Forced subscriptions: how to spot and challenge card charges

A card charge for a service a person does not remember or never signed up for is usually noticed only after several months of payments. The first question is what this service is, the second is how to get the money back and stop the charges. This is difficult to sort out, because the seller points to a tick box in the interface or a clause in the contract, while the bank sees a technically completed transaction.

The article explains how forced subscriptions differ from ordinary ones, which provisions of Kazakhstan law protect the consumer and the entrepreneur, how to read a card statement and what steps to take: record the charge, contact the seller, challenge the transaction at the bank, file a complaint with the authorised bodies and, if necessary, go to court.

What forced subscriptions are and how they differ from ordinary ones

A forced subscription is a service connected without the consumer's explicit consent or without clear notification. Consent is not considered obtained if it is expressed by silence, a pre-ticked box or continued use of the service. An ordinary subscription is taken out by the consumer themselves: they choose the plan, see the terms and payment procedure, and know when and how much will be charged.

The difference is visible in the seller's conduct. With a voluntary subscription, the material terms, the term and frequency of payments are disclosed before payment, and confirmation is made by a separate action of the consumer. If the connection happens by default, as part of another purchase, or after pressing a button with unclear wording, this is a forced service.

• the charge is made without prior notice to the consumer
• the terms and cost of the service are not disclosed before connection
• consent is given by silence or a pre-ticked box
• the connection was made as part of another purchase or service
• there is no cancellation button, or it is placed so that it is hard to find
• notifications of the charge arrive only after the money has been taken

How forced subscriptions end up in a contract and in the interface

A subscription ends up in a contract in various ways, but one thing is legally significant: whether the consent was informed and explicit. Under the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Consumer Protection, the consumer is entitled to complete and accurate information about the service, and the terms of the contract must not be onerous. Without expressly expressed consent, a card charge has no basis.

A subscription is often taken out through a pre-set tick box in an online form: it is already ticked, and the client, without noticing, confirms payment. Another trick is an auto-renewal clause in small print in the offer or an annex to the contract. What matters here is whether there was a real opportunity to read the clause before acceptance.

Which provisions of Kazakhstan law protect against forced subscriptions

The legal basis for protection against imposed subscriptions is the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan: it enshrines freedom of contract but does not permit the imposition of clearly onerous terms. Unilaterally included clauses that infringe consumer rights may be recognised as invalid.

The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Consumer Protection requires that, before a contract is concluded, the consumer is given complete and reliable information about the service, its price, the payment procedure and the conditions for cancellation. A paid subscription is possible only with the consumer's explicit and informed consent, not by default.

• Freedom of contract and the prohibition of unilateral onerous terms — the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
• The right to information and freedom to choose a service — the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Consumer Protection.
• Consent to the processing of personal data and payment details — the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Personal Data and its Protection.
• The subscriber's consent to additional communications services — the rules for the provision of communications services.
• The right to cancel an imposed subscription and to demand that charges stop.

How to recognise an imposed subscription on a card statement

A statement is read against three parameters: date, amount and purpose. A subscription leaves a repeating trace — a charge of the same amount at the same interval. A one-off purchase appears once. A bank commission is tied to a transaction (transfer, withdrawal, account maintenance) and does not contain the name of a third-party service.

To check, write out the charges for the past few months and mark the matches by amount: identical amounts monthly or weekly on the same date are a sign of a regular payment. The recipient also points to a subscription: the payment purpose shows a payment aggregator or the name of an online service rather than a familiar shop.

What imposed subscriptions look like: a list of typical cases

An imposed subscription is a service with regular charges to a card or mobile phone account, connected without the consumer's explicit consent or on condition of receiving another service. The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Consumer Protection prohibits the imposition of additional services; consent must be confirmed separately. The types of imposed subscriptions in Kazakhstan fall into several groups.

Mobile operators impose paid content: horoscopes, jokes, ringtones, news mailings, "default services". Charges are taken from the mobile balance, and the consumer discovers them months later. Digital services — online cinemas, music, cloud storage — convert the trial period into a paid subscription automatically. When a loan is arranged, insurance is included in the bank loan agreement as a mandatory condition.

• the charge is taken from the mobile phone balance without a separate offer;
• the trial period contains no explicit warning about the transition to a paid mode;
• the insurance policy is included in the loan agreement as a mandatory condition for granting the loan;
• a service for an entrepreneur is renewed automatically in the absence of objections;
• the bank's loyalty programme is connected together with the issue of the card and includes a maintenance fee.

The list is not exhaustive: what matters is not the name of the service, but the absence of separate and informed consent from the consumer.

In a dispute over an imposed subscription, the winner is the one who recorded the charge first and kept the correspondence with the seller — these are the documents the court relies on in its decision.

Imposed subscriptions with credit and instalments: what to check in the contract

In a credit agreement and an instalment agreement, additional services are usually arranged not by a separate document, but by the loan application, the borrower's questionnaire or an annex with tick boxes. That is where imposed subscriptions hide: life and health insurance, SMS notifications, service packages, legal support, access to the bank's paid programmes. If a condition on a service is included in the contract or a standard form without the right to choose, this contradicts the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Consumer Protection and the banking legislation on voluntary consent.

Under the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Consumer Protection, the consumer has the right to refuse an additional service, and consent to it must be explicit and separate from consent to the credit. Making the granting of a loan conditional on the mandatory purchase of insurance, a subscription, SMS notifications or a service package is prohibited by law: the provider must ensure the consumer's free choice of service, and an imposed condition is contestable. A contract term that infringes this right is recognised as invalid.

