忘记取消的订阅

我刚才在手机上看到一个订阅，已经自动续费六个月了，可是我从春天就没用过那个软件。

I just saw on my phone that a subscription has already auto-renewed for six months, but I haven't used that app since spring.

六个月？你怎么现在才发现？

Six months? How did you only notice now?

一开始是免费试用一个月，我记得当时想着订阅到时候再取消，后来就忘了，它自动续费，一次都没提醒我。

At first it was a one-month free trial. I remember thinking I'd cancel the subscription when the time came. Then I forgot. It auto-renewed on its own, not once did it remind me.

这种设计很常见。很多软件的免费试用都是这样，时间一到，就自动开始收钱，因为公司知道，大部分人会跟你一样，忘记取消。

This kind of design is very common. A lot of apps' free trials are like this. The moment the time is up, it automatically starts charging you, because the company knows most people will forget to cancel, just like you.

你说得好像这是很正常的事。我觉得这是故意的，他们的设计故意利用人会忘记这件事，不是我不小心，是他们让取消变得很不容易。

You're talking like this is totally normal. I think it's deliberate. Their design deliberately exploits the fact that people forget. It's not that I was careless, it's that they made canceling not easy.

我理解你生气，但是这不完全是骗你。免费试用的条件，公司在你开始的时候都写清楚了，取消也一直都可以，只是他们没有把它放在很容易看到的地方。

I understand you're angry, but this isn't entirely deceiving you. The terms of the free trial, the company wrote clearly when you started. Canceling was always possible too, it's just that they didn't put it somewhere very easy to see.

写清楚了，但是放在不容易看到的地方，这不就是他们的设计吗？如果他们真心希望用户能取消，为什么要让这件事这么不容易？

Wrote it clearly, but placed it somewhere not easy to see, isn't that exactly their design? If they truly wanted users to be able to cancel, why make it this hard?

因为这是一个商业问题。每个商业公司都会利用人的习惯赚钱，对公司来说，少一个人取消，就多一份钱，所以他们当然会把取消做得麻烦一点，这不是骗人。

Because this is a business matter. Every business makes use of people's habits to earn money. From the company's side, one fewer person canceling means more money, so of course they'll make canceling a little more troublesome. That's not cheating people.

可是这跟以前去商店买东西不一样。以前一手交钱，一手拿东西，很清楚。现在这种订阅设计是想让我在不注意的时候一直付钱，这不是普通的商业，这是骗人。

But this is different from going to a shop to buy things in the past. Back then, hand over the money, take the item, very clear. Now this kind of subscription design wants to keep me paying while I'm not paying attention. This isn't ordinary business, this is deception.

这一点我同意你，自动续费确实利用了人会忘记这件事。可是你也可以提醒自己，在免费试用要结束的时候检查一下，这样就不会忘了。

I agree with you on this point, auto-renewal really does exploit the fact that people forget. But you could also remind yourself, and check right before the free trial ends, so you wouldn't forget.

你说得对，这也是我的问题，我应该自己提醒自己。但是我还是觉得，一个诚实的商业设计，不应该因为用户会忘记就赚钱。

You're right, that's also my own fault, I should remind myself. But I still think an honest business design shouldn't make money just because users forget.

这句话我同意。好了，你现在打算怎么办？

That sentence I agree with. All right, what are you going to do now?

我现在就去取消这个订阅，然后每个月都检查一下自己的订阅。

I'm going to cancel this subscription right now, and then check my subscriptions every month from now on.

好主意。我也该去检查一下我自己的订阅了，也许我也有一个已经自动续费很久了。

Good idea. I should go check my own subscriptions too. Maybe I also have one that's been auto-renewing for a long time.