Millions in Washington state may have been deceived by subscription services, official says

Authorities in Washington state say millions of residents have unintentionally signed up for subscriptions they didn't want, thinking they were making a one-time purchase.

The state conducted a survey that found 59 percent of state residents said they had enrolled in a subscription plan/service that they believed was a one-time purchase. 

“This survey reveals that corporations are deceiving Washingtonians into paying for unwanted subscriptions – and consumers want this practice to end,” state Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) said in a statement. “If you unintentionally signed up for a subscription service, contact my office so we can help.”

The release did not list any specific companies.

The 59 percent of respondents who said they enrolled in the subscription service they thought was a one-time purchase would equal 3.5 million Washington state residents. 

Fifty-one percent of respondents said in the survey that a pre-checked box was the reason they unintentionally enrolled in the subscription service, while 37 percent of those surveyed said they don’t remember if a pre-checked box was present on a form where they consented to a subscription.

Twelve percent of state respondents said they didn’t see a pre-checked box while taking the survey.

Seventy percent of respondents also believed that ​​pre-checked boxes should be prohibited. 

The consumer survey also noted that approximately 100,000 state residents were unable to cancel the subscription service due to difficulty in doing so. 

Ferguson urged state residents to file a complaint with his office if they unintentionally enrolled in the subscription service while attempting to make a one-time purchase, noting that his office sends back approximately $18 million yearly to residents through its informal complaint resolution process, which involves working with businesses to resolve consumer complaints pre-investigation or litigation. 

The survey was conducted from June 24 through July 7 with a total of 1,207 state respondents participating in the survey. The survey’s margin of error was 2.82 percentage points.