Deceptive Patterns
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Hum Nutrition: Automatically pre-selected subscription with hidden commitment

Author
Dark Patterns Tip Line
Date
5 Oct 2023

“Went to place an order for supplements through their website and was signed up for a recurring subscription with a 3-month minimum without being made aware that I was signing up (or that subscriptions were even an option). Summary of the issue: – Subscription options are displayed on the order summary page, at the very bottom, and you must scroll through several full pages of content to see them – The 3 month commitment version of the subscription is automatically pre-selected – You can press “check out” at the top of the screen without ever scrolling to see the subscription options, and it’s not clear that you should or need to scroll – If you try to cancel, you will be told you have to pay x amount because you “signed up for” the three month subscription – When you review your order summary on the check out page, no subscription is mentioned at all”

Hum Nutrition was reported to the Deceptive Design Tip Line over how a subscription was applied to a supplement order. According to the report, the customer placed an order and was signed up for a recurring subscription with a three-month minimum without being made aware that they were signing up or that subscriptions were even an option. The report describes the following points:

- Subscription options are displayed on the order summary page, at the very bottom, requiring the user to scroll through several full pages of content to see them.

- The three-month commitment version of the subscription is automatically pre-selected.

- The user can press “check out” at the top of the screen without ever scrolling to see the subscription options, and it is not clear that they should or need to scroll.

- Anyone who tries to cancel is told they have to pay a certain amount because they “signed up for” the three-month subscription.

- When the order summary is reviewed on the checkout page, no subscription is mentioned at all.