The article reports on three individuals' experiences with unwanted subscriptions, where they had signed up for free trials but were charged after the trial period ended. Sophie Branscombe got an £89 refund by submitting a complaint to Apple, while Hussein Zaaiter was able to get reimbursed by his bank after being repeatedly charged by the software company. According to the article, two of these individuals attribute their successful refunds to setting reminders and reading the terms and conditions before starting subscriptions.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-14,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Sophie Branscombe, 23, from Wirral, was charged £89.99 by a photo editor app after signing up for a free trial. She claims the company made it clear she would be signing up to a subscription, but didn't provide any reminders about when the free period would end. Sophie wasn't able to get a refund directly through the firm, so she used Apple's "report a problem" feature to request a refund, which was successful. This incident follows a crackdown by Prime Minister Andy Burnham on "subscription traps", where consumers are unknowingly charged for services they didn't intend to keep. The BBC reports that consumers often forget to cancel subscriptions or are unaware of the terms and conditions.
Written for “Canceling Unwanted Subscriptions” on 2026-08-31,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 766 · logged 2026-08-26
- Published
Ever been confused by a random amount leaving your bank then had that sinking feeling it's a subscription you forgot to cancel or didn't mean to sign up to?
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you → publish → feeling
Often the first order is free or heavily discounted so you give it a try and tell yourself you'll cancel it before the deadline.
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you → discount → deadline
But it's easy to forget and sometimes not straightforward.
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it → forget → ?
Following Prime Minister Andy Burnham's crackdown on subscription traps, three people tell us how they got into - and out of theirs.
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they → follow → theirs
1. Set reminders
Sophie Branscombe, 23 from Wirral, says she signed up for a free trial of a photo editor app then saw a payment of £89.99 had gone out of her bank.
"It was a free trial, and they did make it clear I was signing up to a subscription, but there was no reminder of when [the free period] would end," she says.
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she → set → subscription
Sophie says she wasn't able to get a refund through the firm.
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she → say → firm
Instead she submitted a refund request via Apple "report a problem" which refunded everything.
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which → submit → everything
The BBC has asked the company for a response.
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BBC → ask → response
Sophie's advice to others is to set reminders as soon as you sign up to a subscription for when the free trial ends.
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trial → set → subscription
"Make it a habit of checking what subscriptions run out and if you also find that you don't like something after signing up to a free trial, cancel straight away," she says.
2. Read the small print
Hussein Zaaiter, 21 from West London was using a free software trial for his university work and says when he tried to cancel he faced several complications.
"
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he → make → complications
I tried online chat, email and even the phone at one point as they were constantly charging me," he says.
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he → try → me
He says a payment of £16 left his account, then another of £32 before he froze his card.
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he → say → card
"They tried to charge me seven times," he says.
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he → try → me
He contacted his bank to explain the situation in the hope of being reimbursed.
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He → contact → hope
"I felt like it was marketed as a free trial that was easy to cancel.
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that → feel → trial
"It was difficult to contact them, and the cancellation was near impossible," he says.
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he → contact → them
Hussein's tip for others is to read the terms and conditions and take caution before starting subscriptions.
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tip → read → subscriptions
The BBC has contacted the firm for a response.
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BBC → contact → response
Don't assume your trial will end
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trial → assume → ?
Rosalinda Kwafo-Akoto, 22 from the West Midlands signed up for a one-week free TV trial.
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Akoto → sign → trial
"I remembered before the end of the week that the trial was ending and tried to cancel it so I wouldn't be charged," she says.
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she → remember → it
She says she couldn't find the subscription anywhere on her account so assumed that they had automatically ended and removed it.
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they → say → it
After a week, she realised that money had been taken out of her account.
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money → realise → account
She says it took her an hour and a half to get through to speak to someone on customer service and locate the subscription.
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it → say → subscription
Ros managed to cancel it and was refunded the full amount.
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Ros → manage → amount
Ros's tip for others is don't assume that a subscription will automatically cancel just because you can't find it on your account.
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you → assume → account
"These companies make it as difficult as possible for you to cancel so make sure you get a confirmation email of your cancellation," she says.
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she → make → cancellation
The BBC has contacted the firm for a response.
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BBC → contact → response
