In light of the spread of the coronavirus and the quarantine regime, some companies began to provide users with free access to their web services. Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) for such platforms.
According to Rospotrebnadzor, when applying for so-called “free subscriptions”, one important point must be taken into account: most services and platforms provide access to content only after the procedure for linking a bank card to a registered account. This means that after the end of a free or other grace period (for example, a subscription for 1 ruble), money will begin to be debited from the user account.
For this reason, the agency advises Internet users to adhere to the following procedure:
- Read the user agreement of the service or platform before concluding an agreement (registration, subscription). Particular attention should be paid to the procedure for terminating the agreement, the rules for the return of payments, the conditions for linking a bank card to an account and auto-subscription (automatic debiting of money from a card).
- When signing up for a free subscription, always pay attention to the cost of access in subsequent periods.
- Don't forget to manage your subscriptions and auto-renewal settings. As a rule, most consumers, when purchasing access to several services, after the expiration of the subscription period (month, quarter, year), forget about the automatic debiting of funds at the end of this period.
The listed instructions of Rospotrebnadzor are advisory in nature. However, following them can minimize the risk of unplanned financial costs when working in a network environment.
Source: 3dnews.ru