Deletion of user account

[grilledchickenw]

The wayback machine will always remember: https://web.archive.org/web/20240503105207/https://www.soflo...

[oefrha]

It doesn’t. You can block their crawler with robots.txt and send DMCA takedown requests for archived pages as the domain owner which they will honor.

Edit: I was under the wrong impression that if you specifically call out ia_archiver in robots.txt they would honor it. It’s been completely ignored since 2017.

[lesuorac]

It doesn't say your account though.

It could just let you delete an arbitrary account ;)

[dkjaudyeqooe]

Indeed - it used to be 30 euros:

https://web.archive.org/web/20230324031319/https://www.soflo...

I guess things are improving?

[Macha]

Or not depending on how expensive their COVID book access lawsuit turns out

[derelicta]

Considering its a company established in Switzerland, and that by Swiss law you have the right to informational self determination, as in you have the right to correct/delete data about you (to some extend ofc), I'd say its grossely illegal

[n2d4]

Company location does not matter for this — if you sell goods internationally, you must obey consumer laws wherever you sell them, instead of wherever your business is located

[dumbfounder]

Nice, if you register you can get 10% off your deletion: https://paste.pics/59a50e49166a7c584f7e656391346329

[sebastianconcpt]

Okay but then how can marketeers do that and still go to heaven?

[ben_w]

First time I opened the page, it redirected me away. Second time, it stayed on the product page. Third time, it redirected me away but the back button could return me to the subject of this thread. Subsequent attempts didn't even give me that.

Is this a real product, or a test item?

[grilledchickenw]

It's been there for a long while, doesn't look like a test item. My guess is they're trying to take it down, but cache hits along the way bring it back for now.

[sebtron]

It could be worse, at least it is not 19.90€ per month

[napolux]

don't give them ideas...

19.90€/month to keep being deleted. Otherwise we will restore your account

[rob137]

Still seeing it here: https://www.soflow.com/en/product/deletion-of-user-account/

[ricardo81]

Interesting links,

In the UK it's showing the initial link as costing £ 29,90.

'rip off Britain' I guess.

[tux3]

Looks like it's still offered for purchase: https://www.soflow.com/en/warenkorb/?add-to-cart=1098

[globalise83]

To be honest this looks like a mock product that someone thought might be funny and seems to have backfired.

[TickleSteve]

If you're buying it... could you return it? If so, how would they refund you without an account?

[HeatrayEnjoyer]

Initiate a chargeback and they will figure it out.

[b3lvedere]

When ordering two of those items (which is kinda weird) i noticed the following:

“ Your personal data will be used to process your order, support your experience throughout this website, and for other purposes described in our privacy policy.”

Does this mean while processing my order, the account removal, they update or recreate the account? :)

[bbx]

Interesting how it's 19,90€ in the EU but £29,90 in the UK.

[Zealotux]

Amusing, because it should be free in the EU.

[red_admiral]

Especially as these are not legal in the UK (except on private property).

[Mo3]

If you go back on the Wayback Machine it was 29,90€ 9 months ago too

[CodeCompost]

Brexit dividends.

[morsch]

The account thing seems to be an issue for people who buy e-scooters on the secondary market (i.o.w. used). Often, the scooter is still tied to the previous owner's app.

I've found forum posts of people resorting to using the email/password from the previous owner, or sending a registered letter to SoFlow asserting the new ownership.

So, and now I'm speculating, it's possible that this is less about deleting the account than it is about unlinking a scooter from your account, and it is a way for SoFlow to dip into the secondary market -- each transfer nets them another 20 EUR.

It's also possible that this is a way for the new owner to unlink their scooter from the previous owner, with an associated service charge -- the checkout page requires proof of ownership. In that case, it might be a way to prevent fraud, i.e. people stealing scooters and resetting them; thieves are unlikely to pay 20 EUR for that, nor are they keen on tying their real identity to the stolen scooter.

Like I said, this is speculation and I'm not saying this is a good way to do it, and it's not at all explained on the website, I'm just thinking aloud here. It just seems unlikely that anybody would attempt to charge 20 EUR for a simple account deletion.

[Mo3]

That sounds like the most reasonable explanation for this.

[sztanko]

This is weird. Their privacy policy enforcing them to delete your account. I guess it is just a catch for those who don't know what GDPR us.

