Canceling a subscription to food delivery: refund, trial and 14 days

Service page: Consumer claims and class actions lawyer.

How do you cancel a food delivery subscription?

A subscription to a delivery service, in which you pay a fixed subscription fee for discounted deliveries or other benefits, is a “continuing transaction”: a transaction to buy services on an ongoing basis, whether for a fixed period or for an unlimited period. You can end the contract at any time, and the dealer must let you give a cancellation notice in any of the ways listed in section 14I(a) of the Consumer Protection Law:

• Online, when you can sign up for the service online. The dealer’s website must have a dedicated cancellation link, on the home page and in a prominent place.
• By email.
• By phone, or orally at the place of business.
• By registered mail, and by fax if the dealer has a fax.

In the notice, write your name and ID number. The dealer must give you the ways to cancel and the contact details for each way in writing, no later than the start of the service, and also on every invoice, receipt or payment notice. If you cannot find the cancellation option in the app, look for it on the receipt or in the sign-up email.

Deleting the app from your phone on its own is not one of the ways to cancel listed in section 14I(a), so it does not end the subscription. After canceling, keep the confirmation screen or the email, with the date. A ready-made text for the notice: Checklist and cancellation notice text.

You canceled in the middle of the month: what happens to the subscription fee?

The contract ends within 3 business days from the day the cancellation notice is given. If you sent it by registered mail, it ends within 6 business days from the day it was handed in for sending. On that date the dealer stops providing the service, and it may not charge you for service provided after it.

What this means when you paid the monthly fee in advance:

• The refund: the section prohibits charging for the period after the cancellation date, and this is the basis for demanding the part of the subscription fee that relates to the days after it. The subscription terms may set their own method of calculation, for example deducting benefits you already used that month. The law does not set such a formula, so check the calculation against what was actually charged.
• Do you want to enjoy the subscription until the end of the month? Write a later date in the cancellation notice. The law allows a consumer to state a later cancellation date in the notice, and the contract will end on the date you chose.
• A payment because of the cancellation: before the contract, the dealer must tell you whether there are payments you will make because of a cancellation and how they are calculated, and include them in a written document, prominently. Such a payment that was not disclosed in advance is a point to check.

Canceling within 14 days from sign-up: you get a refund

Signing up for a delivery service in an app or on a website is a “distance sale”: a contract made after remote marketing, without the parties meeting. In such a transaction for a service, you can cancel within 14 days from the day you signed up, or from the day you received the document with the transaction details, the price and the way to cancel, whichever is later. For a subscription, which is a continuing transaction, the right exists even if you have already started using the service.

After such a cancellation, the dealer refunds the money within 14 days from the day it received the notice. It may deduct a cancellation fee of up to 5% of the price or NIS 100, whichever is lower, and the proportional payment for the service you already received. The “cancellation fee” includes every expense the dealer claims, so a “handling fee” cannot be added on top of it. If you canceled because of a defect, a non-conformity between the service and what was presented to you, or another breach by the dealer, it may not charge any cancellation fee at all.

A numerical example

The example is for illustration only, and its numbers are imaginary. A monthly subscription of NIS 40, paid in advance on the day of sign-up. The document with the transaction details was sent on the same day, and the subscription was canceled on day 6, not because of a breach by the dealer.

• Cancellation fee: the lower of 5% of the price (NIS 2) and NIS 100, that is, NIS 2.
• Proportional payment for the service provided; if calculated by days in a 30-day month: 6 × 40 / 30 = NIS 8.
• The refund: 40 − 2 − 8 = NIS 30, within 14 days from the day the dealer received the notice.

Senior citizens, people with disabilities and new immigrants: if the sign-up included a conversation with a representative, including a conversation by electronic communication, the cancellation window is 4 months (section 14C1(c)).

A trial month that turned into a paid subscription: what does the law say?

A trial period in which the service is given at a reduced price, or with another benefit, is a “fixed-term transaction”, even when the subscription itself continues without a time limit (section 13A(a)). The law excludes a discount the dealer gave for a limited period “without any condition”. So check whether the trial was conditional on joining a paid subscription or on giving a means of payment. The rule in such a transaction: a condition under which the contract continues after the end of the period has no effect, and what counts is your consent to continue.

