CAF campaign asks consumers to ditch unused subscriptions & donate the cash
Melanie May | 23 September 2019 | News
Charities Aid Foundation is calling on consumers to stop wasting money on unwanted subscriptions and donate some of the cash to charities instead.
CAF’s new Ditch the Deals campaign highlights the £800m UK consumers spent on unwanted subscriptions over the last 12 months, and calls on consumers to steer clear of signing up to free trials that can end up costing them hundreds of pounds and consider alternative ways of spending their money.
YouGov data shows that almost half of UK consumers (47%) have accidentally signed up for an annual subscription because they forgot or were unable to cancel, to a tune of £800m in the last 12 months, with one in eight having done it at least twice in the past year. Another one in eight people paid for their unwanted subscription for over four months before cancelling it, while almost a quarter (23%) paid for two to three months, with just under a half (48%) cancelling within a month.
Two percent (around a million people) have paid £200 or more for a rolling subscription they didn’t want.
CAF is suggesting alternatives such as:
- Providing support and training for six refugees – under £200 will pay for six cookery classes from Migrateful, taught by a refugee, asylum seeker or isolated migrant. This social enterprise offers language and skills training to their chefs, as well as a source of income
- Giving two vulnerable families a couple of goats each – a source of milk, meat and long-term income, via Save the Children.
- Building toilets in the developing world – less than £200 will pay for a mason to construct three personal toilets for families who need them, via WaterAid.
CAF’s Caroline Mallan said:
“We’ve all been lured in by the free trial deals and become stuck with services we don’t even us. With consumers wasting an eye-watering £800m on these deals, we wondered if people would rather see some of that money put to better use?”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.