It states in Fitbit’s Terms of Service, “Before charging you for a Subscription Term, we will notify you of the applicable fees, and the renewal will occur at the price then in effect for the Paid Service.” Also, “Before charging you at the end of the your free trial period, we will notify you of the applicable fees.”
If you have had your Premium free trial renewed without receiving notification you have a few options:
AFTER you double check your email inbox and junk folder to make sure you did not receive a notification from Fitbit at the email address that is listed on your account you can do the following:
- If you started the free trial through the Fitbit app on iPhone you can contact Apple to explain the situation and request a refund.
- If you started the free trial on the Fitbit website you may contact customer support. If they refuse to issue a refund you may:
- Contact your bank to explain the situation and dispute the charge with them. They will most likely refund your money.
- Report it to the federal trade commission (FTC) via their online reporting form (you can report it whether or not you received your refund via Apple or your bank).
On October 28th, 2021 the FTC issued the following policy statement regarding automatic subscription renewals:
“Under the enforcement policy statement issued today, businesses must follow three key requirements”:
- Disclose clearly and conspicuously all material terms of the product or service, including how much it costs, deadlines by which the consumer must act to stop further charges, the amount and frequency of such charges, how to cancel, and information about the product or service itself that is needed to stop consumers from being deceived about the characteristics of the product or service. The statement provides detail on what clear and conspicuous means, particularly noting that the information must be provided upfront when the consumer first sees the offer and generally as prominent as the deal offer itself.
- Obtain the consumer’s express informed consent before charging them for a product or services. This includes obtaining the consumer’s acceptance of the negative option feature separately from other portions of the entire transaction, not including information that interferes with, detracts from, contradicts, or otherwise undermines the consumer’s ability to provide their express informed consent.
- Provide easy and simple cancellation to the consumer. Marketers should provide cancellation mechanisms that are at least as easy to use as the method the consumer used to buy the product or service in the first place.”
