California resident, can't cancel online, isn't this illegal?

[SickOfThisCrap]

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and- ... -law-says/

"No more searching for a sketchy 1-800 number" says the subtitle. Yeah, right.

Apparently SB-313 Advertising: automatic renewal and continuous service offers (https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/face ... 20180SB313) says a company like Ooma with and HQ address of 525 Almanor Ave #200 in Sunnyvale CA should offer a way to cancel online.

Here's what has happened so far:

• I've put in a support ticket and they said to call the 800 number.

• I then replied with this info above and crickets (they closed the ticket without a response).

• Contacted chat "support" who said they don't have the authority to cancel accounts.

• I sent another email asking for the basic courtesy of a response this morning. It opened another ticket so "support" either can't or won't reply to this request.

Now I'm posting here because sure as hell official support channels are useless.

I don't want to spent an hour on hold, then fight with somebody who keeps telling me what a good deal this service is, and then just plain not have the service cancelled and continue to be billed as a others have on here.

A few questions:

• What the hell am I missing here that this is so hard?

• What's the next step? The State Attorney General's office?

• Why is this made to be so hard and how can this not violate SB-313 (obviously I am not an attorney here)?

• Should I reach out to all the executive team on linkedin or is it likely they are perfectly aware of this and it's part of a business model?

Anybody who works for Ooma on here care to comment? Or anybody

[Robek]

"Just asking questions" about whether a business practice is unlawful without first consulting a legal expert seems a bit antagonistic. An attorney, for example, might describe how activating and setting up a hardware device is distinct from accepting "an automatic renewal or continuous service offer".

Ooma explains how to cancel their services: call their customer care department. Like it or not, that's the only way to do it. For shorter hold times, try calling when they are less busy, (maybe 5am on a weekday?). Or else try multi-tasking while on hold; speaker phones (or headsets) work well for this.

How long did it take to do all that other "useless" stuff: opening a support ticket, trying to argue legal issues with support staff instead of taking their advice, while still expecting "basic courtesy", trying to do the same through live chat, and then posting about the whole ordeal in a user forum? Was it more than an hour?

If a few minutes of (courteously) repeating "no thank you, please cancel my service" doesn't do the job, then the next steps would be to call the Consumer Affairs Branch (CAB) of the local Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The State Attorney General's office probably has other issues to deal with.

[Edit: Or, after re-reading Ooma's legal terms, maybe it is possible to cancel online after all.]

[SickOfThisCrap]

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/23/11655272 ... scriptions

I was asking questions, not dishing out legal advice. It shouldn't be this hard to do and you must have a lot more time on your hands than most of us.

They're quick enough to sign up new customers and take your money instantly but cancelling is a whole other business. Search this forum for 'cancel' and you'll see what I mean.

They make it really hard to do, will argue with you not to cancel, and it's like trying to back out of a timeshare sales pitch.

I would encourage others who have problems to contact the FTC. Or if you are thinking about the service, just know in advance it's going to suck a huge amount of time and patience getting out.

[Robek]

Ooma's terms and conditions explains exactly how customers can contact Ooma, either by phone, email, or snail mail, to cancel their service, to resolve billing disputes, or to address any legal issues, among other things. Start there with any questions about a particular state or federal law.

Any customer who wants to cancel their service should first try to work with the correct department within Ooma before considering other options. Just complaining to any random government agencies may not be helpful; the FTC, for example, wouldn't enforce any proposed rule changes, before they even take effect.

Search this forum for 'cancel' and you'll see what I mean.

Okay. Just searching back several years, most posts are from users that wanted to cancel some or all of their services for one reason or another, or from new customers that happened to mention canceling their old provider's services. Only about 3 or 4 users complained about problems with the cancellation process itself.

One user on a different forum described a more positive experience: about a half-hour on hold, followed by a less than 4 minute conversation. The rep asked a handful of questions, the user responded to each with "no thank you, I'd just like to cancel", and that was that. No hostility, rudeness, or bullying ... on either side.

There's not enough information there to conclude whether cancellation problems are the norm, or just isolated incidents where someone made a mistake; unfortunately, longer hold times and poor customer service are common complaints for all discount phone service providers, not just for Ooma.

[Whenenrome]

It is, without question, illegal for Ooma to not allow California residents - if they have activated service online - to cancel that service online. The law has been in place for years, now, and a company's Terms & Conditions do not supersede that law.

We canceled Ooma years ago, and they attempted the same reply as the OP. I emailed Ooma a copy of California SB-313, and explicitly told them they were violating CA law by attempting to require a phone conversation. They ultimately confirmed the cancellation via email.

So, yes, the OP should absolutely share the experience with the CA Attorney General's office. (It's relatively easy to contact through their website.) That's how Ooma's non-compliance will get corrected, and evidently it needs to be if it's still happening in 2023. The CA AG will make contact with Ooma about it - they're very proactive about violations on consumers.

[Robek]

It's been over five years now since this bill took effect, so why hasn't the CA Attorney General's office managed to persuade Ooma to change its cancellation policies yet? Maybe the legal eagles here can go argue with whichever government agency they like about exactly how they think that this bill applies to Ooma.