Foxtel requires a phone call to cancel. In 2026. For a streaming service. You call the number, wait on hold, and then spend 15 to 30 minutes while a retention agent cycles through discount offers, asks why you're leaving, and tries to talk you into a downgrade. If you signed a contract, you might owe up to $300 in early termination fees on top of that.
This is not a bug. It is a business model.
75% of Australian consumers have had a negative experience trying to cancel a subscription. 10% gave up entirely and kept paying for a service they didn't want. (Consumer Policy Research Centre, 2024)
The CPRC's "Let Me Out" report found that 45% of Australians spent more time than intended trying to cancel, and 32% felt pressured into keeping a subscription they wanted to leave. These aren't accidents. They're features.
Here are the worst offenders.
1. Foxtel: the phone call that never ends
Foxtel Residential (satellite/iQ box) can only be cancelled by phone. There is no online option. No email. No chat. You must call 1300 366 020, navigate an IVR menu, and speak to a retention agent who is trained and incentivised to keep you. Customers report calls lasting 20 to 30 minutes, with agents arguing, offering repeated discounts, and in some documented cases, outright refusing to process the cancellation.
Why it works: Every friction point filters out a percentage of people. Some won't find time to call during business hours. Some will accept a discount just to end the conversation. Some will hang up and forget to call back. Foxtel keeps billing all of them.
The workaround: Call, say "I want to cancel effective today," and don't engage with offers. If the agent stalls, ask for their name and reference number, and mention you'll lodge an ACCC complaint. Follow up with an email to confirm. Return your iQ box promptly, or they'll charge you for it.
Full walkthrough: How to Cancel Foxtel
2. Adobe: the hidden fee that costs hundreds
Adobe's most popular plan, Creative Cloud All Apps, defaults to "Annual, Paid Monthly" during signup. The monthly price is shown prominently. What isn't prominent: cancelling before your year is up triggers an early termination fee of 50% of remaining monthly payments. On a plan costing $90.99/month AUD, cancelling six months in means a fee of roughly $273. This information is buried in small print or hidden behind hover tooltips during signup.
Why it works: The plan is structured so it feels monthly but binds you annually. Most people don't read the fine print. By the time they try to cancel and see the ETF, they've already committed to months of payments, and the sunk cost makes them stay.
The US Federal Trade Commission sued Adobe in June 2024 over these exact practices, alleging the company violated federal law by hiding fees and making cancellation "unreasonably difficult." That case remains in active litigation.
The workaround: Check your renewal date in Account > Plans and cancel at the end of your annual cycle. If you're hit with an ETF, call Adobe support and push back. Some customers have had the fee waived by citing the FTC lawsuit. For new signups, choose the "Monthly" plan (not "Annual, Paid Monthly") to avoid the trap entirely.
Full walkthrough: How to Cancel Adobe
3. HelloFresh: charged after cancelling
HelloFresh's cancellation flow pushes you through multiple retention screens: skip a week, pause your plan, try a different box, accept a discount. The actual cancel button is buried at the bottom after several rounds of "are you sure?" prompts. Worse, the ACCC alleges that 62,061 HelloFresh customers and 39,408 Youfoodz customers were charged for deliveries despite cancelling before the cutoff time.
Why it works: The skip/pause options create confusion. Many customers think they've cancelled when they've actually just paused. The multi-screen retention flow exploits decision fatigue: by the fourth or fifth offer, accepting a discount or hitting "pause" feels easier than continuing to click "no."
The ACCC took HelloFresh and its subsidiary Youfoodz to the Federal Court in December 2025, alleging they breached Australian Consumer Law by advertising easy online cancellation while actually requiring phone contact for first-delivery cancellations, and by charging customers who had already cancelled. The ACCC is seeking penalties, compensation, and compliance orders.
The workaround: Cancel on desktop, not the app. Click through every retention screen without engaging. Screenshot the confirmation. If you're charged after cancelling, contact your bank for a chargeback and lodge a complaint at accc.gov.au.
Full walkthrough: How to Cancel HelloFresh
4. News Corp: the phone queue as a moat
Cancelling a digital subscription to The Australian, Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, or any News Corp masthead requires a phone call. You cannot cancel online. The online chat directs you to call the call centre. When you do call, you'll be transferred to a retention agent who will cycle through offers, ask probing questions about why you're leaving, and try to keep you on a discounted rate. The process routinely takes 15 to 20 minutes.
Why it works: Phone-only cancellation is the oldest dark pattern in the book. It relies on the fact that most people won't call during business hours, especially for a $5-7/week charge. And those who do call face retention scripts designed to wear them down. News Corp has described this setup by saying it's "not possible with our system" to cancel online. This is a choice, not a technical limitation.
