Subscriptions with hidden cancel buttons

Cancel Amazon Prime

Streaming · Cancellation is self-service online and reachable in a few clicks, but Amazon buries the real "End Membership" action behind a retention gauntlet that historically (the internally-named "Iliad" flow) forced users to decline pause, decline a discount/reminder, and reaffirm cancellation up to three times. After the September 2025 FTC settlement Amazon is required to show a clear cancel button, so the flow is shorter than before, but you still pass through pause/keep/remind-me-later screens designed to deflect you, and the final confirmation distinguishes "End Now" from "End on renewal date," which trips people up. Mobile-app subscribers who joined via Google Play or Apple cannot cancel inside Amazon at all and must use the app store.

Cancel Hulu

Streaming · Hulu-billed users can cancel fully online in a few clicks, but the flow injects a "pause for up to 12 weeks" retention interstitial you must click past via "Continue to Cancel," and the much larger group billed through a third party (Apple, Google, the Disney+/ESPN bundle, Roku, Amazon, Verizon) cannot cancel on hulu.com at all and must hunt down the right partner's cancellation surface — the single biggest source of "I cancelled but was still charged" confusion.

Cancel Max (HBO Max)

Streaming · If you're billed directly by HBO Max, the web cancel is genuinely quick (sign in, open Subscription, hit "Cancel Your Subscription," confirm) with no retention-discount loop. The difficulty comes from the billing-source maze: the service rebranded from Max back to HBO Max in 2025, and a large share of subscribers are actually billed through Apple, Google, Roku, Amazon, Samsung, or a TV/internet/bundle provider. Those users see NO cancel button in HBO Max and must cancel inside the third party instead, which traps people who keep getting charged after "cancelling" on the wrong site.

Cancel Audible

Music & Audio · Cancellation is online and self-service, but the Audible app cannot cancel — you must use a desktop or mobile web browser, and the flow forces you through a multi-screen retention gauntlet (pause offers, discounts, free-credit bribes) before the final "Continue" confirmation. Anyone who subscribed via Apple or Google must cancel in those stores instead, which trips people up.

Cancel Microsoft 365

Software & SaaS · The core cancellation is fully online and self-service, but several traps add friction: Microsoft inserts a retention page with discount/keep-benefits prompts before letting you confirm, blocks cancellation if your billing date is within 2 days or you have an outstanding balance, and locks you out entirely if you bought through Apple, Google, Amazon, or a retailer (you must cancel through that third party instead). "Turn off recurring billing" stops future charges but is not a refund, which confuses many users.

Cancel HelloFresh

Meal Kits & Food · Cancellation is online-only in practice and buried at the bottom of Plan Settings, then gated behind a multi-step retention funnel (discount offer, pause-instead pitch, and a "why are you leaving" survey) before a final confirm. The real difficulty is the 5-day-before-delivery, 11:59 PM PST cut-off: miss it and the next box is locked in, charged, and non-refundable. A California DA settlement specifically found HelloFresh did not offer an easy-to-use cancellation mechanism.

Cancel Peacock

Streaming · If Peacock bills you directly, the web flow is reachable in about four clicks, but it interrupts you with a "Wait, don't go" retention screen that you must dismiss by clicking Cancel Plan a second time. Difficulty jumps when a third party (Apple, Amazon, Roku, Google, or Xfinity) does the billing: Peacock locks you out of cancelling on its own site and forces you to the other platform, and Xfinity-bundled plans are notoriously hard to remove. There is no phone line, so a stuck cancellation can only be escalated via chat.

Cancel Canva Pro

Software & SaaS · The cancel button exists self-service online and you never need to call or email, which is good. But Canva routes you through a multi-step retention funnel (Cancel plan, Continue cancellation, pick a reason, Continue cancellation again, then a final Cancel subscription) with a pause-for-3-months offer and a "Stay on Canva Pro" off-ramp injected mid-flow. The harder trap is billing source: if you originally subscribed through Apple, Google Play, or PayPal, the Canva button cannot cancel you and you have to cancel inside that platform instead, which trips up many people who keep getting charged after "cancelling" in Canva.

