AARP Membership

AARP, which bills itself as “the largest nonprofit nonpartisan organization,” makes its membership seem like a no-brainer. Who wouldn’t want discounts on restaurants, gas, cell phone plans, streaming services, eye care and prescriptions, along with access to various other benefits for just $15 for your first year?

On the sign-up page, AARP offers three different membership term options: one year, three years and five years. But in addition to the length of time, there’s one thing that makes the one-year membership different from the others. This preselected option is subject to automatic renewal, meaning if you don’t do anything at the end of the year, the membership will renew on its own (and will increase in price). But don’t worry. According to AARP, you can “cancel any time” and you can even cancel online.

However, canceling may be more confusing than this messaging implies. For starters, it appears that the ability to cancel online only applies to the cancellation of the automatic renewal feature, not the AARP membership itself. In order to cancel your actual membership, AARP requires consumers to call or mail a letter to the organization. Canceling online does not appear to be an option. What’s more, numerous consumers have left complaints and reviews online, including on Trustpilot and with the BBB, regarding the difficulties they encountered just trying to cancel their memberships.

AARP did not respond to TINA.org’s request for comment.

The bottom line

AARP offers easy ways to sign up for its membership, yet it seems to make the cancellation process more complex.

In light of the FTC’s new “click to cancel” rule provision, which says sellers must make it as easy to cancel subscriptions and memberships as it is to sign up, the organization may want to consider making some changes.

In the meantime, consumers should try to make themselves familiar with an organization or company’s cancellation policy before signing up in order to avoid any headaches – and future charges for unwanted products or services – down the road.

See more of our coverage on subscriptions.