VSiN Subscription Auto-Renewal Investigation
The Lyon Firm is investigating potentially illegal automatic renewal schemes and deceptive billing practices on behalf of plaintiffs nationwide. If you have questions about an auto-renewal of your VSiN subscription, contact The Lyon Firm to review.
Consumers have alleged that when they subscribe to VSiN, the company automatically enrolls them in an auto-renewal program. VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, is a sports media company based in Illinois, and owned by DraftKings Inc., which provides news, analysis and proprietary data for American sports betting. If you think you have been deceptively entered into a VSiN subscription, call for a free consultation.
VSiN Subscription: What are Automatic Renewal Law Violations?
There have been allegations that VSiN may not entirely comply with state Automatic Renewal Laws (Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act), and may be liable for relevant violations.
To comply with Illinois law, if the subscription is for less than a year, VSiN is required to disclose the automatic renewal clause clearly and conspicuously, including the cancellation procedure. If the subscription is annual, VSiN is required to comply with subsections (b) and (b.5) of the relevant Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act, listed below:
- “[a]ny person, firm…that sells or offers to sell products or services to a consumer pursuant to a contract…, where such contract automatically renews unless the consumer cancels the contract, shall disclose the automatic renewal clause clearly and conspicuously in the contract, including the cancellation procedure.” 815 ILCS 601/10 (a).
- “[a]ny person, firm…. that sells or offers to sell products or services to a consumer pursuant to a contract…, where such contract term is a specified term of 12 months or more, and where such contract automatically renews for a term of more than one month unless the consumer cancels the contract, shall notify the consumer in writing of the automatic renewal. Written notice shall be provided to the consumer no less than 30 days and no more than 60 days before the cancellation deadline pursuant to the automatic renewal clause. Such written notice shall disclose clearly and conspicuously: (i) that unless the consumer cancels the contract it will automatically renew; (ii) where the consumer can obtain details of the automatic renewal provision and cancellation procedure (for example, by contacting the business at a specified telephone number or address or by referring the contract). 815 ILCS 601/10 (b)
- “a person, firm…that makes an automatic renewal offer or continues service offer shall provide a toll-free telephone number, electronic mail address, a postal address if the seller directly bills the consumer, or another cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation that shall be described in subsection (b). 815 ILCS 601/10(b.5). “A consumer who accepts an automatic renewal or continuous service offer online must be allowed to terminate the automatic renewal or continuous service exclusively online, which may include a termination email formatted and provided by the business that a consumer can send to the business without additional information.”