The workaround: Call, state that you want to cancel, and decline all offers. If the agent won't process it, send a written cancellation via email and keep a copy. If charges continue, dispute them with your bank.
Full walkthrough: How to Cancel News Corp
5. Amazon Prime: four pages, six clicks, fifteen options
Cancelling Amazon Prime in Australia requires navigating a multi-page flow that Amazon internally named "Iliad," after Homer's epic about a long, gruelling war. The process involves four pages, six clicks, and fifteen separate options, each designed to redirect you away from cancelling. Buttons like "Remind me later" and "Keep my benefits" are highlighted in blue with animations, while the actual cancel option is greyed out and buried.
Why it works: This is textbook misdirection. At every step, the easiest action is to abandon the cancellation. The flow uses colour contrast, button placement, and animation to draw your attention to the "stay" options. By the time you reach the actual cancel confirmation, you've been through enough decision points that a significant percentage of people give up.
The FTC sued Amazon over these practices, and in October 2025, Amazon settled for US$2.5 billion, including US$1.5 billion in refunds to roughly 35 million affected customers.
The workaround: Go to Amazon.com.au > Account > Prime Membership > Manage > End Membership. Click through every screen. Ignore every offer. The cancel button exists. It's just designed to be the last thing you want to click.
Full walkthrough: How to Cancel Amazon Prime
6. Anytime Fitness: your "home club" holds the keys
Anytime Fitness memberships in Australia are sold through individually owned franchises. Cancellation policies vary by location, but a common pattern is requiring you to cancel at your "home club" (the location where you signed up), either in person or via a form that only that specific franchise can provide. Some members report emailing their home club multiple times and receiving no response, while direct debits continue.
Why it works: Franchise-level cancellation creates confusion and accountability gaps. You can't cancel through Anytime Fitness corporate. Your home club might have limited staffed hours. If you've moved suburbs (or cities), visiting your original location becomes a genuine logistical barrier. And the 30-day notice period means even after you successfully submit your cancellation, you'll be charged for another month.
The workaround: Anytime Fitness now has an online cancellation form at anytimefitness.com/en-au/submit-cancellation-request. Use it and screenshot the confirmation. If your club doesn't respond within a week, follow up in writing, CC your state's fair trading body, and contact your bank to dispute charges after your notice period.
Full walkthrough: How to Cancel Anytime Fitness
7. Gyms generally: the 30-day notice trap
Most Australian gym chains (F45, Fitness First, Plus Fitness, World Gym) require 30 days' written notice to cancel, even after your minimum contract has expired and you're on month-to-month. Some require you to visit in person. Some will only accept cancellation via a specific form. Some have "freeze" periods where cancellation requests aren't processed. The notice period means you'll always pay for at least one more month after deciding to leave.
Why it works: The 30-day notice period is technically legal, but it's a friction device. Combined with in-person requirements and limited staffed hours, it creates enough delay that many people put off cancelling week after week. Each week is another direct debit. Gym business models are built on this: the industry relies on members who pay but don't attend.
The workaround: Put your cancellation in writing and note the date. Count 30 days forward and mark your calendar. If direct debits continue past that date, dispute them with your bank. Under Australian Consumer Law, the maximum notice period is 30 days in most states (14 days in Queensland and South Australia). If your gym demands more, that clause may be unenforceable.
Full walkthrough: How to Cancel a Gym Membership
What's changing
The pattern is clear: companies make signing up instant and cancelling painful, because the friction generates revenue. But regulators are catching up.
The ACCC has made subscription traps and dark patterns a formal enforcement priority for both 2025-26 and 2026-27. The HelloFresh proceedings are the most visible action so far, but their 2026-27 priorities explicitly name "manipulative and false online practices including subscription traps and dark patterns" as a headline focus area.
The bigger shift is legislative. In February 2026, the Australian Government released draft legislation to ban unfair trading practices, with subscription traps and drip pricing called out specifically. The proposed law would require businesses to make cancellation as easy as signup and disclose all terms before collecting payment details. Penalties could reach $50 million per breach. If passed, the new rules would take effect from 1 July 2027.
That's still 18 months away. In the meantime, these companies will keep running the same plays. The phone queues, the retention scripts, the hidden fees, the multi-screen guilt trips. They work precisely because most people don't have the time or energy to fight them.
The best defence is knowing the tricks before you encounter them.
The first step to beating dark patterns is knowing what you're paying for.
Most people find 3-5 subscriptions they forgot about when they actually look. Upload a bank statement to Subtracker and see every recurring charge in 2 minutes. No bank login. No manual entry. $12.99 once.
See what you're paying forChris Raad
Chris is the founder of Subtracker. He built this tool after experiencing the pain of discovering thousands of dollars in unused SaaS sprawl just before tax time.