If you want to cancel online subscriptions, this must also be possible without a previous login. The Munich Regional Court has now decided this following a lawsuit from the Federal Association of Consumer Advice Centers.
A subscription can be completed quickly on the Internet, but when it comes to canceling it, things usually get a little more complicated. In the future, canceling an online subscription will be made even easier.
The Munich Regional Court has issued a ruling that makes such termination possible even without prior notification. The regional court is following a lawsuit brought by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (VZBV).
What is behind the lawsuit to cancel online subscriptions?
The VZBV had filed a lawsuit against Sky Deutschland Fernsehen GmbH & Co. KG before the Munich Regional Court. The reason for this was the streaming service Wow, which Sky operates on its website.
If subscribers wanted to cancel their subscription to Wow, they were taken to a login page using the cancel button. This practice is not permitted, as the regional court has now decided.
“The cancellation button is important: consumers must be able to cancel online contracts simply with a click of the mouse. The legal requirements for providers are clear,” explains VZBV board member Ramona Pop. The providers should not “impose unnecessary hurdles on consumers”.
However, logging in with an email address and password represents exactly such an “unnecessary and illegal” hurdle that makes termination more difficult for consumers.
These are the legal requirements for the cancellation button
Since July 2022, providers of online subscriptions have been obliged to provide a so-called cancellation button. There are certain requirements for this button so that consumers can find it quickly and easily if in doubt.
The button on the website must be easily accessible without having to browse through the website first. This was the case with the streaming service Wow, but clicking on “Cancel WOW subscription” led to a redirection to the login page.
According to the Munich Regional Court, this is illegal. The cancellation button for an online subscription must lead consumers directly to the page where they can actually cancel their subscription with one click of the mouse.
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Source: https://www.basicthinking.de/blog/2023/12/21/online-abos-kuendigung-ohne-login/
