Subscription price increase rights Australia: what you can do

Q: Subscription price increase rights Australia: what you can do

Start with your contract, not the consumer guarantees. Check the terms that applied when you signed up or last renewed: whether they let the provider raise the price, what notice they required, and whether it was given. Without a price-change right, the provider may not be entitled to the new price for a period you've already agreed to; without the required notice, the increase may not have taken effect when you were charged. Even a clear clause with proper notice doesn't end the question: in a standard-form consumer or small business contract, an unfair term is void (sections 23 to 25), and a term that lets the provider raise the price without letting you leave is one the ACL lists as potentially unfair. If the provider promised a fixed or locked-in price, or the "increase" is really the end of an introductory price or an automatic renewal you weren't clearly told about, that may be misleading (sections 18 and 29). A court or tribunal may then be able to order compensation, a refund or a change to the contract. A price rise on its own isn't a failure of the consumer guarantees, so the services remedies (sections 267 to 270) matter only if the service itself is also failing. On a month-to-month plan, the practical choice is often to cancel before the next billing date while disputing the increase in writing. If writing to the provider doesn't help, a state or territory consumer body may assist (usually voluntary and non-binding), or you can go to a court or tribunal with jurisdiction.

Your streaming or subscription service raised its price. Here's how your contract, unfair terms and misleading pricing rules under Australian Consumer Law apply.

Reviewed by Raymond Stevens28 September 202615 min readLast reviewed 29 Sept 2026

Digital Cancellation Services Section 18 Section 29 Intermediate

Your streaming service just sent an email: prices are going up next month. Or you only noticed the increase on your bank statement. Either way, the new price is higher than what you signed up at, and you want to know whether the law gives you any say.

Quick answer

Start with your contract, not the consumer guarantees. Check the terms that applied when you signed up or last renewed: whether they let the provider raise the price, what notice they required, and whether it was given. Without a price-change right, the provider may not be entitled to the new price for a period you've already agreed to; without the required notice, the increase may not have taken effect when you were charged.

Even a clear clause with proper notice doesn't end the question: in a standard-form consumer or small business contract, an unfair term is void (sections 23 to 25), and a term that lets the provider raise the price without letting you leave is one the ACL lists as potentially unfair.

If the provider promised a fixed or locked-in price, or the "increase" is really the end of an introductory price or an automatic renewal you weren't clearly told about, that may be misleading (sections 18 and 29). A court or tribunal may then be able to order compensation, a refund or a change to the contract.

A price rise on its own isn't a failure of the consumer guarantees, so the services remedies (sections 267 to 270) matter only if the service itself is also failing.

On a month-to-month plan, the practical choice is often to cancel before the next billing date while disputing the increase in writing. If writing to the provider doesn't help, a state or territory consumer body may assist (usually voluntary and non-binding), or you can go to a court or tribunal with jurisdiction.

What the law actually says

Does your contract allow the increase?

The ACL works alongside contract law, not instead of it. Check that the price-change clause was part of your contract, covers this kind of increase, and was used the way it says, including its notice period. If the terms said nothing about price changes, the provider generally can't raise the price for a period you've already agreed to; on a rolling monthly plan, it may instead be able to offer the next period at a new price on notice.

The version of the terms you accepted at sign-up is the starting point. A later version can bind you if the provider validly changed the terms under the contract or you accepted new terms on renewal.

App stores can add their own notice, consent and renewal rules for price changes, which vary by platform, subscription and size of increase; check the notice and your subscription settings. These rules sit alongside your contract and the ACL.

Is the price-change term unfair?

Most subscriptions use standard-form contracts. If you signed up as an individual wholly or predominantly for personal, domestic or household use (a consumer contract), or the contract is a small business contract (broadly, a party with fewer than 100 employees or turnover under $10 million), an unfair term is void under section 23 and the rest of the contract continues if it can operate without that term.

Under section 24, a term is unfair if it would cause a significant imbalance in the parties' rights, isn't reasonably necessary to protect the provider's legitimate interests, and would cause you detriment if relied on. Transparency and the contract as a whole are considered, and the provider has to prove the term was reasonably necessary. Section 25 lists, as terms that may be unfair, one letting only one party vary the contract, and one letting a party vary the upfront price without the other party having a right to terminate.

Terms that define the main subject matter or set the upfront price payable are excluded from review, but a separate power to change the price later can still be reviewed. Whether a price-related term is excluded depends on its wording and how it operates; a higher price after an introductory offer, disclosed and fixed at sign-up, may be part of the upfront price. The ACCC gives the example of a broadband provider whose three-year contract lets it raise the price with no way out: that term is likely unfair, while a similar term paired with a penalty-free exit is likely not.

Whether a term is unfair is ultimately for a court or tribunal with jurisdiction to decide. For contracts made or renewed, and terms varied or added, from 9 November 2023, proposing, applying or relying on an unfair term can also attract penalties.

Were you misled about the price?

