Thursday, September 10, 2009

opt-ins and opt-outs

I recently noticed a charge for $10 on my AT&T wireless bill for AT&T Navigator. Since I had not signed up for this service I contacted support. They explained they had given me a 30 day free trial which I didn't cancel & thus it became a paid subscription!!! At least they promptly offered to refund the months for which they had charged me. I explained to the kids how this is an extreme example of an opt-out policy, in which you are stuck with something until you opt-out. Compared this with the more user friendly opt-in approach, in which you only get what you ask for. This last approach doesn't work as well for the companies, since such a small percentage of customers opt into their offers...

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