It’s clearly a dark pattern thought up by shitbags because users are more likely to create an account after they’ve typed something out vs. leaving when they find out an account is required to participate.
Even the shitbags over at Mozilla are doing it.
TransUnion asks for your credit card info as part of the “identity verification process” and then charges you $25 for the credit report “subscription” that at no point can you opt out of.
You have to call and talk to a human to get it refunded. During the call they will have “technical problems” and drop the line.
I hate TransUnion.
I find myself wondering if you can stop payment on your credit card? You’ve attempted to work with the company, so I assume that meets the cc provider requirement of attempting to resolve. Not sure, but worth a shot
Yes, you can. It’s called a chargeback. Companies hate it, because it’s a refund plus a fee/fine they have to pay for being awful. You just call your credit card company and ask them to initiate a chargeback. They’ll ask some questions about if/how you attempted to go through the right channels, how much time you allowed them, etc.
Charge backs aren’t just granted arbitrarily though. I spent almost $1k on getting my wheels refurbished. When I got them back, they had done more damage rather than repair them, and now the wheels cause major vibration.
Visa denied the charge back because a “service was provided.” Despite the owner telling me on a recorded call that he’d never refund me or make it right, and sending over forty pictures of before and after. I’m out the money and Visa couldn’t care less.
I knew there was a mechanism but not the name for it! Thank you!
There’s an even worse variant of that.
- Install an app.
- Start it up.
- It asks you some relevant questions to customize the experience to your needs.
- You answer them, and that takes a while.
- It asks you for your card.
- ???
- Profit
At least that’s how the app devs imagine how that’s going to go. IRL though, you just kill the app immediately, leave a bad review about dark patterns, and delete the whole scamware from your phone. If the devs are feeling extra greedy, they’ll also ask for you to rate the app long before you’ve even had an opportunity to do anything with it.
Unfortunately, many people are naive and susceptible to the sunk-cost fallacy; that’s what they are banking on. They know a good portion will just kill the app but the few that bite will be milked for all they are worth.
There’s an app that I find useful. Many many years ago (on Android 2.3 or maybe Android 4?) I got a lifetime license for it.
Then a few years ago they updated the app and introduced a subscription. I don’t care, because the features that I use are still accessible in the grandfathered lifetime license. BUT after every update without a subscription you now need to complete the whole “let’s personalize this app for you” thing. Afterwards it just dumps you onto a screen to select the subscription you want to pay for. You need to dismiss that screen in order to use the free features OR login and restore your old license to unlock most of the features.
They intentionally put a white X to dismiss that screen in the top left, but also put a very bright image there directly under it, so that it’s barely recognizable.
Oof… that’s just diabolical. If I say that I hate that, it’s still going to feel like an understatement.
You’re assuming you need to hit submit before they get that form information.
They’re collecting everything you type, the second you type it. Creating an account is just extra
You do. When you press submit it sends a http post message with your information. They are not reading your keyboard input on a website. You can verify this with wireshark and any website with a form.
Yeah some places with apps MAY do as you say like Facebook such with full permissions to your phone. That said its still sent as a http post request, just recorded locally and then sent as a giant packet.
That’s why they have the submit button. Otherwise they would have way too many transactions. “a” then “d” then “a” and then “m” and have to concatinate them on the server plus initial packet saying they are getting a first name. Then another that you stopped focusing on first name.
Now how do you handle if I typed adan and go back to correct it? Some apps might do this but general web development(99.999%) doesn’t.
You’re right, you can see this with wire shark, or you can just use the network tab in your browsers developer tools.
But as a web developer, you’re absolutely wrong that we can’t collect every freaking keystroke if we want to.
Sometimes we wait for submit. Sometimes we collect everything as you move from one field to another, called a blur event. Sometimes we wait for the user to stop typing for like 1/4 or 1/3 of a second, called a debounce event. But we can collect every keystroke. We don’t concatenate them on the server side, we send the whole field value after each change, tied together with other fields based on a session ID.
Hell, sometimes we track your mouse movements as well. Where you move in the page, where your mouse lingers, how long you hesitate before clicking. A “good” company uses this information to make a better user experience. A nefarious one uses it to collect all your personal information without you ever clicking submit, and sees just how hesitant you were to disengage after being asked to pay. Then aggregate that experience to determine the price point.
Some apps might do this but general web development(99.999%) doesn’t
Dude, do I have a story for you. A FullStory. I’ve tried to get this removed from my workplaces. But managers take too much time seeing exactly what people are doing on the site in order to determine engagement. So, yeah. Expect every single interaction to be recorded on many corporate websites.
Company computers are different, I definitely don’t trust them. That said managers like that are not good managers. Measure outcomes, not time. When a problem occurs and I can’t figure a solution I go for a walk. 5 maybe 10 minutes. You would be amazed how often I think of the solution on said walk. Yeah it might look like a waste of time but clearing my head is a huge value to the company.
