{"id":388971,"date":"2025-09-01T09:51:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T09:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/388971\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T09:51:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T09:51:16","slug":"asa-rules-on-pricing-of-subscription-offer-health-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/388971\/","title":{"rendered":"ASA Rules On Pricing Of Subscription Offer – Health & Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ASA has ruled<\/a> on how the pricing for a health and
\nfitness app subscription was presented.<\/p>\n

An ad for the app featured pricing information. Text stated,
\n“Pay monthly \u00a37.99” and “Pay once \u00a379.99
\n(Annual)”. A button stated, “Buy now” under each
\noption, which linked through to a checkout page.<\/p>\n

Four complainants challenged if the ad made it clear that the
\nsubscription was for a minimum term of 12 months.<\/p>\n

Team RH Fitness Ltd t\/a Team RH believed the pricing and
\n12-month commitment for their monthly plan were both clearly
\npresented on their website and did not mislead consumers. They
\nsought to rely on their terms and conditions which consumers had to
\naccept before paying.<\/p>\n

The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claims
\n“Pay monthly \u00a37.99” and “Pay once \u00a379.99
\n(Annual)” to mean they had the option to pay either
\n\u00a37.99 on a rolling monthly basis, or a one-off annual payment
\nof \u00a379.99. In particular, it thought that consumers were
\nlikely to interpret the \u00a37.99 monthly option as something
\nthey could cancel at any time.<\/p>\n

However, the \u00a37.99 price was subject to a minimum
\ncommitment of 12 months. In addition, to download the app,
\nconsumers were asked to waive their right to a 14-day cooling off
\nperiod. This meant that consumers who selected the monthly plan
\nwere committed to a minimum total payment of \u00a395.88. This was
\nsignificant information that consumers needed upfront to make an
\ninformed decision about whether to proceed with the
\nsubscription.<\/p>\n

The pricing page did not make any reference to the 12-month
\nminimum commitment. It was only presented in small subtext beneath
\nthe payment button. Even though consumers had to accept the terms,
\nthe ASA said that the existence of a minimum term was significant
\nand should have been clearly stated on the pricing page itself,
\nrather than after clicking through to the checkout.<\/p>\n

Because the ad did not make clear that the minimum period for
\nthe subscription was 12 months, the ASA considered that the ad was
\nmisleading and told Team RH Fitness Ltd t\/a Team RH to ensure that
\nthey did not mislead consumers by omitting to mention that the
\nsubscription was for a minimum period of 12 months.<\/p>\n

This ruling comes against the backdrop of the new Digital
\nMarkets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), which
\nintroduced new provisions about pricing in April this year. The CMA
\nalso recently consulted on certain aspects of price transparency,
\nwhich included new draft guidance<\/a> on the pricing of subscription
\ncontracts. An example in the guidance that is relevant to this
\nruling concerned an annual gym membership. The example says that a
\ngym might offer an annual membership for \u00a370 a month with a
\n\u00a330 one-off joining fee. The price of this membership could
\nbe advertised as “\u00a370 per month for 12 months, plus a
\n\u00a330 joining fee (Total price for a year: \u00a3870)”.
\nThe guidance said it would also be lawful for the price to be
\npresented as “12 months Membership: You pay \u00a3100 for the
\nfirst month, then \u00a370 per month for the remaining 11
\nmonths”. The difference here is that it makes clear that you
\nhave to pay for the entire year.<\/p>\n

When advertising a subscription product, it is vital to make
\nsure that pricing options are clear to consumers, and that it’s
\nalso clear if there’s a minimum term, and how long it is.
\nHowever, it is important to remember that the DMCCA also introduces
\nnew rules on the sale and auto renewal of subscription contracts
\nthat are due to come into force around Spring 2026. We are
\ncurrently waiting for the final guidance<\/a> on how those rules will
\noperate, especially to deal with the situation where a consumer
\ncancels a subscription contract during the cooling-off period but
\nhas used the service in some way during that time.<\/p>\n

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
\nguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
\nabout your specific circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ASA has ruled on how the pricing for a health and fitness app subscription was presented. An…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-388971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115128427230790354","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}