On 14 October the CMA announced that it has adopted three further consumer protection infringement decisions, imposing total fines of £6 million and consumer redress payments of £440,000. This brings the level of fines imposed under the CMA’s direct consumer enforcement powers, in force since April 2025, to just over £12 million and the level of consumer refunds to £2.4 million.
This reflects the pace at which the CMA is using its direct consumer enforcement powers since the regime came into force. Tackling conduct that is especially harmful to consumers in areas of essential spend, such as drip pricing and unfair online selling tactics, is a key priority in the CMA's Annual Plan, as part of its broader efforts to help ease cost of living pressures on households.
The latest cases relate to drip pricing conduct and online design, including misleading time-limited offers and pre-ticked checkboxes opting customers into paid-for extras. They are all among the first investigations launched in November 2025 (see our blogpost here), leaving only the investigation into Viagogo over potential drip pricing conduct ongoing in this first wave of investigations.
Wayfair, a major online homeware retailer, has been fined £4.8 million for online pressure selling. Special offers were advertised alongside countdown timers which implied customers needed to act quickly to benefit from the discounts, but many products remained available at the same or lower prices after the stated deadline.
Appliances Direct, an online electrical appliances retailer, was fined £1.2 million over similar online pressure selling conduct and also for automatically opting customers into additional optional services without their express consent. Customers were automatically opted in for ‘Remove & Recycle Your Old Appliance’ and/or ‘Installation on Delivery service’ through pre-ticked checkboxes, and Appliances Direct was ordered to refund customers affected by these opt-ins around £432,000 in total, with an average per customer of £25. The CMA has published separate Guidance on Getting consent for additional charges when selling online to assist businesses with how to get this right. The Guidance makes it clear that a customer cannot provide express consent by not changing a default option (such as removing a tick from a pre-ticked box) or by having to opt out of an extra to avoid paying.
Gold’s Gym, a UK franchise with four gyms in London, was fined £45,000 over drip pricing conduct, by failing to include the joining fee in the total price shown to consumers for their annual membership. Gold’s Gym was also ordered to refund £9,220 to the 726 affected customers who will each receive £50 or £10 depending on their type of membership.
As in its previous cases the CMA reached a settlement with the parties in all three cases, based on their cooperation and admission of the infringements, which resulted in the maximum discount of 40% in the fines imposed. Early settlement allows the CMA to resolve cases more quickly and to get redress for affected consumers sooner. Consumer redress measures, under which businesses are required to refund or compensate customers directly for loss as a result of consumer law breaches, are becoming a regular feature of the CMA’s infringement decisions. Such measures are to be administered directly by the business concerned, not by the CMA. Operational capability to identify and refund affected customers quickly should therefore be factored into businesses’ risk management processes.
Looking ahead
At the same time as announcing its latest infringement decisions, the CMA published a blogpost covering the CMA’s work over the last 18 months and setting out its enforcement priorities for the period ahead. Looking ahead, the CMA will continue to focus on practices that harm consumers across markets, including drip pricing, online design and fake reviews. It also makes it clear that it will target specific conduct by individual businesses, as seen by its investigations into Adobe (over early termination fees), Microsoft (over marketing subscription plans), Euro Car Parks (over parking charges at petrol stations and wider appeals processes) and Ryanair (for requiring consumers travelling with a child to pay a mandatory fee to sit next to that child). AI is also flagged as a priority, including both how AI products are marketed and used and how consumer law applies to agentic AI (see our blogpost on the CMA’s guidance on agentic AI).
The new subscription contracts regime will take effect in January 2027 and secondary legislation and guidance will be published before commencement. Recognising that this will be a new regime for businesses, the CMA indicates that - as has been the case previously - in the first few months its focus will be on supporting businesses to comply with the rules and get the best outcome for consumers. But the CMA also makes it clear that enforcement of the rules will not be delayed and that conduct during this initial period may still be considered as part of subsequent enforcement.
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