Software subscription auto-renewed $549 without proper notice - what are my options?

I signed up for a design software subscription (Figma competitor) last year at $549/year for my small business. I completely forgot about it and they just charged my card for renewal without sending any reminder email.

I checked my spam folder - nothing. Their terms say they send renewal notices 30 days before but I never got one. When I contacted support they said "we sent it" but couldn't provide proof.

Now they're refusing to refund because I'm "outside the 14-day refund window." I literally just noticed the charge yesterday.

Is there anything I can do? This feels like it should be illegal.

Just checked my original signup email from last year. It says "Your subscription will automatically renew" in tiny gray text at the very bottom of a long email. No checkbox, nothing I had to acknowledge separately.

Their cancellation process also requires you to chat with a support agent during business hours - no simple cancel button.

That's almost certainly a violation. The law requires the auto-renewal terms to be "clear and conspicuous" - buried in tiny gray text at the bottom of an email doesn't meet that standard.

And requiring a live chat with a support agent to cancel? That directly violates the "easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation" requirement. California law specifically requires an online cancellation method that's at least as easy as the signup process.

You have a strong case here.

I had a similar situation with Adobe last year. $600 annual renewal I didn't authorize. Disputed with Chase and won within 3 weeks. Make sure you explain in the dispute that the merchant failed to provide proper renewal notice as required by California law.

Credit card companies are pretty good about siding with cardholders on auto-renewal disputes when there's no proof the merchant sent proper notice.

Bookmarking this thread. Just got hit with a $399 auto-renewal from a project management tool I stopped using 8 months ago. Going to follow the same approach - Massachusetts also has auto-renewal laws (Chapter 93A) that might help me.

Will report back if it works.

Great thread. Wanted to flag something relevant for everyone: the FTC's "click to cancel" rule (officially the "Negative Option Rule" amendment) went into effect in 2024, and it adds a powerful federal layer to what everyone's been discussing here.

Key provisions that apply to situations like OP's:

Has anyone actually tested this in a dispute yet? Curious how companies are responding to the new federal rule being cited.