David Lazarus: Watch out when signing up for online services
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David Lazarus’ latest column, ‘Real estate company’s pitch leads to unexpected bill,’ is a cautionary tale about a problem that consumer advocates say is becoming all too common: people signing up for one thing online and inadvertently signing up for something else that comes with recurring monthly charges.
Here’s an excerpt:
Maria Casanova, an assistant professor of economics at UCLA, toyed with the idea earlier this year of buying a foreclosed property near the Westwood campus. She signed up for a prominent listing service called RealtyTrac. Casanova, 31, canceled her subscription not long after. Yet a few days ago she discovered that some other real estate company she’d never heard of has been billing her almost $45 a month for the last eight months.
Here’s a video from Lazarus on the subject:
So has this kind of stealth co-registration happened to you? Do you worry when you sign up for paid services online that you’ll end up with a little extra something that you didn’t bank on?
-- Nancy Rivera Brooks