• A separate application or consent for each additional service, rather than one general tick.
• The cost of each service included in the loan or instalment amount, and the period for which it is provided.
• The procedure and time limit for refusing the service and refunding its cost.
• Terms on the adverse consequences of refusal: a higher rate, refusal of the loan, a shorter term.
• The right to choose the insurer or service organisation, and not only the option offered by the bank.
• Compliance of the contract terms with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Consumer Protection and banking legislation.

Imposed subscriptions for an entrepreneur: risks in contracts with services

When an LLP or an individual entrepreneur subscribes to an accounting, legal or marketing service, the contract often contains an automatic renewal clause: if no objections are raised, the term continues for a new period, and payment is debited from a card or account without a separate instruction. Refusal of the service must be declared in advance and in the form provided by the contract; otherwise the dispute comes down to interpreting the terms on the term and the procedure for refusal under the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Imposed subscriptions for an LLP are often arranged through a public offer on the service's website: payment confirms acceptance of the terms, including auto-renewal. It is important for the entrepreneur to keep the invoice, the act and the correspondence — they confirm the scope and period of services. A unilateral refusal by the customer is permissible, but the consequences depend on whether the contractor has incurred expenses under the contract.

• Check the term of the contract and the procedure for refusing auto-renewal.
• Clarify by what method and within what period an objection to the new period must be sent.
• Check the bank's tariffs against the bank service agreement before connecting acquiring.
• Keep invoices, acts and correspondence with the service and the bank.
• If a debit is made, send a written application for termination and return of the wrongly withheld amounts.

First steps when a debit is discovered: recording it and contacting the seller

If you discover a subscription debit, keep the card statement and receipts: paper receipts, electronic bank receipts or screenshots from the app. They confirm the fact and amount of the withholding, the date of the transaction and the recipient of the payment. Without them it will be difficult to prove the debit.

Next, determine who is debiting the money: a telecom operator, an internet service or another organisation. If the debit is regular, check the terms of the connected services in your account. Whether consent to the subscription was expressed clearly determines what to do if the money for the subscription has already been debited. If there was no consent, the debit is considered unlawful.

• Keep the bank card statement for the period of the debits.
• Attach receipts or screenshots of the transactions from the mobile app.
• Check in your account which subscription is connected and on what terms.
• Draft a written claim demanding that the debits stop and the money be returned.
• Send the claim in a way that allows you to confirm its receipt.
• Record the date of the application and keep proof of delivery.

Applying to the bank and disputing a card transaction

While the client's consent to the debit given at the time of the subscription or a one-off payment remains in force, card payments are considered lawful. The first step is to withdraw consent: without this, the bank cannot refuse to carry out the transaction.

An application to cancel the subscription is submitted at a branch or through the mobile app: the recipient's details, the purpose of the payment, the demand to stop the debits. The period for considering such an application is set by banking legislation, not by internal rules: fifteen working days from the day of receipt, with the possibility of extension, after which the applicant is given a written reply.

If the transaction took place without the client's consent, an application to dispute it is submitted with supporting documents: a statement, screenshots, correspondence. The bank carries out a check and, if the unauthorised debit is confirmed, returns the funds.

In addition, you can block the card or specific details for debits — this rules out a repeat debit under the same consent.

• Submit to the bank an application to withdraw consent to debits in favour of a specific recipient.
• State in the application the details, amount and date of the disputed transaction.
• Attach a card statement and other documents confirming that no consent was given.
• Block the card or the account details if there is a risk of repeated debits.
• Obtain a written response from the bank on the outcome of the review of the complaint.
• If the bank refuses, keep copies of the documents for further appeal.

Where to complain about imposed subscriptions: the authorities and their powers

In Kazakhstan there is no single supervisory authority for disputes over subscription debits: competence is divided between the authorised consumer protection authority, the communications and telecommunications authorities, the antimonopoly authority and the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market. The addressee depends on the violation: imposition of a service, the terms of a contract, or the actions of a telecom operator or a bank.

The authorised consumer protection authority reviews complaints about the imposition of paid services and contract terms that infringe consumer rights. The communications and telecommunications authorities respond to violations by telecom operators, including the connection of content services and debits for them. The antimonopoly authority becomes involved where there is restriction of competition or abuse of a dominant position. The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market reviews complaints from consumers of financial services, including complaints about debits from a card and about a bank imposing additional services.

• Establish who debited the money: a telecom operator, an internet service, a bank or another organisation.
• Gather supporting evidence: the contract, notifications, a card statement, correspondence refusing the service.
• Formulate your demand: stop the debits, refund what was withheld, amend the terms of the contract.
• Send the complaint to the authority whose competence covers the type of violation established.
• Attach copies of the documents and state the details for a reply.

The powers of the authorities differ; the complaint is sent to the authority whose competence covers the specific type of violation.

Court dispute over imposed subscriptions and what to prove in court

The dispute goes to court when a claim to the operator or bank has produced no result, or when the subscription was activated without the client's involvement and the money was debited. The basis of the claim is the absence of proper consent to the activation and the debits. Recovery is built on proving that the subscriber did not perform the actions the operator presents as acceptance of the offer.

Key facts of the subject of proof: absence of proper consent, misleading the consumer as to the nature and cost of the service, incomplete information about the service at the time of activation. The court examines whether the essential terms were brought to the consumer's attention and whether there was an opportunity to refuse before the debit. The burden of confirming the lawfulness of the activation and the debit lies with the operator and the bank.

• bank card and account statements showing the debits
• correspondence in the support chat and by email
• audio recording of the telephone conversation with the operator
• screenshots of the activation form with the date and time
• the offer terms and tariffs published by the operator
• expert assessment of the interface where the activation procedure is disputed