The problem with the subscription economy
If I hadn’t decided to browse through the promotions tab in Gmail one day last week, I probably would have missed it: a receipt from PayPal for an $85 payment to the Apple App Store. The charge was unfamiliar, and the receipt contained little information, so I had to call Apple to resolve the mystery.
It turned out the fee was for a language-learning app my daughter had downloaded and forgotten to uninstall before its two-week free trial period expired. This situation is not uncommon; nearly half the consumers surveyed by CreditCards.com said they had signed up for free trials that automatically renewed without their knowledge.