Cancel Norton 360

Identity & Privacy · The cancel toggle lives behind a login on the My Subscriptions tab and forces you through a reason picker plus an offers/retention screen before the real "No thanks, cancel my subscription" button appears. Auto-renew turning off is self-service, but getting your money back (60-day annual / 14-day monthly) requires a separate refund request via Member Services, and partner-billed or App Store purchases can't be cancelled on Norton's site at all.

Cancel Paramount+

Streaming · If Paramount+ bills you directly, cancelling online is genuinely quick — sign in, open Account, click Cancel Subscription. What pushes it to medium is two things: (1) a retention flow that throws guilt copy ("Sorry to see you go") and discount/free-month offers between you and the final Confirm button, and (2) the very common third-party-billing trap. A huge share of users signed up through Apple, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Roku, Google Play, Walmart+, Verizon or T-Mobile, and for those accounts the Paramount+ site shows no cancel button at all — you must cancel inside the partner's account, and cancelling on paramountplus.com does nothing to the charge.

Cancel 24 Hour Fitness

Gyms & Fitness · Standard month-to-month members can cancel online from My Account, but the flow pushes a "30% off your next 3 months" retention offer before letting you finish. The harder cases are by design: limited-term or prepaid (12-month) members are blocked from the online button and told to "come see a team member in club," and a separate annual fee plus a 30-day-ish billing cycle mean people get charged after they think they're done. The 24GO digital app is billed separately through Apple/Google and must be cancelled there, not on the website.

Cancel Xbox Game Pass

Gaming · The cancel button itself lives on account.microsoft.com/services, but Microsoft buries it under a "Change subscription plan" downgrade prompt and pause/discount retention offers, and confuses users with a separate "Turn off recurring billing" option. People who bought through Apple, Google, or an Xbox All Access bundle can't cancel here at all, and "Past Due" accounts are locked out until they pay.

Cancel ExpressVPN

Software & SaaS · Turning off auto-renewal is a self-service web flow that takes minutes, but several traps push the difficulty up: you cannot cancel inside the app (you must use the browser portal), App Store/Google Play buyers must cancel through Apple/Google instead, and getting an actual refund (rather than just stopping renewal) requires going through 24/7 live chat where an agent typically tries to retain you before processing.

Cancel AAA (American Automobile Association)

Memberships & Misc · There is no single national cancel button. AAA is a federation of independent regional clubs, so you must first be ZIP-routed to your own club, then in most clubs an immediate, refund-eligible cancellation requires a phone call or branch visit. The self-service online account typically only lets you toggle OFF auto-renewal (it does not end your current term or trigger a refund), and that toggle is locked once renewal is under ~45 days away. Refund eligibility and phone numbers differ club to club, which is the main source of confusion.

Cancel MasterClass

Software & SaaS · Self-service cancellation exists on the web and is only a few clicks (Settings - Membership - Cancel Membership - Cancel Now), but you CANNOT cancel inside the iOS/Android app, so app users get bounced to a browser. If you originally subscribed through Apple, Google Play, or Amazon, MasterClass cannot cancel for you at all - you must do it in that store. Annual-only billing plus a no-refund-on-renewals rule means mistiming the cancellation by even a day can cost a full year, which is what frustrates most people.

Cancel Blue Apron

Meal Kits & Food · Cancelling is online-self-service, but the path is buried: you must go Account Settings to Plan Settings to Edit to "Pause/Cancel Subscription," where Blue Apron pushes 4/6/8/10-week pause options first and hides the actual cancel behind a small-text "click here" link, then makes you complete a retention survey. The app has no cancel option (browser only), and you must beat the weekly "Changeable Before" cutoff or you're charged and shipped anyway.

Cancel Verizon Fios

Telecom & Internet · There is a genuine online "Disconnect Service" entry point in My Verizon (Fios-only), but the flow routes you into a retention path and frequently hands off to a live chat agent or rep rather than completing cleanly online. Add equipment return within 30 days, possible early termination fees if under contract, and slow 60-day refunds, and a "simple" cancellation often takes follow-up. It is not phone-only, which keeps it out of "hard."

