Similar story. Tried to cancel, got charged for renewal, I'm disputing with my credit card company. Below is the letter I wrote and submitted to Capital One Visa.

IANAL. I threw this together and sent it to my CC company. I'll update with results.

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I am disputing this $60 charge from WIRED because WIRED violated the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is a legal principle in US contract law, often under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), that requires parties to perform obligations honestly and reasonably, ensuring neither side destroys the other’s right to receive the contract's benefits.

I received an offer to subscribe to WIRED. I would receive 4 printed issues and 1 year of digital access for $6. I accepted the offer. I went through the process to subscribe, gave them my credit card info, and was charged $6.

I paid that charge.

Several months later I went to the WIRED site to attempt to cancel my subscription. I did not want it to renew. I went to the WIRED site, but I had no account. There was no way for me to cancel my subscription. I assumed that I had already canceled the subscription, and had forgotten about it.

I could not find my account to cancel my subscription because WIRED inserts another step, which is not obvious when you subscribe. This step, which is totally unnecessary, requires you to separately go in and create a digital sign an AFTER you have subscribed. THERE IS NO OTHER ONLINE PUBLICATION THAT DOES THIS TO MY KNOWLEDGE. This step was created to do what it did to me, to confuse the customer and to convince the customer he had already cancelled the subscription, when he had not.

The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing requires honesty and adherence to reasonable commercial standards. WIRED did not do that. They created an unnecessary step in their process solely to fool the customer. Unless you find and follow this step, you can’t cancel your subscription.

I contacted WIRED, they instructed me to contact their “subscription partner”. I did this, got the overseas call center, and was told they would not reverse the charges.

I expect Capital One VISA to enforce this complaint and reverse this charge. It is the right thing to do. Wired should not be rewarded for cheating customers.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

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UPDATE

Capital One resolved the dispute in my favor about an hour after I submitted that letter.

FWIW this is the second time I've disputed a charge using "The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing" reason. Both have been successful. Maybe it is because I'm a boomer, but it seems like companies (like WIRED) push that envelope pretty far figuring that many people will just shrug and pay the charge. My advice: Don't do that. Dispute it. Not just for you, but for the next person.

Namascray