Signing up for an online subscription can take little more than a few clicks, but getting out of one can sometimes prove considerably more difficult.

That is the experience described by a reader in Estepona, who contacted the Euro Weekly News after finding himself unable to stop monthly payments to an English-language newspaper in Spain.

As reported by Euro Weekly News, the man had previously supplied the publication with a public-interest story, without asking for payment, and the article had attracted lots of attention.

When he later approached the same newspaper with another story, he was told that he would first need to take out a three-month online trial before the publication would consider running it.

Although he had traditionally read the newspaper’s free printed edition and was not particularly interested in digital news, he agreed, believing the subscription would end after the trial period.

It did not.

Trial end

The three months passed, followed by a fourth and fifth month, with the subscription fee continuing to leave his bank account.

By the sixth month, he decided enough was enough and contacted the newspaper to request that the subscription be cancelled and the recurring payments stopped.

According to the reader, he was told that there was little staff could do to resolve the situation, while the charges continued.

He subsequently approached his bank for help, which replied that there was supposedly nothing that could be done to prevent the payments, a response familiar to many consumers.

The alternative offered was reportedly to replace the bank card, potentially at the customer’s expense.

That raises a broader question about recurring payments: when a customer has clearly said they no longer want a service, how much control should they have over money leaving their own account?

Contract cancellation

Consumer advocates have long pointed out that stopping a payment and legally terminating a subscription are two different matters.

A customer should therefore make any cancellation request clearly and in writing, keeping evidence of when it was made.

However, Euro Weekly News argues that consumers can still find themselves caught between the company taking the payment and the bank processing it.

This issue is not restricted to newspapers, as streaming services, gyms, apps, cloud storage, printer subscriptions and other recurring services can all use similar arrangements, particularly when introductory prices automatically become full-price subscriptions.

Some businesses make cancellation particularly troublesome, requiring customers to telephone rather than simply click a button online, while others use chatbots, retention offers, or lengthy cancellation processes that can discourage people from completing the process.

This type of design has become known as a “roach motel” approach, which makes signing up straightforward, but leaving deliberately more difficult.

EU rules

European consumer protection rules are already beginning to address some of these practices.

The new EU rules generally give consumers a 14-day cooling-off period for many contracts made online or at a distance, and they also require businesses to provide an online withdrawal mechanism during that timeframe.

Germany introduced an online cancellation button for certain ongoing contracts in 2022, while France has also introduced a simplified cancellation system.

Furthermore, Spain announced protections for certain subscription arrangements, requiring businesses offering fixed-term subscriptions that automatically renew to warn customers ahead of the next charge and provide a direct way to cancel.

However, these measures do not necessarily mean consumers can cancel every recurring subscription with a single click whenever they want.

Consumer organisations have been pushing for stronger protection at EU level, including easier cancellation of auto-renewing services.

The European consumer organisation BEUC has called for consumers to be able to end automatically renewing subscriptions with reasonable notice, alongside a clear cancellation option.

Service economy

The Estepona case highlights an increasingly common frustration with the subscription economy.

A customer may sign up for a discounted introductory offer, only to discover that the price increases automatically once the promotional period expires. In other cases, cancellation deadlines, notice periods, or complicated procedures can make it surprisingly easy to keep paying for something you no longer want.

The same issues can arise with gym memberships, children’s apps, software, online storage, vehicle services and other products billed on a recurring basis.

For consumers, keeping a record of the original terms, cancellation requests and subsequent payments can be crucial if a dispute develops.

Although stopping a card payment may not terminate the underlying contract, consumers should not assume recurring charges must continue indefinitely.

For the Estepona reader, the experience began with an attempt to share a story he believed was in the public interest, but it ended with a battle to stop paying for a service he says he never intended to keep beyond the trial.