Class Action Claims OnStar Continues to Charge Former Subscribers After Cancellation

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A proposed class action lawsuit accuses OnStar of charging consumers without consent after they have cancelled their subscription to the roadside assistance service.  

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According to the 20-page lawsuit, the California-based plaintiff discovered in July 2022 that OnStar had continued to charge her $27.99 per month even though she cancelled the service back in April 2019. The woman says that the defendant debited her account without authorization for roughly 40 months after the cancellation, amounting to approximately $1,119.60 in unlawful charges, the suit relays.

OnStar, a subsidiary of General Motors, has a “history, pattern, and practice of exploiting” former consumers who used its autopay feature by continuing to charge their bank accounts without authorization “long after the customer[s] canceled their subscription[s],” the case contends.

The company’s emergency assistance and navigation services can be accessed through the OnStar mobile app, and its equipment and software are pre-installed into most GM vehicles, the complaint explains. After the expiration of a free trial period, subscribers can pay between $24.99 and $49.99 each month for OnStar services, depending on the membership plan, the filing says.

The plaintiff, who had a 2013 Cadillac ATS with built-in OnStar technology, cancelled her subscription with the defendant in April 2019 and received an email the same day confirming her cancellation, the lawsuit says. Unbeknownst to the woman and without her authorization, however, OnStar purportedly continued to charge the plaintiff a monthly subscription fee until she discovered it more than three years later in July 2022, when the charges had reached over a thousand dollars, the suit relays.

The plaintiff called OnStar’s customer service to put a stop to the charges and request a refund for the unauthorized billing, the case explains. Per the complaint, the woman later received an email from the defendant denying her a full refund and offering only a “one-time gesture of goodwill” in the form of an $83.97 refund.

According to the suit, the plaintiff has previously taken legal steps in accordance with OnStar’s terms and conditions, but her filed claims were rejected by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) on the grounds that OnStar had not adhered to the AAA’s guidelines about consumer claims, making the dispute a matter for another court.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose bank account was charged one or more times by OnStar without written preauthorization at any time since February 6, 2022. The case also looks to cover any California residents who, at any time since February 6, 2019, entered into a contract with OnStar containing a one-year limitation on claims and/or whose bank account was charged one or more times by OnStar without written preauthorization.

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