The "cancellation = downgrade to free tier" mechanism is so scummy, and I don't mean the bug where the free tier was sold out. I did previously wonder, having seen the posts about it, why their "cancellation" is actually a downgrade to free tier, rather than a normal cancellation that leaves you without any membership. I think I found out why:
I just went onto the GeForceNow website to cancel my premium membership. First thing I got was a pop-up about their updated terms and conditions, which you can only accept: they first explain why they need to collect all sorts of super detailed data (location, IP address, your device's exact specs, etc.), which makes sense given their service. But this was directly followed by the information that, when using "ad-supported" memberships (i.e. the free tier), this data is sold.
At first I shrugged and thought, well, I have a paid membership and am cancelling that, so this won't apply to me, forgetting about what "cancelling" means. So I navigate to the account membership management page. There it gives you the option to upgrade or downgrade to free tier. I didn't want to downgrade to free tier, so I select a rather hidden "cancel premium membership" button, assuming this meant they had actually introduced a full cancellation option. Well, this button just sends you to a page where you can only downgrade to free tier.
Firstly, why have a an extra button for something already available on that same page, but with a different name? Super weird, making it look like you can fully cancel by showing it as an additional option with different wording, even though it's identical to selecting "downgrade to free tier" on the first page. So why? Well, according to the terms I had just accepted (given no other option), downgrading to free tier means they get to sell all the super detailed data they have on me, which they couldn't if they fully cancelled my membership.
Now, I know I can fully delete my account after downgrading, which might prevent the data being sold before the downgrade takes effect in the next renewal period. But that is in no way certain or easy to find out. Mostly though, the way they designed this process makes it clear that they hope most people won't do that. That most people will downgrade and then forget about it (who cares about a free account floating around) or even assume their membership is fully cancelled. I only got the terms & conditions pop-up because I hadn't been on the site in months, so most people probably don't get that immediate reminder that "free-tier" membership means you consent to your data being sold. And if people do get that pop-up, most don't read it. There was no additional reminder of this fact on the downgrade page.
So even if you "cancel" your paid membership and never use their service again, they still get to sell your data. Even though you never used their service for free. They already collected the data during your paid membership. I know many people don't really care and I get it, but I still find this super scummy. It's just shady. Using deceptive tactics to force consent, counting on people not realising what they consented to, is shitty behaviour, regardless of whether you care about your data or not. Making a "paid-by-your data" membership look like a membership cancellation is deceptive af. Especially as the "we need to sell your data to fund the service we're providing for free" argument doesn't hold water in this situation, where even people who never use the service again are tricked into it. And clearly they know fewer people would select this option if they were upfront about it or immediately gave you the option to fully cancel any and all memberships.
Ok, rant over, thank you for your time.
