[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6011]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   CONSUMER CANCELLATION FAIRNESS ACT

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                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 25, 2006

  Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, consumers are currently 
exposed to difficult cancellation policies for service subscriptions 
that are more costly and burdensome than continuing the service and 
paying the annual or monthly fee.
  When consumers sign up for a service, they are often told that 
renewal occurs through automatic charges to their credit cards. When 
consumers decide to cancel, they run into difficulties, such as long 
distance phone calls with long hold times, all at the expense of the 
consumer.
  To combat such abusive business practices, I have introduced the 
Consumer Cancellation Fairness Act.
  My bill would require businesses to permit their customers to cancel 
subscription services in the same manner and by the same means they use 
to subscribe to such services.
  If one click on a Web site or a toll-free call is all it takes to 
sign up for a service, then one click or a toll-free call should be 
enough to cancel.
  I strongly urge this House to swiftly consider and pass the Consumer 
Cancellation Fairness Act to protect consumers from further abuse.

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