Subscription you can't cancel? The ACL angle on locked-in contracts

You signed up for a subscription — a streaming service, a software plan, a meal kit delivery, a digital tool for work — and now you can't get out. The cancellation button doesn't work, the support team ignores your emails, the contract locks you in for a year, or the business keeps charging your card after you thought you'd cancelled. You're not alone, and you're not without options.

Australian Consumer Law (ACL) has no single "subscription cancellation" provision, and the problems differ: a hidden renewal or lock-in, obstructed cancellation and billing after cancellation usually turn on the contract and what you were told; a failing service is where the consumer guarantees come in.

Quick answer

Start with the contract and what you were told: the advertised price and duration, any minimum term, the renewal wording, the cancellation method and any early termination fee. If "cancel any time" was misleading, a lock-in or renewal was hidden, or billing continued after cancellation took effect under the contract or the law, your main tools are usually the contract, the ACL's bans on misleading conduct and false representations, the single-price rule and the unfair terms regime. Misleading conduct doesn't automatically end a contract, but can support damages or court orders; an unfair term is void, and the rest of the contract continues if it can operate without it.

The consumer guarantees are a separate pathway where the service itself is failing. If that failure is major or can't be remedied, you can generally terminate and get a refund for the part of the service you hadn't consumed; if it is non-major and can be remedied, you usually have to give the supplier a reasonable chance to fix it first.

What the law actually says

What you were told: sections 18, 29 and 48

Section 18 of the ACL prohibits conduct in trade or commerce that is misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive. In subscriptions it commonly arises where:

• The sign-up page said "cancel any time" but the actual cancellation process is obstructed or requires you to call a number that never connects.
• A free trial rolled into a paid plan without clear disclosure that it would auto-renew.
• The pricing page showed a monthly figure but the contract locked you in for 12 months, and that lock-in wasn't prominently disclosed.

False or misleading representations about price or your rights can also breach section 29. And where a business advertises part of the price, such as a monthly amount, section 48 generally requires it to state the single price — the minimum total it can calculate at the time — as one figure; for services paid periodically over a contract term, that figure needn't be as prominent as the monthly amount. Monthly billing doesn't necessarily mean you can cancel monthly, so check the minimum term. Promises about the future, such as "you'll be able to cancel online", are taken to be misleading under the ACL if the business had no reasonable grounds for them, and it must point to evidence of its grounds; a later failure to deliver doesn't by itself prove the promise was misleading. In August 2026 the Federal Court found that eHarmony misled consumers about the pricing, renewal and duration of its memberships and didn't show the minimum total as a single price beside its per-month prices; penalties are pending. The ACCC has also alleged that HelloFresh and Youfoodz charged for a first order after customers cancelled online before the cutoff; those claims are undecided.

A breach doesn't automatically end the contract. If you suffered loss because of the conduct, you can seek damages under section 236 within six years of when the cause of action accrued, and a court or tribunal may be able to make orders under sections 237 and 243, such as a refund or a contract variation, depending on its jurisdiction. Our section 18 misleading conduct examples show how it works in practice.

Unfair contract terms

Most subscriptions use standard-form contracts. If the contract is a consumer contract, or 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 business's legitimate interests (the business has to prove it is), and would cause detriment if relied on; transparency and the contract as a whole are considered. Section 25's examples include terms letting only one party terminate, renew or vary the contract, or penalising only one party for ending it. In subscriptions, terms that may be unfair include:

• Automatic rollover clauses that lock you in for another full year without adequate notice.
• Clauses that allow the business to vary the price or features mid-term without your consent or a right to exit.
• Excessive early termination fees that bear no relationship to the business's actual costs.

Terms defining the main subject matter or setting the upfront price are excluded from unfair-terms review. A contingent early termination fee or one-sided exit charge may still be reviewable, depending on whether the amount was disclosed and ascertainable when the contract was made and on the term's wording, purpose and operation; that it's payable only on early exit is relevant but not necessarily decisive. 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. The ACCC's contracts guidance explains how to end a contract and when terms may be unfair.

Charges after cancellation. If you followed the agreed cancellation process and cancellation took effect, later charges may be recoverable because the contract no longer authorised them. Keep the confirmation, effective date, final billing date and account history. If the provider says your cancellation was incomplete, ask it to identify the missing step and the term that requires it.