There is an exception for a discounted period. Continuing with payment is valid if two conditions were met:

1. The amounts of the payments that will apply after the trial period were stated clearly and in detail in a written document given to you when you signed up.
2. The dealer sent you written notice of the end date, setting out the terms of the transaction, between 60 and 30 days before the end. However, when the discounted period ends no later than 4 months from sign-up, there is no duty to send such a notice, and you may end the subscription after the period ends without being charged any payment because of the ending.

The burden of proof that you agreed to continue is on the dealer. So the first check is the sign-up screen or the sign-up email: is the price after the trial written there, clearly? If not, the continuation condition is void. If you asked to stop the charge and it continued, the court may also award exemplary damages (section 31A(a)(2a)). On automatic renewal in general: Automatic subscription renewal: what the law requires of the business.

You canceled, and the charges continue: what do you do?

You can demand back a charge for the period after the cancellation date. Continuing to charge after a cancellation notice in a continuing transaction is also a violation for which the court may award exemplary damages, without proof of damage, of up to NIS 10,000 (section 31A(a)(2b)), and up to NIS 50,000 for a repeated or continuing violation or in aggravated circumstances. Before such a claim, you must send the dealer a written request. For this purpose, a cancellation notice given in writing or online is enough, but not one given only orally.

• Does the charge go through a debit authorization (standing order) at the bank or on a card? You can cancel the debit authorization at any time, by notice to the bank, the credit card company or the dealer. No later than one business day after the notice is received, no further charge will be made under it. Canceling the authorization does not replace the cancellation notice to the dealer. The details: Standing order charge after canceling a subscription.
• When exactly should the charge have stopped? The “Did the cancellation take effect?” tool and a demand text to copy.
• Hard to find how to cancel? A dealer must allow cancellation online and put a dedicated link on the home page of the website. On design that makes canceling hard: Dark patterns.

Canceling a single order: that is no longer canceling a subscription

A food order is a transaction separate from the subscription. The 14-day right of cancellation in a distance sale does not apply to perishable goods (section 14C(d)(1)). The right of cancellation in the Consumer Protection Regulations (Cancellation of Transaction), 5771-2010 does not apply to food products and perishable goods. So canceling an order that is already on its way is governed by the terms of service, not by the rules for canceling a subscription.

Canceling the subscription does not cancel an order already placed, and canceling an order does not cancel the subscription. An order that did not arrive, or arrived incomplete, is a question of performing the transaction with the dealer that sold it to you: a person who sells an asset or provides a service in the course of business. Who the dealer is in a given order (the restaurant, the platform or both) depends on the circumstances: who sold, and who actually provided the service. The terms of service, and who appears as the charging party on the receipt, are a starting point for checking. But they do not detract from the provisions of the Consumer Protection Law (section 36).

Frequently asked questions

Can you cancel a delivery subscription by phone?

Yes. An oral notice, by phone, is one of the ways the dealer must allow (section 14I(a)(1)). It is worth also sending an email afterwards with the date of the call. For a claim for exemplary damages, an oral notice alone is not considered a written request (section 31A(b)).

I deleted the app. Does that count as cancellation?

No. Deleting the app is not one of the ways of giving a cancellation notice listed in section 14I(a), so the subscription continues until you give notice.

I canceled the day after the monthly charge. Will they refund the full amount?

Within 14 days from sign-up: the refund is minus a cancellation fee of up to 5% or NIS 100, whichever is lower, and minus a proportional payment for what you received (section 14E(b) and (b1)). After that: the contract ends within 3 business days from the notice, and no charge may be made for service after the cancellation date (section 13D(c)).

I signed up through the app store. Who do I ask for the money?

From the dealer that provided the service to you or sold it to you (section 1 of the Law). Check who appears as the charging party on the receipt and in the list of charges; the ways to cancel should also appear there (section 14I(e)). On subscriptions bought in an app store: Canceling a subscription to an app or streaming service.

I am 70 and I signed up during a call with a representative. Do I have more time to cancel?

Yes. A senior citizen (from age 65), and also a person with a disability or a new immigrant, may cancel a distance sale within 4 months, if the contract included a conversation between the dealer and them (section 14C1(c)).

The business claims it did not receive the cancellation notice. What do you do?

Send it again in a way that leaves a record: an email from your own mailbox, or registered mail. By registered mail, the contract ends within 6 business days from the day it is handed in for sending (section 13D(c)). Keep the mailing receipt and the list of charges.