Exhibit A through H: the named offenders, with 2026 prices.

Exhibit A

McAfee Total Protection (5-device)

The promo usually comes through Best Buy, Amazon, or bundled with a new laptop purchase. McAfee's rack rate of $99.99 is not unreasonable for multi-device antivirus, but the 2.9x jump catches most buyers because they forget McAfee was cheap in the first place. The "auto-renew protection" toggle sits inside Account settings and is on by default; turning it off takes two clicks that most users never find. Bitdefender Premium Security runs $49.99 per year for comparable protection. Microsoft Defender, built into Windows 11, is genuinely adequate for most home users and costs nothing.

Log into McAfee.com → Account → Auto-Renewal Settings → toggle off auto-renewal.

Or call 1-866-622-3911, say "I need to cancel my subscription due to the price," and ask for the retention promo. This reliably drops rack to $49-59 for another year.

If already charged: McAfee publishes a 60-day money-back guarantee. Navigate to mcafee.com/guarantee and submit the claim with your order number. Expected processing: 5-7 business days.

Exhibit B

Norton 360 Standard (1-device)

Norton 360 Standard is commonly sold at $39.99 first year, often bundled with LifeLock identity-theft monitoring at no extra cost in year one. Year two, the bundle separates: Norton 360 Standard at $109.99 and LifeLock at its own rack rate if you added it. The 2.7x Norton-only jump is the headline, but the real trap for buyers who accepted the LifeLock trial is two separate rack-rate invoices. Norton's retention desk (1-855-815-2726) rarely offers below $79, so cancel-and-resign is often the better play for pure-price shoppers.

Call 1-855-815-2726, mention you are cancelling due to the price jump, and note you have evaluated Bitdefender.

Norton's retention floor is approximately $79/yr. If that is acceptable, accept. If not: cancel, wait 30 days, and resubscribe using the current promo acquisition path. Use a different card if you want to avoid credit-card matching. Expect $39.99 again as a new customer.

Confirm the cancellation by email and screenshot the confirmation page.

Exhibit C

SiriusXM Platinum

SiriusXM Platinum has the highest multiplier in this catalogue at 5x. The $5-per-month promo runs 12 months; month 13 switches to $24.99 per month. SiriusXM acquired Pandora in 2019 and now bundles the two; the rack rate covers both, but most subscribers chose SiriusXM before Pandora was part of the offer and did not opt for the bundle. The retention call is one of the most reliable in consumer subscriptions: SiriusXM's churn rate is structurally high, so the retention desk is authorised to make deep offers quickly.

Call 1-866-635-2349 and say: "I need to cancel -- the price jumped from $5 to $25 a month and that is not something I can continue."

Expect: first offer $15.99/mo, second offer $12.99/mo, third offer $8.99/mo for 12 months. Accept at $8-12/mo if the service matters to you.

Cancel-and-resign path: cancel, wait 30 days. A winback email arrives within 4 weeks with the $5/mo promo offer. SiriusXM's winback programme is well-documented.

Note: SiriusXM occasionally matches billing address against prior accounts; use the same address, different card.

Exhibit D

ADT Safewatch monitoring

ADT's renewal trap is compounded by 24-36 month contracts that lock you in before the rack rate even matters. The early-termination clause in a standard ADT contract requires 75% of the remaining contract value, meaning a customer who signed a 36-month deal at $28.99 and wants out at month 24 owes $28.99 x 12 x 75% = approximately $261. The monitoring hardware is provided by ADT and may require return. Ring Alarm and SimpliSafe run $10-25/mo self-monitoring or $10-30/mo professional monitoring without multi-year contracts.

At month 23 of a 36-month ADT contract, call the ADT loyalty line (1-800-521-1734) and ask for the current "new customer" retention rate. This conversation should happen before the auto-renewal notice arrives.

Alternatives: Ring Alarm Pro ($20/mo professional monitoring, no contract) and SimpliSafe ($29.99/mo for interactive monitoring, no contract) are credible alternatives with far lower exit costs.

If mid-contract: calculate the ETF ($28.99 x remaining months x 75%) against the cost of the alternatives. Often the break-even is under six months of savings.

Exhibit E

Planet Fitness Black Card

Planet Fitness's renewal trap is structural rather than a price-jump: the monthly rate of $24.99 is clearly advertised, but the $49 annual enhancement fee (raised from $39 in 2024) is disclosed in the membership agreement rather than prominently in the advertising. It hits in the third month after signup and annually thereafter -- often a surprise because many members joined during a promotional period and processed the $24.99 as the only recurring charge. Cancellation requires in-person or certified-mail notice; online cancellation is not available in most markets, which Planet Fitness justifies as "verification." This friction is exactly what the FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule targets.

