Several PlayStation Plus users report being unable to unsubscribe from the subscription service from either their mobile devices or from computers. This policy of preventing users from canceling on these platforms may violate California’s law on subscription auto-renewals.

Some users report believing that they had gone through the un-subscribing process successfully on another device, and then learning that they did not successfully cancel the subscription when they are charged for another month of the service. The issue appears to have begun when PlayStation stopped users from being able to stack subscriptions. Users who attempt to cancel their subscription on other devices are being given a message saying, “subscription status has not changed, retry in a few seconds.”

Sony’s cancellation policy may violate California’s law requiring that subscriptions be able to be canceled online (§17602). Under this law, businesses must provide an online cancellation mechanism for services that are subscribed to online. Further businesses must provide “cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation” that is described in the subscription acknowledgement (§17602(b)).

Sony’s PlayStation Network’s terms of service includes a binding arbitration provision that may be opted out of within 30 days of subscription (since customers sign up for subscriptions regularly, this period frequently resets) and a class action waiver. Users must agree to these terms of service in order to create an account with Playstation. However, the Playstation Plus Usage Terms that users see before subscribing to Playstation Plus on the Playstation’s website, do not contain an arbitration provision. 

In addition, Sony may generally be liable under a theory similar to that under which Trustpilot was sued in 2021, where it was alleged that Trustpilot subjected its subscribers to deceptive business practices by sending auto-enroll emails that went to subscribers’ spam boxes, such that they would not be read until subscribers were charged.