this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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AssholeDesign

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This is a community for designs specifically crafted to make the experience worse for the user. This can be due to greed, apathy, laziness or just downright scumbaggery.

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In this pricing table welcome offer says 34.99 per 3 month which feels like you pay 35 euro for every 3 months but actually its only for the first 3 month and it auto renews at 69.99 euros.

i am not even sure how can this be legal.

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[–] zoostation@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It says 50% off in a bright color, clearly indicating it's on sale. And then immediately after, it explicitly clarifies that the non sale price will apply after the initial promotional offer term. This is standard and I don't think it's misleading. It's just on sale.

[–] Cattail@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I could argue the asshole design is the subscription model, but it seems the European apps are not as exploitative as American ones

[–] zoostation@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

It is annoying, it just doesn't stand out as unusual, at least to an American.

[–] remon@ani.social 3 points 3 weeks ago

It's very much the same in Europe.

[–] Gyroplast@pawb.social 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Uh… that's not the issue I was expecting you to have here. Don't we agree that 34,99 / 12 = 2,91 instead of 2,72 per week, making this the blatant lie? Not to mention that 20 €/month is quite obviously 5 €/week under the assumption of one month being equivalent to four weeks.

Funnily enough, even assuming 29/30/31 days per month and 7 days per week doesn't match either "weekly rate". I have no idea what they're doing other than writing anything down to make it seem like a "low price". Similar to the "only 1 € per day!" offers.

[–] Malix@sopuli.xyz 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

seems like their math is, roughly:

1 month = 30 days // "on average, days per month"
30 days / 7 days = ~4,29 // weeks per "average month"
34.99 / (3*4.29) = ~2,72 // and this is the weekly price for the 3 "average months".
[–] Gyroplast@pawb.social 4 points 3 weeks ago

Thank you, kind stranger, I didn't consider this variant! Certainly creative, but not optimal.

If they chose instead to work with

1 year ≙ 365.2422 days
365.2422 days / 12 months ≅ 30.44 days // per month on average
30.44 days / 7 days ≅ 4.35 weeks // per avg. month
⇒ 34.99 € / (3*4.35 weeks) ≅ 2.68 €/week  ∧  19.99 € / 4.35 weeks ≅ 4.59 €/week

their weekly rates would be even cheaper! Amateurs.

[–] remon@ani.social 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

That's pretty much standard practice for subscriptions, hell, even classic contracts for ISPs for example, use this pricing scheme.

I guess it's asshole design ... but it's been around so long it feels silly pointing it out these days.

[–] hubobes@piefed.europe.pub 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Intermittent fasting costs nothing but willpower (which for some can be an issue I know) and easily beats that quote.

[–] Cattail@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

yeah apps cant replace diet and exercise

[–] urandom@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

The monthly plan is cheaper by 10 for some reason

[–] mech@feddit.org 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

All the relevant conditions and prices, for the first three months as well as the time after, are right there in the ad.
Not hidden away in small print on a 20-page contract.
It even tells you how you can cancel it, and doesn't give you an unreasonable cancellation deadline.
I wonder why you think this shouldn't be legal?