New York City has adopted a new rule that bans companies from using deceptive subscriptions to trap customers into paying for gym memberships, streaming services and other recurring charges, the city’s consumer protection office said.
The new rule, which will start on 1 October, promises hefty fines and aggressive enforcement for violators. Companies that do not provide a simple way to cancel could pay $525 per user subscription, back fees and additional fines.
The city is also targeting so-called “junk fees” that raise the final price of everything from apartments to shttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/10/new-york-city-deceptive-subscriptions-banporting events, with a proposed rule that requires sellers to “advertise the total price for any good or service, including all mandatory additional charges and fees, up front”, according to a release shared with the Guardian.
“People shouldn’t have to wait on hold for half an hour or send a certified letter or show up to a store in person in order to cancel” a subscription, said Samuel AA Levine, the city’s commissioner of consumer and worker protection, in an interview.
At about 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 17, 2023, Fraser Bohm had just picked up an order...:quality(75):no_upscale():strip_exif()/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fpocket-curatedcorpusapi-prod-images%2F7c0bc573-c0eb-4e8a-ad1a-38f082160f34.jpeg)
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