The local Citizens Advice (CA) bureau is calling for more to be done to protect local people from subscription traps.

Subscription traps are described by the nationwide Citizens Advice team as "situations where a consumer is tricked into agreeing to a subscription through the advertising of a 'free trial' or reduced price offer."

Sound familiar?

You aren't alone, as research by CA has found that one in four consumers have also suffered.

A Citizens Advice blog by Emily Lynn says: "In the last 12 months, one in four consumers have ended up in a subscription without intending to. Of those, 44% of people who had unintentionally taken out a subscription signed up for a free trial and forgot to cancel. And one in five subscription users have found a subscription auto-renewed without their knowledge.

"For years now, we've been calling for more to be done to protect people from falling into subscription traps. Whilst subscriptions can bring many benefits to people's lives, they can also be designed to make it far too easy for consumers to be locked into paying for a product that they don't use or, worse, didn't want in the first place."

Recent research by the CA team found that:

• 1 in 10 people are currently paying for a subscription they do not use
• Of these consumers, 65% are paying over £132 a year for unnecessary subscriptions
• 1 in 5 people who have tried to cancel a subscription found the process difficult

Emily continues: "Free trials are currently one of the key gateways for consumers falling into subscription traps. This could be easily resolved by giving consumers a choice over whether to continue, rather than automatically enrolling them. This will allow consumers to have more control over whether or not they want to continue with the subscription when the free trial is due to end. And it will mean many people won't lose money on subscriptions they don't actually want.

"Auto-renewal is causing people to lose money. We previously found that £500m a year is spent on subscriptions which auto-renew without people realising. The current DMCC Bill proposals attempt to deal with this issue through reminder notices, but this just isn't enough to protect people from subscription traps entirely. And crucially, people want a choice! 4 in 5 people in the UK support government rules being put in place to ensure they have a choice about whether a subscription automatically renews. This would give consumers much more control over how they spend their money."

You can find the full article by Citizens Advice here, where you can also share your story.

Alternately, find the Rutland Citizens Advice team online or at 54 High Street, Oakham, Rutland.