Subscription Surprises: Neha's Story
When Neha paid for an online CV builder, she believed she was making a single payment.
"In order to download the CV, you have to pay. So I did that, and I just thought it was a one-off thing."
However, two years later, she discovered she had been enrolled in a monthly subscription with LiveCareer, resulting in over £500 being withdrawn from her joint account with her husband.
"My husband just assumed it was something that I had signed up to, so he never questioned it at the time," said Neha, 50.
In an era where subscriptions cover everything from security cameras to meal kits and shaving blades, many consumers have been caught out by direct debits they were unaware of. Moreover, the cancellation process can be extremely challenging.
Following the government’s announcement of measures to tackle "subscription traps," numerous individuals contacted BBC Your Voice to share their experiences.
Neha stated she reached out to LiveCareer to cancel her subscription.
"I emailed them to say, 'Look, you know I've not used this and you've not communicated at all about this'."
She added that LiveCareer agreed to cancel the subscription but refused to issue a refund.
"Because it's an American company, I can't go to Small Claims, I can't go to Trading Standards," Neha explained. She is currently exploring the possibility of obtaining a chargeback through her bank.
"Their website sort of implies they've got a UK presence, but they haven't.
"I know it's my responsibility to check statements, but it's so easy for these companies to just carry on taking money."
A spokesperson for LiveCareer stated the company is "committed to transparency" and strives to make subscription terms clear.
"Information about billing, including whether a service is part of an ongoing subscription subject to auto-renewal, is presented throughout the user experience. We also communicate with customers regarding their subscription through transactional emails and reminder notification, which include details about access to account settings where subscriptions can be managed or cancelled at any time."
'Never again'
Some consumers have resorted to fabricating stories about illnesses, emigration, or even imprisonment to persuade companies to stop charging them.
Others have cancelled direct debits with their banks, although this can negatively affect credit scores and does not terminate the contract with the company.
Adobe, the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat, was mentioned by several readers.
Carmen, from London, took out a free trial of Adobe Creative Cloud intending to for three months.
However, she found herself locked into an annual contract with a £250 cancellation fee.
After one year, she attempted to prevent auto-renewal but was informed she had missed a "very specific" cancellation window, extending the contract for another year. The same occurred the following year.
"I'm usually very careful about tracking and cancelling subscriptions, but Adobe Creative Cloud's approach felt especially unfair and difficult to manage."
"If the cancellation process hadn't been so difficult, I may have dipped in and out of a subscription as and when. But my experience made me decide: 'Never again.'"
Adobe has been contacted for comment.
Strategies to Make Cancelling Harder
The government's new regulations aim to make cancelling subscriptions as straightforward as signing up.
This should eliminate "endless phone calls" where companies attempt to persuade customers to remain d.
Companies will also be required to remind customers when free trial periods are ending or contracts are due for renewal, and customers will have a 14-day cooling-off period to change their minds.
These measures could save the average consumer £170 annually, according to the Department for Business and Trade.
Currently, Citizens Advice advises consumers to be vigilant regarding common tactics companies use to complicate cancellations.
By creating numerous obstacles in the cancellation process, companies rely on some customers giving up and maintaining their subscriptions.
Consumer psychologist Kate Nightingale explains that companies intentionally associate negative emotions with cancellation.
"Obviously, the core premise for them is: the harder you make it in terms of the cognitive effort [of cancelling], the less likely a person is to follow through with that."
When cancellation is difficult, consumers develop negative feelings toward the process rather than positive feelings about saving money.
"At a certain point," Kate notes, "the pain of the actual experience of trying to cancel it becomes bigger than the pain of losing a few pounds or a few tens of pounds a month."
She highlights utility bills as a particular example, stating that if the thought of calling an internet provider to cancel a contract is daunting, these tactics have succeeded.
