Microsoft has recently been involved in a massive consumer complaint over its AI subscription service Copilot.More than 2.7 million users have accused the company of misleading them into purchasing high-priced plans and experiencing technical glitches and delays in subsequent refunds.This incident has quickly escalated into a regulatory investigation. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has officially filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, which has attracted widespread attention in the industry.
According to the Australian Financial Review, Microsoft notified Microsoft 365 users last year that software subscription fees including the AI tool Copilot would increase by 45%, and only provided two options: "accept the price increase" or "cancel the order."
However, regulatory agencies accused Microsoft of deliberately concealing the third option - renewing Office software without AI functions at the original price, which is suspected of seriously misleading consumers.
The ACCC said that even if Microsoft has apologized and promised to provide refunds afterwards, the agency will still firmly pursue its legal responsibility. The demands include imposing fines, issuing injunctions and compulsory compensation to consumers.
If Microsoft loses in this lawsuit, the company may have to refund up to $175 million in overcharges to relevant users.
Microsoft admitted in a letter to customers that some users were unable to successfully complete the refund process due to mistakenly sending cancellation links.
However, many users reported that the refund system still crashes frequently, and the number of people waiting online for customer service once exceeded a thousand people. Many applicants complained about problems such as buttons that could not be loaded, page delays, or being automatically logged out by the system.
According to reports, users can submit refund applications before the end of this year, but due to excessive demand for applications, system failures have intensified, and users have to queue for a long time to contact customer service to handle related matters.
