The Unsubscribe Obstacle Course: Eight UK CBD Subscriptions and the Minutes It Takes to Leave Them

We Became Subscribers So You Don’t Have To

Cancelling a subscription should be as easy as starting one. That’s the principle behind UK consumer law, and it’s the promise most CBD brands make when you tick that ‘subscribe and save’ box. But is it actually true? To find out, we signed up to eight UK CBD subscription services in October 2026, waited for our first box to arrive, then attempted to cancel. We timed every click, every hold message, and every ‘are you sure?’ screen. Here’s what we found.

The Stopwatch Rules

We didn’t use bots or scripts – just a person, a laptop, and a phone. The clock started the moment we clicked ‘cancel subscription’ (or the closest equivalent) and stopped when we received written confirmation that the subscription was dead. We noted every extra step: logging in again, hunting for a hidden link, waiting for a chat agent, being transferred to a retention team, or sending an email and hoping for a reply. We also recorded how long it took for any refund to land and whether a final box was dispatched after cancellation. All brands are anonymised as Brand 1 to Brand 8, but we’ve described their product type and price bracket so you can spot the patterns.

The Quick Exits (Under 3 Minutes)

Brand 1 – mid-range oil, monthly box. The cancel button lived in plain sight under ‘My Subscriptions’. Two clicks and a confirmation screen. Total time: 1 minute 12 seconds. Confirmation email arrived instantly. Refund for the next box (which hadn’t shipped) appeared three days later. No retention offer. This is how it should be.

Brand 2 – budget edible multipack, fortnightly. Slightly more faff: the cancel option was hidden behind an ‘Edit’ link that looked like it only changed the delivery date. Once found, it took us to a three-step survey (‘Why are you leaving?’) that we had to complete before the final button would work. Total time: 2 minutes 45 seconds. Refund processed within 48 hours.

Brand 3 – premium topical bundle, quarterly. Cancellation was instant via the account dashboard, but the page then tried to upsell us to a ‘pause’ option for the third time before letting us go. Total time: 1 minute 58 seconds. No refund needed because the next billing date was weeks away, but we received a ‘sorry to see you go’ email with a 15% off code.

The Middle Ground (5–10 Minutes)

Brand 4 – full-spectrum oil, monthly. No cancel button in the account area. Instead, a help centre article told us to ‘contact us via live chat’. The chat widget loaded slowly, and we were second in the queue for four minutes. The agent asked why we were leaving, offered a 20% discount for three months, and only then processed the cancellation. Total time: 7 minutes 20 seconds. Refund confirmed in five working days.

Brand 5 – CBD capsules, bi-monthly. The account page had a ‘Cancel’ link that led to a form asking for our order number, email, and reason for leaving. Submitting the form triggered an automated email saying ‘a member of the team will action your request within 24 hours’. We then had to reply to that email to confirm we really meant it. Total time from first click to final confirmation: 9 minutes 50 seconds (including waiting for the auto-reply and sending a follow-up). Refund came six days later.

The Phone Call Club (15+ Minutes)

Brand 6 – high-strength oil, monthly. The only way to cancel was to call a customer service number between 9am and 5pm on weekdays. We were on hold for 8 minutes, then spent another 6 minutes being transferred to a ‘subscription specialist’ who tried three different retention offers. Total time: 16 minutes 40 seconds. The cancellation was confirmed verbally, but we insisted on an email – it arrived two hours later. Refund landed seven days after that.

Brand 7 – CBD tea and edibles box, monthly. Similar story: a phone call was mandatory. The number was buried in the terms and conditions, not on the account page. Hold time was 11 minutes, and the agent told us we’d have to pay for the next box because we were ‘within the dispatch window’. We argued, citing the Consumer Contracts Regulations, and eventually got a refund four days later. Total time: 21 minutes 15 seconds.

The Email Black Hole

Brand 8 – budget oil, quarterly. No online cancellation, no phone number – just a ‘contact us’ form that generated an email ticket. We sent the request at 10:14am on a Tuesday. We received an automated acknowledgment at 10:15am. The actual cancellation confirmation arrived 47 hours later, along with a note that our next box had already been prepared and would ship anyway. We were offered a returns label but decided to keep it. Total time to confirmation: 47 hours 3 minutes (though active time on our part was under 4 minutes). Refund for the following quarter was processed 10 days later.

The Retention Tactics We Saw

Almost every brand tried something. The most common was the ‘pause instead of cancel?’ suggestion (five out of eight). Three offered a discount – typically 15–20% off the next two or three boxes. Two asked us to complete a survey before letting us cancel. One made us listen to a 90-second explanation of the benefits we’d lose. Only Brand 1 let us go without any attempt to change our mind.

Refunds and Final Orders: The Aftermath

Refund speed varied wildly. Brand 1 was fastest (three days), while Brand 8 took over a week. Two brands said they couldn’t refund because the next box had ‘already entered fulfilment’ – but in both cases we pushed back and got the money back. As for final orders, three brands shipped a box after we cancelled, usually because we cancelled after their cut-off date. Check the small print: some subscriptions renew on the 1st of the month, others every 28 days, so ‘cancelling immediately’ might still leave you with one last delivery.

The Practical Map: How to Cancel Each Type

If you’re stuck in a subscription you no longer want, here’s the shortcut for each scenario:

• Online dashboard with a cancel button (Brands 1, 2, 3, 4): log in, find ‘Subscriptions’ or ‘Manage plan’, click through any surveys, and screenshot the confirmation.
• Live chat only (Brand 4): open chat during working hours, ask to cancel, decline any offers, and request an email transcript.
• Form then email (Brand 5): submit the form, then reply to the automated email with ‘Please confirm cancellation’ and keep the thread.
• Phone only (Brands 6, 7): call as soon as you decide, note the time and the agent’s name, and ask for written confirmation. If they claim you’re too late to cancel, mention your rights under the Consumer Contracts Regulations.
• Email only (Brand 8): send a clear request with your account number, and follow up if you don’t hear back within two working days.

The Bottom Line

Leaving a CBD subscription shouldn’t feel like a puzzle. The best brands (Brands 1–3) make cancellation a one-minute job, while the worst (Brands 6–8) hide the exit behind phone calls or email queues. Before you sign up for any CBD subscription, do a quick test: log into your account and see if you can find the cancel button. If it’s not there, consider that a red flag. And remember – under UK law, you have the right to cancel a subscription as easily as you signed up. If a brand makes it harder, you’re within your rights to complain to the Competition and Markets Authority.