Most Aussies who haven\u2019t opened Netflix or swiped in at the gym lately have felt the sting of that automatic renewal hitting their bank account.<\/p>\n
For Mark Redman, a $299 annual membership sparked a nightmare \u2014 and an awkward conversation at the dinner table with his wife \u2014 when he was automatically upgraded to a $4999 \u201clifetime package\u201d.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an eye-watering increase of nearly 1600 per cent.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in tears trying to explain it to my wife, that this guy is chasing me for money,\u201d the Melbourne-based public servant told news.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew that I had signed up to a thing \u2026 $300 over a year she\u2019s not overly concerned about, but suddenly having to find $5000 \u2014 obviously to me it\u2019s quite a bit of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Redman, 42, had forked out $299 for what he thought was a 12-month subscription to sports tipping website Sporting God last May.<\/p>\n
But almost immediately, the punter began receiving emails trying to \u201cupsell\u201d him to the \u201clifetime package\u201d, which \u201cwill cost upwards of $50,000 moving forward!\u201d and was a \u201conce-in-a-life-time opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am going to pass on the lifetime deal,\u201d he wrote back on May 28.<\/p>\n
In September, five months into his subscription, Sporting God claimed he would need to \u201crenew\u201d his plan as it was \u201cincreasing all prices to reflect the true value of our services!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am just unsure why I would need to renew now when the package I have just purchased is for 12 months,\u201d he wrote back.<\/p>\n
Sporting God states in its terms of service that \u201cannual subscriptions renew 12 months after the date you subscribe\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Redman did not give the situation much more thought until this May, when he received a shock letter of demand \u201csaying that my subscription had expired and payment of $4999 was due\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went back and said, \u2018I have not agreed to this, I haven\u2019t seen a renewal notice, can you show me where I agreed to any of this?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That sparked a series of increasingly hostile emails culminating in threats of legal action and debt collection.<\/p>\n
Sporting God claimed Mr Redman had \u201cbeen sent in excess of 50 renewal and account-related emails\u201d and that \u201cin May 2025 you were specifically advised that the 12-month package alone would be moving to $4999 going forward, which was acknowledged by you\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have since been sent countless renewal reminders and have opened all of them and have not responded or stated you wished to cancel,\u201d Sporting God wrote on May 26.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have instead continued accessing paid content.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Redman denies ever consenting to the renewal.<\/p>\n
He stressed \u201cI do not believe I am in the wrong\u201d but said he was prepared to pay the advertised price of $900 for Sporting God to go away and \u201ccancel all communications\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sporting God warned \u201cour legal team has gone over this very clearly and you definitely are liable for that amount\u201d but offered a \u201cgoodwill gesture\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cCan you pay $2499 today to ensure no further account escalation?\u201d the tipster begged.<\/p>\n
Mr Redman forked out the $900 hoping to end the matter, but on May 29, Sporting God wrote ominously, \u201cMark we cannot be anymore clear that you need to make this your utmost priority to communicate and resolve this matter before close of business today. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe legal team is pushing us to escalate your account by 5pm today. We are holding them off but without a response and effort from you today, we will be left with no choice. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis can effect your credit rating for up to 10 years, additionally it will cost you [thousands] more in legal fees, damages, etc.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur legal team will go hard at this if you don\u2019t respond and keep your word accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that point, Mr Redman cut off contact and submitted a complaint with the consumer watchdog.<\/p>\n
Under Australian Consumer Law (ACL), consumers are not required to pay for products or services that they didn\u2019t ask for.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnsolicited supply\u201d is when a consumer or business \u201creceives products or services they didn\u2019t request\u201d or a business \u201cclaims to have supplied services that a consumer or business didn\u2019t receive or request\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s against the law for businesses to issue a bill or invoice that states an amount to be paid for unsolicited items unless \u2026 the business reasonably believes they have a right to be paid,\u201d the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) states.<\/p>\n
Consumer advocate Adam Glezer from Consumer Champion<\/a>, who is representing Mr Redman, said it appeared \u201cSporting God is trying to strongarm Mark into paying $5000 for a program or an upgrade that he never purchased\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t use pressure tactics to get money off someone that they never agreed to,\u201d Mr Glezer said. \u201cHounding somebody like this is unconscionable.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Glezer said he wanted to \u201cexpose this behaviour so [Sporting God] can\u2019t do this to anybody else going forward and importantly to act as a warning to anyone considering these bully tactics\u201d.<\/p>\n He added that the tipster\u2019s legal threats appeared dubious at best.<\/p>\n \u201cI called [Sporting God] out on the lawyer \u2018threat\u2019 and asked to be put in contact with their lawyer but that was obviously disregarded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly don\u2019t believe [Sporting God] has a lawyer, I believe they are empty threats, however if they keep this up for much longer there\u2019s every chance they\u2019ll need one.\u201d<\/p>\n Sporting God, which grew out of a popular NBA tipping Facebook page called NBA God, offers punters \u201cpremium sports tips that have been extensively analysed by our experts using a range of data and statistics\u201d on NBA, AFL, NRL, NFL and tennis matches.<\/p>\n Sporting God did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n A spokesman for the ACCC said the watchdog \u201cdoes not generally comment on specific examples or individual reports, as per our Media Code of Conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAll businesses must comply with the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), including when offering subscriptions or memberships,\u201d he said in a statement. <\/p>\n \u201cUnder the ACL, businesses must not make engage in misleading or deceptive conduct, or make false or misleading representations to consumers, in either the sign-up, renewal or cancellation stages. <\/p>\n \u201cBusinesses are also prohibited from using unfair terms in standard form subscription or membership contracts.<\/p>\n \u201cBusinesses should provide clear and accurate information to consumers upfront about the memberships or subscriptions they are offering, including any automatic renewal of a contract, the initial and ongoing costs of the contract, and the consumers\u2019 ability to cancel the contract.<\/p>\n \u201cBusinesses must also not request payment for a subscription service that a consumer has not requested or agreed to, unless they reasonably believe there is a right to payment.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether conduct is misleading or otherwise breaches the ACL will depend on the specific circumstances of each matter.\u201d<\/p>\n More than three-quarters of Aussies pay for at least one subscription service, spending an average of $136 per month \u2014 $1637 per year \u2014 according to ING<\/a>, which estimates the total annual subscription bill at $26.5 billion.<\/p>\n Polling by comparison site Compare the Market last month found half of Australians were paying for an unused subscription<\/a>, costing hundreds of dollars per year. <\/p>\n According to Finder research<\/a> from 2023, two-thirds of Aussies have at least one subscription set to auto-renew, even though more than half said they had been slapped with an unexpectedly high bill.<\/p>\n frank.chung@news.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a>Netflix<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most Aussies who haven\u2019t opened Netflix or swiped in at the gym lately have felt the sting 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