Kogan First subscription-Shonky Awards 2023
Shopping online can often feel like navigating a minefield. Which terms and conditions box do I need to tick? Which box do I need to untick to avoid being spammed?
How about a box you need to untick to avoid getting a surprise $99 fee two weeks down the line? This is exactly what’s happening with the Kogan First subscription program.
How about a box you need to untick to avoid getting a surprise $99 fee two weeks down the line? This is exactly what’s happening with the Kogan First subscription program.
Here’s how it works. You try to buy something on Kogan or Dick Smith’s online store. You go to the checkout section. A “free shipping” option is ticked by default and you think, great! Free shipping!
But here’s what you might have missed if you skipped the fine print: you’ve actually just signed up to a two-week trial of Kogan First. And if you don’t cancel before those two weeks are up, you’re about to be stung for $99.
Here’s what you might have missed if you skipped the fine print: you’ve actually just signed up to a two-week trial of Kogan First
This is precisely what happened to CHOICE reader Warren.
“The first I knew about First was when $99 was withdrawn from my PayPal account,” Warren says. “I found it impossible to contact Dick Smith without first setting up a Kogan account, something I was naturally reluctant to do.”
Kogan told CHOICE that customers can “cancel their membership at any time within the 14-day trial period and are emailed reminders at the start and the end of their free 14-day trial membership”.
However, as many of us know, emails like this are easily missed. Warren eventually got a full refund after lodging a complaint with Consumer Affairs Victoria and sending a letter to Kogan, but we wondered how many had gotten themselves into a similar situation.
So we did a test. We asked 19 shoppers to head to the Kogan website and shop as they might on any website. A shocking six of those 19 accidentally signed up to Kogan First. None of them were aware of what they had done and, crucially, none of them knew they were set for a surprise $99 charge two weeks later.
A gap in Australia’s consumer laws makes it easier for businesses to get away with dodgy tricks like these
CHOICE campaigns and policy adviser Alex Söderlund
We believe it’s all too easy for companies to entrap customers in schemes like these.
“A gap in Australia’s consumer laws makes it easier for businesses to get away with dodgy tricks like these,” says CHOICE campaigns and policy adviser Alex Söderlund.
“Other jurisdictions like the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom and Singapore all have laws that protect consumers against unfair business practices. Australia needs to catch up.”
Very shonky indeed.
