatic deductions from Alipay.

In the "Payment Settings" of WeChat Wallet, there is an "Auto Renewal" option, where you can see all the software and mini-programs that can automatically deduct fees from WeChat.

5. Official requirements: Automatic renewal reminds users 5 days in advance and provides a convenient way to cancel

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Further Improving Mobile Internet Application Service Capabilities."

It is required that when providing services through automatic renewal or automatic renewal, the user's consent must be obtained, and the services must not be checked by default or forced to be bundled; users must be reminded by SMS, message push or other prominent means 5 days before automatic renewal or automatic renewal, and a convenient way to cancel the subscription at any time and automatic renewal or automatic renewal cancellation method must be provided during the service period.

In fact, many apps have already stated in their introduction about “automatic renewal” that they will remind users 5 days before automatic renewal.

For example, a certain website stated in its "Continuous Subscription Service Agreement" that it will draw users' attention to automatic renewal matters through prominent means (such as private messages on the site, SMS notifications, etc.) five days before the automatic renewal date.

In the "VIP Member Service Agreement", Moku stated that it will send a continuous package service renewal reminder by sending text messages or in-site messages five days before initiating automatic renewal.

However, are these reminders in place?

A consumer claimed that on August 6 last year, he opened a one-month membership in a certain platform, Yanxuan.com, and the membership was automatically renewed for the next six months without his knowledge, and there was no text message notification.

A consumer said that his Moku membership was automatically renewed for one month without any reminder message.

Some netizens reported that the five-day continuous subscription reminder on a certain website can be called a "lucky charm".

If users want to know the membership renewal status, they need to click on "Message-Official Account Message-Mohu Yanxuan Member" one by one to see it, and there will be no pop-up reminder.

For a long time, the various memberships, super memberships, gold memberships, platinum memberships, VIPs, SVIPs, etc. have made users miserable. On this basis, users also have to face an automatic renewal that "hides and seeks" with users. ‍

This official action is not just to solve the chaos of "automatic renewal".

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has proposed a total of 26 measures to enhance user service perception and improve industry management capabilities.

This is bound to improve the service level of the entire mobile Internet ecosystem.

Author: Sanyan Pro

Source public account: Sanyan Pro (ID: sycaijing), providing cutting-edge information on new technology, new consumption and new future.