Free trials that roll over, and your rights under the law

What a court found misleading

The ACCC has said it is concerned about “subscription traps” in digital services, and it names them alongside other “dark patterns” that unfairly affect consumer choice. Its Commissioner put the problem plainly: confusing statements, disclosures hidden in small text and complex terms and conditions can mislead consumers.

The clearest picture so far comes from a Federal Court decision the ACCC announced on 25 August 2026, about an online dating membership. The Court found the business engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct about:

• offering “free” use when people could not keep communicating with others for free;
• the automatic renewal of memberships;
• one-month memberships, when the shortest period anyone could sign up for was six months;
• people being able to cancel early, when they could not;
• monthly prices that left out an extra fee everyone paying monthly had to pay.

The renewal detail is the part to remember. People chose a 6, 12 or 24-month premium plan; the plan then renewed automatically for a locked-in 12 months, at prices that could be up to five times the first price. The renewal terms appeared in small type late in the purchase and in the terms and conditions. The Court will decide penalties and other orders later.

The price has to add up to one number

Australian businesses must show the total price of a product or service as a single figure: the minimum total cost, including taxes and any unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees. In the same August decision, the Court found the business had not shown that single minimum total beside its per-month prices.

The ACCC also warns about drip pricing: a price shown at the start of an online purchase, with fees added step by step on the way to the checkout. Its advice is to add every charge together before deciding, be ready to back out, and look for pre-selected extras to untick.

Terms that tilt one way

If you cannot change a subscription’s terms and can only take them or leave them, the ACCC calls the agreement a standard form contract. Since 9 November 2023, proposing, using or relying on an unfair term in a standard form contract has been banned, with penalties for breaches.

The law gives examples of terms that may be unfair, including terms that let one party, but not the other, end the contract or change its terms, and terms that penalise one party, but not the other, for ending it. When a court weighs a term, it asks whether the term is transparent: in reasonably plain language, clear, and not hidden. Only a court can decide finally that a term is unfair, and an unfair term is void.

The ACCC’s own example is a three-year broadband contract that lets the provider raise the price at any time while the customer cannot leave: likely unfair. The same price term is likely not to be unfair when another term lets customers who disagree leave without penalty.

Cases still before the courts

In December 2025 the ACCC began proceedings against two home meal delivery businesses, alleging that people who cancelled before a stated cut-off were still charged for their first order, and that one of them signed people up to an ongoing subscription when they entered payment details to see the meals. These are allegations that a court has not yet decided.

The ACCC’s message to traders in that release was direct: they must clearly tell consumers when they are signing up for a subscription, and how to cancel and avoid being charged. Its message to the rest of us was to review the contract terms carefully before paying for any subscription.

Before you start a trial

Each check below comes from something a regulator or a court has said matters.

• Find the one total. The minimum total cost should be shown as a single figure, not only a monthly price.
• Read what happens when the trial or first period ends. Does it renew by itself, for how long, and at what price? Those were the details the Court found hidden.
• Find the minimum period. A plan shown per month can still carry a longer minimum term.
• Check how to cancel, and whether you can cancel early.
• Look for fees that apply only if you pay monthly, and for pre-selected extras you do not want.
• Keep copies of emails and messages. NSW Fair Trading asks for copies of correspondence when you make a complaint.

If you think you have been caught

1. Start with the business. The ACCC’s first step for any unfair practice is to explain the problem to the business itself.
2. Go to your state or territory consumer agency. Each state and territory has one, often called fair trading or consumer affairs. They can explain your rights and options and may help negotiate with the business.
3. Report it to the ACCC. Anyone can make a report. The ACCC uses reports to guide its education, compliance and enforcement work, but it does not resolve individual complaints.

Stopping the payments and asking for money back has its own steps, in Ch 2: cancelling a subscription.