A woman claims she was left £5,000 out of pocket after purchasing two pairs of leggings seven years ago.
Claire Lane purchased the items of clothing from athleisure brand Fabletics, an online sports retailer co-founded by Hollywood actress Kate Hudson.
However she was unaware that while buying the leggings online in 2017, she had also signed up to a monthly subscription.
Ms Lane said she only realised the money was leaving her account when she and her husband were changing credit cards in October this year.
She said when they looked at credit card statements, she was horrified to find monthly payments of £50 to Fabletics going back seven years, amounting to almost £5,000.
She told BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours show: ‘I wore the leggings, they were decent. I hadn’t thought about it at all in that time.
‘As far as I was concerned, it was a one-off purchase and that was the end of it.’
The company has now refunded most of Ms Lane’s money, but the firm’s general manager for Europe said that customers must also ‘take a little bit of responsibility’.
Claire Lane bought two leggings from Fabletics in 2017 and was unaware she had signed up to a monthly £50 subscription service
Kate Hudson pictured in her Fabletics leisurewear, which she co-founded in 2013
Fabletics was launched in 2013 and was co-founded by Kate Hudson, alongside Adam Goldenberg, Don Ressler, Ginger Ressler.
The company collaborated with Hudson in 2015, when she launched their first celebrity inspired line.
It has since collaborated with Lizzo and Khloe Kardashian.
However after its launch, the company was reported to Trading Standards after customers claimed they were ripped off by hidden charges.
The company offered shoppers discounts of up to 50 per cent if they sign up for so-called ‘VIP membership’.
But many dissatisfied customers claimed they were duped into taking VIP membership without realising they actually signed up to an ongoing subscription of £44 a month.
Despite the charges being stated in the site’s terms and conditions, shoppers said the fees were not made obvious to them.
Members were only able to bypass the monthly charge by remembering to opt out of the payment within the first five days of every month.
Actress and singer Kate Hudson, pictured at the New York premiere of her new film Song Song Blue
Fabletics says it now informs customers four times during purchases that they are signing up for a subscription, saying it is ‘easy to cancel’.
However Ms Lane said emails from the firm went straight to her junk folder.
She said it was difficult for her to get the money back after she discovered the monthly subscription.
Other customers said they had faced similar problems.
Lowri De Gennaro, from Llangollen in Wales, said she had bought a pair of leggings on a new credit card in March 2023.
However 30 months later, she too discovered that she had been billed £54.99 a month for a VIP membership.
She was able to get £500 refunded by the company but was told the remaining £1,100 would not be refunded.
Mark Ralea, Fabletics’ general manager for Europe said the company did try to contact customers who were building large credit balances.
Khloe Kardashian pictured in her limited-edition activewear with Fabletics in September 2024
He said: ‘We want to be as sustainable as possible, so we know how many products we are producing based on our subscription base,” he said.
‘If you’re not going to a gym for one month, the money is gone. In our case, you can still use that money for products, which is a pretty fair deal compared to any other membership.
‘We are trying to be as transparent as possible with every single customer.’
He revealed that the company had refunded most of Ms Lane’s money out of goodwill and insisted the subscriptions were easy to cancel.
It is estimated that UK consumers lose £1.6 billion each year in unwanted subscriptions.
New laws, set to be introduced next autumn, will force companies to be clearer about fees and make it easier to cancel them.