Obstructed cancellation. Even before the 2027 rules, a deliberately obstructive process can matter: it may make a "cancel any time" claim misleading, make the cancellation term unfair, show you did what you reasonably could to comply, or, in an extreme case, amount to unconscionable conduct under section 21.

Consumer guarantees, if the service itself is failing

If you acquired the service as a consumer, these guarantees apply automatically:

• Section 60 — Due care and skill. The service must be rendered with due care and skill. A platform that is persistently broken, or a service materially degraded compared with what was promised, may breach it.
• Section 61 — Fitness for a purpose or result. If you made known a particular purpose you needed the service for, it must be reasonably fit for that purpose; if you made known the result you wanted it to achieve, it must be of such a nature and quality that it might reasonably be expected to achieve that result. Section 61 doesn't apply if the circumstances show you didn't rely, or that it was unreasonable to rely, on the supplier's skill or judgment; that qualification doesn't apply to section 60.
• Section 62 — Reasonable time. If the contract doesn't fix a time for supply or provide a way to work it out, the service must be supplied within a reasonable time.

The remedies are in sections 267 to 270. For guarantees other than section 60, you can't take action if the failure happened only because of someone other than the supplier (or its agents or employees), or a cause independent of human control after supply (section 267(1)(c)). If the failure is major or can't be remedied, you can terminate the contract or keep it and claim compensation for the drop in value (section 267(3)); on termination, section 269 entitles you to a refund to the extent you hadn't consumed the service. If it isn't major and can be remedied, you first require the supplier 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, an outside provider usually can't repair the supplier's platform; depending on the failure, migration, data recovery or a replacement service may be reasonable, otherwise termination may be the practical remedy. Damages for other reasonably foreseeable loss are available on top (section 267(4)). Account for any refund, credit, app-store payment, chargeback or other reimbursement so you don't claim the same loss twice.

Under section 268, a failure is major if a reasonable consumer fully acquainted with its nature and extent wouldn't have acquired the service; the service is substantially unfit for a purpose services of that kind are commonly supplied for and can't easily and within a reasonable time be remedied to make it fit; it is unfit for a particular purpose you made known and can't easily and within a reasonable time be remedied to make it fit; it is not of such a nature, or quality, state or condition, that it might reasonably be expected to achieve a result you made known, and can't easily and within a reasonable time be remedied to achieve it; or its supply creates an unsafe situation. So a section 61 breach isn't automatically a major failure: it must also meet one of these tests. Two or more failures that aren't major on their own can together be major if a reasonable consumer aware of them as a whole wouldn't have acquired the service (section 268(2)). A platform that is down for weeks, or has removed core features you paid for, may meet this threshold, depending on the facts.

New subscription rules from 1 July 2027

New subscription-contract rules were made by the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Act 2026, and start on 1 July 2027. Suppliers will have to disclose key terms when offering a subscription, give prescribed information during it, and provide a way to cancel that is easy to find, straightforward and limited to reasonably necessary steps, including online where you signed up online. For a contract entered into before 1 July 2027, the contract and cancellation rules generally begin to apply only if it is renewed, extended, otherwise continued or varied on or after that date. The information required during a contract depends on regulations, so check the current Act and regulations before relying on them.

When this applies (and when it doesn't)

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 limb is enough. Section 3's exclusions for re-supply, or for using up or transforming in trade or commerce in production, manufacture or repairs, apply only to goods, not services, so a business subscriber can still acquire a service as a consumer. Separately, section 63 takes some services, such as insurance, out of the services guarantees. Check how these rules apply to your subscription.

Many subscriptions are mixed: a hosted service is a service, but downloadable software, devices and meal-kit boxes are goods with their own guarantees and remedies. Work out which part failed first.

A few situations where the ACL angle is weaker or doesn't apply:

• You simply changed your mind. If the service is delivered as described and you just don't want it anymore, the ACL doesn't give you a right to exit a fixed-term contract. If the contract validly locks you in for 12 months, you generally are — unless the lock-in was unfair or misleadingly presented.
• The provider is overseas. Whether the ACL applies and can be enforced across borders is complex.
• You're using it for business purposes. The guarantees can still apply to a business subscriber if the price was $100,000 or less or the service is of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal use. If neither limb applies, they may not, though a small business contract can still be protected from unfair terms, and misleading conduct is prohibited regardless.