Cancel Hims

Personal Care & Boxes · Cancellation is self-service online, but Hims buries the final button behind a "Manage → Get Help" path and shows retention screens (reason prompts, discount offers, and a "pause" nudge) before the confirm button appears. The bigger trap is timing: you must cancel at least 48 hours before your next order/billing date, and for prepaid multi-month weight-loss (GLP-1) plans the medication is non-refundable once shipped, so a "successful" cancellation can still leave you charged for an in-flight order.

Cancel Amazon Prime Video

Streaming · A standalone Prime Video subscription cancels in a few clicks from the Your Account tab, but the much larger group of people who get Prime Video bundled inside an Amazon Prime membership must run Amazon's multi-step "End Membership" flow — the same flow the FTC found deceptive in its Sept 2025 $2.5B settlement (four pages, six clicks, repeated retention offers). Add-ons billed through Apple, Google, or Roku cannot be cancelled on Amazon at all and require a separate cancellation at the app store, which traps many users.

Cancel Peloton

Gyms & Fitness · If you subscribed directly through Peloton, cancelling the App or All-Access Membership is a self-service online flow at onepeloton.com/mymembership and is fairly quick. Difficulty rises because (1) the flow surfaces pause and switch-plan offers before letting you cancel, (2) there is no prorated refund, so timing matters, and (3) the single biggest trap is that a large share of App memberships are billed by Apple, Google, Roku or Amazon Peloton genuinely cannot cancel those, and many people keep getting charged after thinking they cancelled.

Cancel Dollar Shave Club

Personal Care & Boxes · Cancellation is self-service online and never requires a phone call, but it is login-gated, buried under the Subscriptions tab (separate from the Next Box/pause tab), forces you through a reason picker and a "Don't Go!" retention/save screen, and — critically — each product you receive is its own subscription that must be cancelled individually, so people who think one click ended everything keep getting billed.

Cancel Starz

Streaming · If you subscribed directly at starz.com, cancellation is fully self-service online (no phone, no chat) in about 3-4 clicks under Settings. What makes it medium rather than easy is that there is no direct cancel URL — the candidate link starz.com/account/cancel returns a 404, so you must log in and dig through Settings > Billing Plan & Information. The bigger trap is that millions of subscribers signed up through Amazon, Apple, Google, Roku, Samsung, Microsoft, LG or a cable/satellite provider, and STARZ cannot cancel those for you — you must cancel at the original billing platform, and STARZ's own page sends you away.

Cancel LifeLock

Identity & Privacy · Online self-service exists at my.norton.com (My Subscriptions to Cancel Subscription Renewal), but the flow forces you through a reason-selection screen and a retention/discount offer before a muted "No thanks, cancel my subscription" link. Memberships billed through Verizon, a carrier, or an app store cannot be cancelled in the Norton portal at all and must be cancelled with that third party, which trips up many users.

Cancel The Washington Post

News & Publications · The digital cancel link lives inside My Post (Manage subscription > Cancel my subscription) and works in a few clicks, but two friction points raise the difficulty: the flow surfaces retention offers (discounted rate, a 'pause' option, or a one-time refund of roughly $60-$70) before it lets you confirm, and an online cancellation typically only switches off auto-renewal at the end of the current term rather than ending billing immediately. To get a prorated refund and an immediate stop you generally have to phone subscriber care. App-store and bundled print accounts add extra routing.

Cancel AARP

Memberships & Misc · The online self-service tool only stops automatic renewal — it does NOT cancel your current paid term or trigger a prorated refund. To actually cancel mid-term and get money back you must reach a live agent by phone or chat, and the cancellation pages on help.aarp.org are Salesforce-rendered and frequently fail to load, pushing members toward the phone line.