To avoid the $49 fee: check your membership agreement for the annual fee anniversary date (typically 60 days after signup). You can cancel before the anniversary to avoid it.

Cancellation methods: in person at your home club, or by certified mail (see template B on our cancel-and-resign page).

Notice requirement: cancellation must be received at least 30 days before the next billing date. Arrive in person or send certified mail at least 35 days before the fee anniversary date to allow for delivery.

Multi-year contract note: contracts at some franchise locations (LA Fitness, Gold's Gym, and Equinox are worse offenders) may require 12-24 months commitment. Read the agreement before signing.

Exhibit F

GoDaddy .com domain renewal

GoDaddy is a structurally interesting renewal trap because the alternative pricing is public: Cloudflare Registrar charges $9.15/yr for a .com at near-ICANN cost; Porkbun charges approximately $10.99/yr; Namecheap $13.99/yr. GoDaddy's $21.99 rack rate is 2.2x the first-year promo and more than double the Cloudflare Registrar price. For customers managing multiple domains (common with small businesses and developers), the renewal overage compounds: a portfolio of 20 .com domains renewing at GoDaddy rack vs Cloudflare Registrar costs approximately $256 extra per year. Domain transfers are straightforward: unlock the domain in GoDaddy's domain manager, obtain the authorization (EPP) code, and initiate the transfer at the new registrar. ICANN mandates that registrars complete the transfer within five days. The transfer must happen at least 60 days before the renewal date to count against the current-year renewal.

Transfer process: GoDaddy Domain Manager → select domain → Domain Settings → unlock domain → get authorization code (EPP code).

Initiate transfer at Cloudflare Registrar (cloudflare.com/registrar) or Porkbun (porkbun.com). The transfer includes a one-year renewal at the new registrar's rate.

Timeline: allow 7-10 days for the full transfer. ICANN rules require both registrars to confirm; GoDaddy has been known to slow-roll outgoing transfers during their renewal window.

For .org, .net, and .io: the markup is proportionally higher. Cloudflare Registrar prices all TLDs at near-cost.

Exhibit G

Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps (annual, paid monthly)

Adobe Creative Cloud's renewal trap has a unique complication: the annual-paid-monthly tier carries a 50% early-termination fee if cancelled before the 12-month commitment ends. A customer who cancels at month 6 to avoid the rack rate on the annual-paid-monthly plan owes 50% of the remaining 6 months at the rack rate -- effectively negating the savings. The annual-prepaid tier (the full year billed upfront at a discount) does not have an early-termination fee; it simply expires at year end. Adobe's student and education tier is available through most universities and many secondary schools at $19.99/mo, which is often the lowest price available regardless of renewal status.

Switch from annual-paid-monthly to annual-prepaid at the next renewal: the prepaid tier has no early-termination fee, typically costs $600-660/yr (lower than $599.88 monthly at rack), and eliminates the ETF risk.

Student or educator: verify eligibility at adobe.com/education. Many working professionals qualify through adult education programmes or side-teaching roles.

If you use only one or two Adobe apps: consider the Single App plans ($23-35/mo per app) rather than All Apps. Fresco, Lightroom, and Acrobat all have standalone tiers below All Apps pricing.

Exhibit H

1Password Families

1Password is unusual in this catalogue because the case for paying the rack rate is stronger than for most of the others. A password manager that stops being paid stops being secure -- the hosted vault becomes read-only or inaccessible, creating an incentive to accept the rack rate rather than switch. The alternatives are real: Bitwarden offers a genuinely usable free tier and a $10/yr premium tier; Proton Pass includes password management in the Proton Unlimited bundle. The 2.0x jump is among the lower multipliers in the catalogue, and 1Password's security record is strong. The honest advice here is to negotiate once, then accept the rack rate unless your specific situation requires migration.

1Password's retention desk is reached at 1-800-668-6739. Describe price sensitivity; the most common offer is a 20-25% discount for annual renewal.

Cancel-and-resign note: 1Password's "new customer" promo path is available via comparison deal sites (Stack Social, SetApp). Use a different email address. The discount is typically 40-50% off year one.

Bitwarden migration: 1Password's export function (CSV or JSON) works cleanly with Bitwarden's import. Migration takes approximately 30 minutes including browser-extension swap. The Bitwarden free tier covers unlimited passwords across unlimited devices.

Submit an offender

Know a vendor whose rack rate should be in this catalogue? Email [email protected] with the pricing page URL, a screenshot, or a receipt. We verify every submission against the vendor's own sources before listing. Corrections also welcome.

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