As an example,she cited existing bans on unfair practices under consumer law that were too narrow to adequately address practices such as stock countdowns,deliberately confusing website designs and subscription traps.
“There is a whole set of behaviour that actually takes place … that significantly harms and causes financial loss and frustration for consumers that we’re not able to properly police,” Cass-Gottlieb said.
Many online games,media and streaming services offer free trials or discounted periods for product subscriptions.
Those services were easy to subscribe to,Cass-Gottlieb said,but often incredibly difficult to unsubscribe,with lengthy notice periods or no responses to emails or phone calls.
“Everyone calls it a subscription trap,” she said. “The terms and conditions say you can unsubscribe,but the practice of it is ... almost impossible or bordering on impossible to do.”
Websites pressuring online shoppers by stating there is limited stock availability is one trend concerning the watchdog. Another is website designers using people’s biases to confuse them,such as one part of a website using green for yes and another using green for no.