Cancel Showtime (Paramount+ with SHOWTIME)

Streaming · The standalone Showtime service no longer exists, so there is no "Showtime" cancel page — you must cancel through Paramount+ at paramountplus.com/account, which confuses people searching for Showtime. The web flow itself is short (sign in, Account, Cancel Subscription, confirm), but if a third party (Apple, Google, Amazon, Roku, Xfinity, Verizon) bills you, you cannot cancel on Paramount+ at all and must use that platform. Cancelling mid-cycle yields no refund, and a retention/discount offer interrupts the flow.

Cancel BarkBox

Personal Care & Boxes · Month-to-month plans can self-cancel online by disabling auto-renew, but the action is labeled "Disable Subscription Autorenewal" (not "Cancel"), is buried in a Subscription Settings panel, and must be done before the 3rd of your renewal month or you are billed for another period. Multi-month (3/6/12-month) commitment plans cannot be stopped mid-term at all — you keep paying through the full commitment — and ending one early requires emailing/chatting the "Happy team" rather than a button.

Cancel ESPN+ (now ESPN Select / ESPN Unlimited)

Streaming · If you were billed directly by ESPN, the web flow (Log In to Manage to Cancel Subscription) is short and self-service. Difficulty jumps for the two largest groups of subscribers: anyone billed through a third party (Apple, Google, Roku, Amazon) must cancel at that store instead, and anyone in the Disney Bundle (Disney+/Hulu/ESPN) cannot remove ESPN alone and must cancel the whole bundle. The 2025 ESPN+ to ESPN Select/Unlimited rebrand also means people search for the old name and old URL, adding confusion about where the cancel button now lives.

Cancel YouTube Music

Music & Audio · The web cancellation itself is short (about five clicks at youtube.com/paid_memberships), but the real difficulty is figuring out WHO bills you. If you subscribed via the iPhone app (Apple) or via Google Play / a Pixel Pass / a mobile carrier bundle, Google's own page does not let you cancel — you must cancel in Apple's or Google Play's settings instead. There is also a multi-step "reason for canceling" interstitial and a prominent "Pause instead" diversion that retains the subscription rather than ending it.

Cancel Home Chef

Meal Kits & Food · You can cancel yourself online in a couple of minutes, but the flow is framed as "Pause My Account" (not Cancel), you must choose "Pause Indefinitely" to actually stop billing, and a reason-for-leaving prompt plus reactivate-anytime nudges sit in the path. The real difficulty is timing: you must cancel before 12 PM CST the Friday prior to your delivery week or you are charged and the box ships with no refund.

Cancel The Athletic

News & Publications · If you were billed directly by The Athletic (card/PayPal on the site), the cancel button does exist in account Settings, but it is buried behind a 4-screen retention funnel with a de-emphasized "Continue to Cancel" button, a discount offer, a mandatory reason survey, and a final "I Changed My Mind" screen. If you subscribed through Apple, Google Play, or PayPal, you cannot cancel on The Athletic's site at all and must go to that platform instead, which trips up many users. There are no refunds for the unused period, and there is no public support phone line.

Cancel Aura

Identity & Privacy · Aura now offers a genuine online self-service path (your Account Membership page at my.aura.com), so it is no longer phone-only. But the experience is friction-laden: the membership/billing controls sit behind a login, the help center routes you toward 24/7 phone and chat, and Aura publishes several different support numbers across its pages (1-833-552-2123, 1-855-712-0021, 844-770-0652 plus dynamically inserted marketing numbers), so people are unsure which to trust. The 60-day refund only applies to annual plans bought directly from aura.com, and app-store/Amazon buyers must cancel through Apple, Google or Amazon instead — a common trap. Chat-based cancellations are reported to take roughly 15 minutes with a retention conversation.

Cancel Evernote

Software & SaaS · The cancel button does exist in the web app's Billing settings, so it's self-service in principle. But Evernote buries it behind a multi-screen retention funnel that surfaces a 40-50% "stay" discount and steers you toward downgrading to Starter instead of cancelling, then makes you scroll past upsells and pick a cancellation reason before a muted "Continue to cancel" confirmation. If you bought via Apple, Google Play, or PayPal the in-app button does nothing and you must cancel in that store. There is no phone line and no proration on annual plans.