What to do today

1. Identify who you contracted with. Check the checkout screen, your receipt and the terms; don't assume whoever charged you is the seller. Work out who supplied the subscription and who only processed payment or provided the platform: an app store usually bills you and handles store refunds, but the supplier may be the app's developer. Consumer guarantee rights usually run against the supplier (see the ACCC's buying online guidance), though a platform may have its own obligations from its services, representations, terms or refund promises.

2. 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. Time limits follow the card scheme's and any app store's rules, not the ACL's, so act promptly. Stopping a payment doesn't end the contract, and a chargeback doesn't decide your rights under the contract or the ACL.

3. Preserve the evidence. Screenshot the sign-up and price presentation, any "cancel any time" claims, the terms that applied at sign-up and at each renewal, renewal reminders, cancellation screens and error messages.

4. Cancel through the specified route and record it. Follow the contract's cancellation method, note each step, and confirm in writing, recording the effective date. Check whether cancelling only stops the next renewal or also ends the current term. Deleting the app, removing your card or blocking the merchant doesn't necessarily end the contract.

5. Ask for an itemised account. Identify each charge you dispute and why.

6. Document any service failure. If features are missing or the platform is broken, keep dated records and screenshots.

7. Write to the correct party. Say what you were told, what happened, which provisions you rely on, and what you want — cancellation, a refund for any part of the service you paid for but won't receive, or both. Give a deadline of 14 days. If you're not sure how to frame it, fairgo can draft the letter for you, and you send it under your own name.

What if the business refuses

• Your state or territory consumer protection body. It may help, for example by contacting the business or conciliating, if your complaint meets its criteria. Most expect you to have tried the business first, and eligibility rules vary by state and dispute type. These bodies don't make binding orders in ordinary consumer disputes and can't make the business settle. A full list of agencies is at /agencies.

• A specialist scheme, where one covers the provider. A phone or internet subscription, for example, may go to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, usually after you've complained to the provider; see the telco early termination fee guide.

• A tribunal or court with jurisdiction. In NSW, Victoria, Queensland, the ACT and the NT, a tribunal (NCAT, VCAT, QCAT, ACAT or NTCAT) hears many consumer claims within its limits; in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, ordinary consumer claims go to the Magistrates Court. Jurisdiction depends on each forum's enabling legislation and the type and amount of your claim, and conciliation isn't always required first. Check the forum's official site for current thresholds and filing fees, and ask about fee waivers if cost is a concern. Our guide to choosing the right tribunal or court has more.

• The ACCC. The ACCC doesn't resolve individual disputes, but a report can contribute to action against widespread auto-renewal or cancellation practices.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the contract is the final word. Under section 64, a term is void to the extent it purports to exclude, restrict or modify the consumer guarantees or your remedies (a commercial or non-household contract may need closer analysis, including under section 64A), and an unfair term in a standard-form consumer or small business contract is void. "Our terms say no refunds" doesn't override a valid guarantee or misleading conduct claim.

• Waiting too long. The ACL doesn't set a single fixed warranty-style expiry period for consumer guarantee claims, but timing still matters. Deadlines for bringing a claim also apply under state and territory limitation laws and forum rules, and app-store and card-dispute windows can be short.

• Going straight to a tribunal without a demand letter. Tribunals generally expect parties to have tried to resolve the dispute first, and a well-drafted letter often resolves it. Our gym membership cancellation rights guide shows the sequence; gym and fitness contracts may also be covered by state or territory laws and codes on disclosure, cooling-off and termination.

Related reading

• Gym membership cancellation rights under the ACL
• Telco early termination fee dispute — your ACL options
• Section 18 misleading conduct — real examples
• Subscription price increase rights Australia: what you can do
• Business refused your refund? Here's what to do next

This article is general information about Australian Consumer Law, not legal advice. It also touches on contract law, card scheme chargeback rules, app-store subscription policies, state and territory fitness industry laws, the new subscription rules that start on 1 July 2027, and complaint pathways (state and territory consumer bodies, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, the ACCC, 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.