I don't buy the application of "mistake" that companies like to use. No, changing your pricing model and (by many accounts) simply not telling your customers, or not ensuring -- however difficult -- that all of your customers were told, is not a mistake. It's professional negligence, or whatever you call that when a company does it.
As many have pointed out, it's not acceptable to just continue running with a broken business model. That benefits no one. But changing your model and either not making absolutely sure to tell your customers or neglecting the attempt is just plain dishonest.
The cynic in me wonders if companies choose opt-out models because they think that a subset of their customers are not going to be bothered opting out.
A while back there was a lawsuit over one of the Canadian cable companies doing an opt out (negative option billing) and in general its not really considered a good business practice.
Of course they do, and many of them will make it as difficult as possible to switch without making it look like they're doing just that. Something you're taught is to make the "cost of switching" as high as possible.
I, personally, have continued to pay for a service I no longer used simply because it was such a pain in the ass to cancel.
You feel comfortable calling these people "plain dishonest"? Would you say that to their faces? Maybe reconsider; your point might be better cast as "it is a mistake not to be careful to ensure your customers are aware of business model changes".
I did not say that. What they did was "plain dishonest." I don't call myself a stupid person, but I have done (and will in the future do) stupid things. That does not make me stupid, and it does not make stupid things I do intelligent.
You are pushing to soften the insistence that customers should have regarding how they are charged. I don't see how that's a better approach than actually holding a company accountable for its actions, without necessarily judging the character of their employees or management.
Edit: Yes, I would say that to their faces. Exactly as I said it here, without personal judgment, but with a judgment regarding their conduct.
Hold on. Let's not forget where this started. They did try to tell their customers - via email. Your objection is that the form of notice they used was inadequate.
That's a fair objection, but choosing an inadequate form of notice, by itself, isn't dishonesty. Knowingly choosing inadequate notice would be the problem. To me it seems equally (if not more) plausible that someone, mistakenly, didn't realize that email notice wasn't good enough.
I'll also add that it isn't clear that email notice was inadequate. Are there cases of people outside the 71 who were unhappy learning about the change from another channel (like this one)?
As many have pointed out, it's not acceptable to just continue running with a broken business model. That benefits no one. But changing your model and either not making absolutely sure to tell your customers or neglecting the attempt is just plain dishonest.