Some Apple Store employees in the United States have allegedly signed customers up for auto-renewing subscription trials without making clear that charges would follow, MacRumors reports, citing a series of YouTube videos from repair advocate Louis Rossmann.
According to the report, the process starts when a store employee asks a customer whether they would like to scan a QR code for a personalized shopping experience called "Connect and Personalize." If the customer agrees, the employee can see on a company-issued device which Apple devices the customer owns, which services they already subscribe to and which subscription offers they qualify for. Those offers appear with "Agree" and "Decline" buttons, and the default payment method on the customer's Apple Account is available as long as it has not expired.
Tipsters who contacted Rossmann allege that some employees rushed through the steps, described trials as "gifts," or even tapped "Agree" themselves without the customer's informed consent. The report says that until early last week Apple tracked a "services attach rate" metric, with a target of 40 percent per retail employee at at least some U.S. stores. That means employees were encouraged to get four in ten customers buying a device to also sign up for at least one subscription, such as Apple One.
MacRumors says it confirmed that Apple removed the services metric early last week, days after Rossmann's videos appeared. The explanation Apple gave the outlet was that the metric is less relevant during the holiday season, when many purchases are gifts. Later in the week, Apple reportedly sent retail staff an internal memo reminding them to respect customer privacy and obtain consent, including when offering subscription trials, using Connect and Personalize, handling Apple Upgrade sign-ups and authorizing Genius Bar work. The memo went out ahead of the first weekend of the holiday shopping season. MacRumors says it cannot determine whether the timing was driven by the holidays, by Rossmann's videos or both.
Apple does email customers when a new trial is activated, but the report notes that people may not realize the message refers to a subscription that will renew automatically. The allegations come from anonymous tipsters and have not been independently verified here, and Apple has not publicly commented beyond what it told MacRumors.
Customers who want to check their accounts can open Settings on an iPhone, tap their name and choose Subscriptions to see active plans and trials, and cancel any they do not want. Disputed charges can be taken up with Apple through reportaproblem.apple.com, and it is always worth reviewing card or bank statements for unexpected subscription charges.
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