Journey breakdown · Touchpoint strategy · eHarmony
eHarmony's subscription journey: where sign-up, renewal and cancellation misled
In short
On 25 August 2026 the Federal Court found that eHarmony misled Australian consumers about free dating, monthly prices, plan length, automatic renewal and cancellation. Read as a journey, each finding sits at a different touchpoint, from the first ad to the renewal charge. No single screen was the whole problem. The customer's understanding was shaped early and never corrected, so the renewal charge arrived as a surprise. Penalties are still to be decided.
Who this is for: CX leads, product managers, digital and marketing teams, and legal and compliance staff in any subscription, membership or auto-renewing business.
What happened, in brief
The ACCC began proceedings against eHarmony in September 2023 after, in the words of ACCC Commissioner Luke Woodward, "receiving hundreds of complaints from consumers relating to charges from eHarmony."
In Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v eHarmony, Inc [2026] FCA 1208, delivered on 25 August 2026, Justice Horan found eHarmony had engaged in misleading conduct across the subscription journey. Mediaweek reported that about 1.3 million Australians registered for a free Basic membership between 2019 and 2024.
On 5 October 2026 the court formalised the findings as declarations in a second judgment, [2026] FCA 1445. As reported by The Lawyer Magazine, eHarmony intends to seek leave to appeal some, but not all, aspects of the liability judgment. Penalties and consumer redress will be decided later. What follows is based only on what the court found and the press reported.
Stage one: the ad and the free account
The journey started with "free dating". The court found that representation misleading, because the free Basic tier was so restricted, including blurred photos and limited messaging, that members could not meaningfully date anyone without paying for Premium.
This is the first expectation a customer forms, and every later step builds on it. When the free version cannot do the thing the ad promised, the upgrade screen feels less like a choice and more like a toll.
Stage two: choosing a plan and seeing a price
Plans were shown with a per-month price. The court found that the monthly figure left out a mandatory $3.00 per month instalment fee, and that eHarmony failed to prominently state the total minimum price for each plan, as the single price rule in the Australian Consumer Law requires. It also found eHarmony represented that one-month memberships were available when the shortest plan was six months.
Clayton Utz's summary of the judgment notes that the plans were labelled "6-month plan", "12-month plan" and "24-month plan", and that a "one-time" payment option reinforced the impression of a single payment for a set period. A disclosure on the later payment page was found to come too late to correct the price.
Stage three: the renewal nobody noticed
Premium memberships automatically renewed for 12 months at the regular, undiscounted price unless the member turned renewal off at least 24 hours before the renewal date. Press reports said renewal prices could be up to five times the original price.
According to the reports, the renewal terms appeared in small, light grey font late in the purchase process and in long terms and conditions. Early versions of the subscription page did not mention automatic renewal at all, and a July 2024 change that added small-font text beneath the plans was also found insufficient. Clayton Utz notes that, on the evidence, consumers received no prior reminders until late 2023.
Mediaweek reported one consumer's experience: a six-month plan bought for a one-off $155.64, then an automatic renewal charge of $478.80. When the consumer cancelled their card and declined to pay, the account was referred to a debt collection agency.
Stage four: trying to leave
The court found that statements suggesting members could cancel or "withdraw after signing up" were misleading. In practice, cancelling stopped the next renewal but did not end the current term or bring a refund. The declarations describe this as representing that members could cancel during a subscription period without continuing liability for the balance.
This is where the earlier gaps compound. A customer who believed they bought a fixed six months, then found a twelve-month renewal on their card, then learned that cancelling would not stop it, met three surprises in a row.
What a better journey would look like
Every one of these touchpoints can be designed honestly without hurting a subscription business. In our experience the fix starts with a simple exercise: write down what the customer believes at each step, then check it against what is actually true.
- Ad and free tier: describe exactly what the free version lets people do, in the same words the product uses.
- Plan page: show the total minimum price first, including every mandatory fee, then the monthly breakdown.
- Plan names: if a plan renews, say so in the plan name or right beside the price, not on a later page.
- Before renewal: send a reminder with the date, the new price and a one-step way to turn renewal off.
- Cancellation: state plainly what cancelling does and does not do, before the customer presses the button.
- After a dispute: route a declined renewal charge to a person who can review it before it goes to collections.
Why this matters beyond one company
Subscription journeys are often designed by several teams that never sit together: marketing writes the ad, product builds the plan page, finance sets renewal pricing, legal writes the terms, and support handles the complaints. Each step can look defensible on its own. The customer experiences all of them in sequence.
The court's reasoning reflects that. A late disclosure or a confirmation message could not undo an impression formed earlier in the journey. The practical lesson is to review the subscription journey end to end, as one customer would live it, with every team that owns a step in the room.
Sources
- Subscription traps under the spotlight: Federal Court finds eHarmony misled consumers on pricing, auto-renewal and cancellation, Clayton Utz
- Federal Court finds eHarmony misled users on subscriptions, Mediaweek
- An Australian court has found eHarmony misled users over what its memberships cost, The Next Web
- Federal Court declares eHarmony breached Australian Consumer Law, The Lawyer Magazine