4. Right to deletion

a) Obligation to delete

You may request the controller to delete the personal data concerning you without undue delay, and the controller is obliged to delete such data without undue delay, if one of the following reasons applies:

- The personal data concerning you are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed.

- You withdraw your consent on which the processing was based and there is no other legal basis for the processing. You object to the processing and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing, or you object to the processing.

- The personal data concerning you have been processed unlawfully.

The deletion of the personal data concerning you is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation under Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject.

The personal data concerning you was collected in relation to information society services offered pursuant to Art. 8 (1) DSGVO.

[phi0]

It might be similar to how credit report agencies have to provide the reports for free under GDPR, but not before trying to make you pay twenty different ways.

[izacus]

The question is - will they actually be fined by anyone in EU for this? Because in practice GDPR enforcement is incredibly spotty and slow.

[joshuaissac]

Does the GDPR prevent the data controller from charging the user reasonable costs for deletion?

There are circumstances where they can charge a 'reasonable fee' for processing a Subject Access Request.

[psnehanshu]

Am I getting it correct? They are selling you the right to delete your account with them.

[sebastianconcpt]

I'm equally surprised.

[siva7]

This is almost certainly a joke which they should quickly remove to not get hefty fines from european authorities.

[dathinab]

it doesn't seem to be one

[DeathArrow]

Can I delete any user account?

[sebastianconcpt]

Monetization of churn? Nice try marketeers, you gave me the fatal argument I needed to never sign up. Just because you revealed your values with that proposal, I know I never want any relationship with that.

[ethanholt1]

This has to be illegal, right? There’s no way this is allowed. It can’t be legally or morally correct to hold someone’s data, and when asked to remove that data from your servers via account deletion, ask for 20 dollars. Adobe does this too, and I feel that subscription based models and hypermonetization is going to become more and more common in the next 10 year.

[yreg]

BTW there are European banks that have fees for account closure (and for cancelling credit/debit cards; and for stopping standing payment orders; and maybe for cancelling SEPA mandates).

[gtirloni]

I thought this had to be an April Fools' Day joke but upon checking the source, it shows the page was last modified on 2023-11-14. It's even more hilarious (in a sad way).

[davidgerard]

https://archive.is/AMSfW

Deletion of user account

Purchase the required SoFlow account deletion from the official SoFlow online shop.

€ 19,90

[victorbjorklund]

Must be some kind of weird technical reason (easier to create a "product" to execute an account deletion etc). I dont think they actually charge for that.

[vincnetas]

And theres a cookie popup with "we value your privacy"

Well, looks like they took this too literally and put actual price on "your privacy".

  That would be 19.90€ please.

[martinbaun]

Wow, this is just next level. Paying for deletion of your account? Okay I'd cancel my credit card before I'd pay a euro for that.

[rcarmo]

I've been playing with this and have a few of them in my cart:

Total € 183.545.103.533.410.025.472,00

They apparently don't do live stock availability checks :)

[dkjaudyeqooe]

Keep on going until it overflows and sets the sign bit, then they'll credit your card with quintillions of euros.

[nerder92]

I love the fact that they made the price a catchy 19,90 instead of 20 as if it was a product they'd like for people to buy.

[RandomRandy]

Wouldn't a GDPR request regarding the right to erasure have the same effect and be free (if the company respects the GDPR)?

[Nekorosu]

Hmm... I'm not sure it will.

SoFlow AG Bionstrasse 4 9015 St.Gallen Switzerland

They are not members of the EU. Still, a well-written email in legal lingo in the country's official language helps a lot. Remember to include a reference to the relevant local law.

Some leads: https://www.ey.com/en_ch/law/a-new-era-for-data-protection-i...

[dathinab]

yes and for the account owner they must

- provide it for free and process it in due time

- not hide it trying to trick the user into "buying" something to delete their account

through if you have bought one but can not use it because someone else has an account with the hardware you bought from them then the person from which you bought it must do the deletion request for it to be covered by GDPR

and they probably could come up with some nonsense where the account is deleted by the device "stays locked" and you have to pay 20€ to unlock it for a new account

that might still be in violation of consumer protection law, but no longer has anything to do with GDPR and even in consumer protection law will be in a gray zone where you can do little but complain to official agencies

[planede]

Technically still better than not offering deletion at all, but of course in reality it's in many ways worse.

[xg15]

Reminder that HN does not have any method to delete an account at all.

[littlestymaar]

Oh, yet another violation of GDPR…