Section 18 prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct, and section 29 prohibits false or misleading representations about the price of services. Situations that may involve a breach include:

a plan advertised as "price locked for 12 months" that went up within the year;
an introductory price that automatically renewed at a much higher price, or for a minimum term, without clear disclosure;
a price-rise notice that left out a cheaper option to keep your existing plan.

A promise about future pricing is treated as misleading if the provider had no reasonable grounds for making it, and the provider must point to evidence that it did. A later price rise doesn't by itself prove an earlier statement was misleading, but a locked-in price may also be a term of your contract you can enforce in its own right.

In August 2026 the Federal Court found that eHarmony misled consumers about the pricing, automatic renewal and duration of its subscriptions, and failed to show the minimum total price alongside its monthly prices, as the single-price rule in section 48 requires. Separately, the ACCC has sued Microsoft, alleging its Microsoft 365 price-rise messages didn't tell subscribers they could keep their plan at the old price; that case was undecided as at September 2026.

Whether conduct breaches section 18 or 29 depends on the overall impression it created at the time; you don't have to prove reliance to show a breach. To recover money under section 236, you must show you suffered loss because of the conduct, and start within six years of when the cause of action accrued. If you have suffered, or are likely to suffer, loss because of the conduct, a court or tribunal may also be able to make orders under sections 237 and 243, such as a refund or a contract variation, depending on its jurisdiction; check what orders the forum can make before filing.

If the service itself is also failing

The consumer guarantees for services are in sections 60 to 62: due care and skill; being reasonably fit for a purpose you made known, and of a nature, quality, state or condition that might reasonably be expected to achieve a result you made known (section 61, unless you didn't rely, or it was unreasonable to rely, on the provider's skill or judgment); and supply within a reasonable time. They cover things like long outages or missing core features, not the price. Software is goods under the ACL, so if the problem is with software you download as part of a subscription, the goods guarantees may apply to that part instead, with their own remedies. For sections 61 and 62, though not section 60, you can't take action where the failure happened only because of someone other than the provider or its agents or employees, or a cause independent of human control after supply (section 267(1)(c)).

If a services guarantee fails, the remedies are in sections 267 to 270. For a failure that isn't major and can be fixed, you can require the provider to fix it within a reasonable time; if it refuses or doesn't, you can have it fixed elsewhere and recover the reasonable cost, or terminate (section 267(2)). For a hosted service, no one else can usually fix the platform, so terminating may be more practical. If the failure is major or can't be remedied, you can terminate, or keep the contract and recover compensation for the drop in value (section 267(3)). On termination, section 269(3) entitles you to a refund of what you paid, to the extent the services weren't consumed. Damages for other reasonably foreseeable loss are available on top (section 267(4)), if you can prove the loss and took reasonable steps to limit it, less anything a refund, credit or chargeback already covers.

Under section 268, a failure is major if a reasonable consumer fully acquainted with its nature and extent wouldn't have acquired the services; the services are substantially unfit for a common purpose, unfit for a purpose you made known, or not of a nature, quality, state or condition that might reasonably be expected to achieve a result you made known, and can't, easily and within a reasonable time, be remedied; or the supply created an unsafe situation. For contracts made from 18 December 2020, two or more smaller guarantee failures can together be major if a reasonable consumer fully acquainted with them, taken as a whole, wouldn't have acquired the services (section 268(2)). See services that go wrong under the ACL.

Under section 64, a term is void to the extent it excludes, restricts or modifies the consumer guarantees or your remedies for them, so "no refunds" can't defeat a guarantee claim, and telling customers otherwise can itself breach section 29. A commercial or non-household contract may need closer analysis, including whether section 64A lets the provider limit its liability. Section 64 doesn't void a price-change clause; that is an unfair-terms question.

Who is protected

The consumer guarantees apply if you acquired the service as a consumer under section 3 of the ACL: the amount paid or payable was $100,000 or less, or the service is of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use. Either is enough. The re-supply, production and repair exclusions in section 3 apply only to goods, so using a streaming subscription partly for work doesn't by itself take you outside the definition. Sections 18 and 29 protect anyone dealing with a business; the unfair-terms rules have their own tests (above).

New ACL provisions on subscription contracts, covering sign-up disclosure, information during the contract and cancellation, were passed in July 2026 but don't start until 1 July 2027 and don't apply to conduct before then.

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When this applies (and when it doesn't)

Match your situation to the likeliest route:

No price-change right, or required notice missing: dispute the higher charge as not allowed by the contract.
A clause that may be unfair: ask the provider to withdraw the increase or let you leave without an exit fee (sections 23 to 25).
A fixed or locked-in price was promised: rely on the contract and sections 18 and 29.
A hidden renewal, minimum term or total price: rely on sections 18 and 29, and possibly section 48.
Charged after you validly cancelled: ask for repayment and consider a card dispute.
The service itself is also failing: rely on sections 60 to 62 and 267 to 270.
Billed through an app store: identify the seller and biller (checkout, receipt, terms), then use the store's process promptly.

