New York Attorney General Letitia James secured $500,000 from Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg News) for failing to inform customers of subscription terms, including automatic renewals that came with drastic price increases.
Subscriptions to Bloomberg.com vary widely in price and can increase dramatically after an initial promotional period.
A first-time subscription can cost $1.99 for the first three months but then increase automatically to $39.99 per month. Similarly, a student annual subscription cost $99 but automatically increased to $415 after graduation, with no warning.
An investigation found that subscribers faced increasing fees without warning and that Bloomberg News made it difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions to its news website, Bloomberg.com.
Bloomberg News failed to clearly disclose the Bloomberg.com subscription terms, provide consumers with the subscription acknowledgment required by New York law, or notify subscribers before automatic renewal. As a result, some consumers found themselves paying significantly increased amounts for subscriptions that they weren’t aware they still had.
Under the settlement, Bloomberg News must pay $500,000 in penalties, change its subscription practices, and offer restitution to subscribers who complained or who canceled their subscriptions after they were automatically renewed.
