Don’t get cheated by that autotick
MUMBAI: If you’ve read the mutual fund disclaimer, “Read the offer document carefully before investing,” it is time you applied this maxim to all your money transactions. Banks, airline aggregators, e-commerce companies and charity organisations are increasing using a pre-ticked box to get your consent to a small payment. You are given what is called, an ‘opt-out’ option so that you can click a box to refuse the extra payment. A lowdown.
OPT-OUT OPTIONS
Recently, HDFC Bank Ltd sent out an e-mail to some of its customers on its service, Classic Banking Programme. Mint has several copies of this mail from different customers. At a glance, the mail looks similar to the deluge into your inbox from your financial service providers, but has a small fee built into the fine print. The email said: “a nominal Programme Management fee of ₹100+ service taxes is applicable per customer ID, on the Classic Banking Programme for Savings and Current Account holders, effective Jan’16 post 1 year of completion into the programme. If you wish to opt out of the Classic Banking Program Click here.” Why assume consent?
But why not ask if the customer wants the service and then levy the charge?
A bank spokesperson said: “We’d like to state that the bank has been fair and transparent by giving the customer the opportunity to test the service for free of cost for a full year before levying any charges; providing an opt-out facility for those who do not wish to avail of these services after the first year and communicating the charges to customers at regular intervals, in the welcome letter and subsequently in their monthly statements .... Furthermore, based on feedback, we will continue to evaluate different modes of communicating to our customer to determine what is most effective. The relationship manager can be reached at any time in case the customer would like to opt out of the programme”.
NOT ONLY BANKS
Banks are not alone in assuming you want to pay for stuff you may or may not need. Some e-commerce companies are known to add charges at the check-out stage to premier services you may not need, once the free trial is over. Airline aggregators are no different, some of them pre-tick the “I want travel insurance” box. You have to remember to untick it if you don’t want it. Similarly, if you book tickets online, you find yourself paying for a charity you may or may not want to fund.