Your grounds are weaker when:

you're on a month-to-month plan, the clause clearly allowed the increase with proper notice, you can leave without cost, and nothing was promised, so cancelling is usually the practical answer;
you simply don't want to pay more, and none of the situations above applies.

If the provider is overseas, factors such as no ABN, no Australian entity or no Australian-dollar pricing are relevant but not decisive; the ACL can still apply where the provider supplies directly to consumers in Australia, though enforcing a claim across borders can be difficult.

What to do today

Save the evidence. Keep screenshots of the original offer and checkout, the price and any price promise, the terms at sign-up and each later version, the price-rise notice and its date, receipts, how the charge appears on your statement, and your billing history. If you cancel, also capture each step, any retention offer or cheaper plan shown, the confirmation, the final service date and any failed attempt.
Check your payment method early. A card dispute (chargeback) is most realistic for a charge taken after you cancelled, a wrong amount, or a charge you never authorised; it's weak for a notified increase you didn't cancel before. Time limits follow the card scheme's rules, not the ACL's, so act promptly: report unauthorised charges to your bank immediately; otherwise, if possible, first raise the charge with whoever billed you, as your bank may ask whether you did. Stopping a payment doesn't end the contract, a chargeback doesn't decide your rights under the contract or the ACL, and some providers' terms treat one as cancelling the subscription. A disputed price isn't necessarily an unauthorised transaction, so tell your bank accurately whether you never authorised the payment, cancelled first, or agreed to recurring billing but dispute the amount.
Work out who you contracted with. Check the checkout screen, your receipt and the terms at sign-up; don't assume whoever charged you is the seller. If you subscribed through an app store, the store usually bills you and handles store refunds, but the seller may be the app's developer. The ACCC's buying online guidance says your consumer guarantee rights usually lie against the seller, not the platform.
Write to the provider. Set out the price you signed up at, the new price, the term or promise you rely on, and what you want: the original price for any promised period, a refund of the difference (or of a renewal charge you weren't clearly told about, or one taken after you cancelled), or cancellation without an exit fee. Deduct anything already refunded, credited or charged back, so you don't claim the same amount twice. Ask it to identify the term it relies on, the version of its terms you accepted, and how it gave notice. Give a reasonable deadline; 14 days is a practical choice, not an ACL rule. If you're unsure how to frame it, fairgo can generate a demand letter for free, which you send under your own name.
Decide about cancelling. On a month-to-month plan, cancel before the next billing date if you don't want to pay more, and say in writing that you dispute the increase and reserve your claim. On an annual or fixed-term plan, cancelling usually stops the renewal rather than refunding the current term; if you were promised a locked price, dispute the increase first. On any fixed-term plan, check exit fees (and, for telco, device repayments) before cancelling. For an app-store subscription, cancel in the store's subscription settings (deleting the app doesn't cancel it) and keep the confirmation.

What if the business refuses

Your state or territory consumer body. Many offer conciliation for eligible disputes. It's usually voluntary, and the body generally can't compel the provider to take part or make binding orders. Limited exceptions exist, such as NSW Fair Trading's directions for some goods disputes (generally not a streaming service) and the ACT's conciliation scheme for smaller claims. Contact details are at /agencies.
The ACCC. You can report a pricing or subscription practice to the ACCC, which may point you to your state or territory body, but it doesn't resolve individual disputes.
A court or tribunal with jurisdiction. For a binding outcome, the forum depends on your state or territory, the type of claim and the amount, and a tribunal can hear only what its enabling legislation allows. In Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, ordinary consumer claims go to the Magistrates Court. See which tribunal or court to use and our South Australia and Tasmania guides, and confirm the forum, its claim limits, fees and any fee waivers on its official site before filing. You usually don't need a lawyer, and some small-claims streams restrict legal representation.
Telco services. For a phone or internet plan, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is free, and you generally need to complain to your provider first. See our guide to telco early termination fees.

Common mistakes

Paying the new price without objecting. Continuing to use and pay without objecting may help the provider argue you accepted the change, depending on the contract and notice, though it doesn't validate an unfair term or cure misleading conduct. Object in writing once you notice the increase.
Confusing cancelling the renewal with ending the current term. Cancelling usually stops future charges; it doesn't necessarily refund a prepaid period or give up your claim for amounts already charged.
Leaving it too late. A damages claim for misleading conduct must be started within six years, contract time limits vary between states and territories, and evidence such as sign-up pages disappears quickly.

This article is general information about Australian Consumer Law, not legal advice. It also touches on contract law, card scheme chargeback rules, app-store and platform subscription policies, the new subscription rules that start on 1 July 2027, and complaint pathways (state and territory consumer bodies, the ACCC, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, and courts and tribunals), whose scope, rules, thresholds and processes sit outside the ACL or can change. Confirm the current position with the relevant body before lodging. For advice on your specific case, see your state or territory consumer body — full list at /agencies.