eHarmony court case a warning for all Aussies: time to check what you’re paying for
Key takeaways
- The Federal Court found eHarmony misled customers about pricing, terms and renewals, costing some up to $600 more than expected.
- The subscription trap could be costing you too: I found $50/m in subscriptions I could cut, and a friend found $38/m.
- A subscription audit takes 1-2 hours but can save you hundreds of dollars a year – here's how to do it.
The Federal Court has found dating site eHarmony misled Aussie customers with its subscriptions, giving us all a pretty big reminder of how easy it is for subscription costs to catch us out.
After receiving "hundreds of complaints", the ACCC took eHarmony to court. Of around 250,000 Australians who paid for a premium membership, about 45,000 had their memberships automatically renewed without the terms being properly disclosed.
The Court found eHarmony had a raft of problems with how it disclosed prices, membership terms and renewals, with some customers paying up to $600 more than they expected. The penalties and any refunds are still to be decided.
But there's a lesson here for all of us
We're all getting a bit ripped off by recurring payments for streaming and services that we…
- Forgot we signed up for
- No longer need or use
- Meant to cancel
- Found useful once, but not anymore
- Don't even realise we're still paying for
On average, subscription spending across all categories (including gym memberships, dating apps and software) averages $80-$150 a month for most households, according to Finder data.
So, although streaming services like Netflix and Spotify are the obvious ones to strip back, when I did a quick streaming audit, I went deeper.
I checked for everything
I'm talking about music streaming. TV streaming. Fitness apps. Cloud storage. Dating apps. Meal kits. Software. News sites. Gaming services. Security software. Meditation apps. Kids' apps. Memberships.
I cancelled a bunch and saved $50 a month, or $600 a year.
One of my friends decided to follow my lead, and she started by checking her bank statements for recurring payments.
She found 3 subscriptions she could cancel, putting $38 a month back in her hands.
Even better – she also found almost $400 in unexplained charges from a vendor she didn't know. She called the bank, who investigated and then reimbursed her in full!
You're already overpaying for streaming...
Your subscription clean-out starts now
Time to claim back your subscription money leaks.
This whole process shouldn't take you more than an hour or two, and it'll be one of the best hourly rates you ever earn!
- Grab a pen and paper and write down every subscription:
- Review your online transaction history for recurring payments.
- Check both your credit card and bank statements.
- Also look at your Apple or Google Play subscriptions, too.
- Look for unfamiliar names: some recurring payments can show up under the name of a parent company or app store.
- Search your email inbox for terms like: "Your subscription", "Your membership", "Your renewal", "Free trial", "Auto-renewal"
- Once you have the full list:
- Decide which ones you definitely want to keep and which ones can go.
- If you're undecided, cancel – you can sign up again instantly if you decide you want it back, but you can save money in the meantime.
- Last, the slightly painful part:
- Log in and deleting your accounts.
- Remember that deleting an app doesn't cancel the subscription.
A service that costs $10 a month might not feel like a big win, but you could discover you're spending hundreds of dollars a year on subscriptions you barely use.
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