Day 107: The Hidden Cancel Button
On a Bremen radio phone-in about contracts that renew themselves, the presenter, Steffen Lührs (A), talks to Beate Siemers (B), a consumer lawyer, Roland Oltmann (C), a spokesman for a gym chain, and a caller, Elif Kaya (D), a student.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a German word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native German, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Unser Thema heute: Verträge, die sich stillschweigend verlängern. Frau Siemers, wie einfach muss das Kündigen online eigentlich sein?
Our topic today: contracts that quietly renew themselves. Ms Siemers, how easy does cancelling online actually have to be?
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B
Seit 2022 schreibt das Gesetz einen gut sichtbaren Kündigungsbutton vor. Und je versteckter der Button, desto schlechter die Karten des Anbieters.
Since 2022 the law has required a clearly visible cancel button. And the better hidden the button, the worse the company's chances.
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C
Da kann ich unsere Mitglieder beruhigen: Bei uns kündigt man mit zwei Klicks, und die Bestätigung kommt prompt.
I can reassure our members there: with us, you cancel in two clicks, and the confirmation comes straight away.
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A
Das sieht unsere Anruferin anders. Frau Kaya, Sie sind Mitglied bei dieser Fitnesskette?
Our caller sees it differently. Ms Kaya, you're a member of this gym chain?
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D
Eigentlich nicht mehr: Im Februar habe ich online gekündigt, aber nie eine Bestätigung zugeschickt bekommen. Trotzdem wird weiter jeden Monat abgebucht.
Strictly speaking, not any more: I cancelled online in February, but I never got a confirmation sent to me. They're still taking money every month.
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C
Je mehr Mitglieder man hat, umso eher geht leider auch mal eine E-Mail unter. Das klären wir selbstverständlich.
The more members you have, the more likely it is, unfortunately, that the odd email gets lost. We'll sort that out, of course.
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D
Und die zwei Klicks muss man erst mal finden: Der Button ist hellgrau auf Weiß, ganz unten, noch unter dem Impressum.
And you have to find those two clicks first: the button is light grey on white, right at the bottom, below even the legal notice.
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C
Na gut, zugegeben, ins Auge springt er nicht. Frau Kaya, Sie bekommen Ihre Beiträge ab Februar erstattet.
All right, I admit it doesn't exactly catch the eye. Ms Kaya, you'll get your fees refunded from February on.
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A
Da hören Sie es, liebe Hörerinnen und Hörer: Manchmal bewirkt ein Anruf im Radio mehr als zehn E-Mails.
There you have it, listeners: sometimes one call to a radio show achieves more than ten emails.
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