The cheaper plan existed. The renewal notice had to say so.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation into how Microsoft presented changes to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions. From January 2025, existing customers received features including Copilot for the rest of their subscription period, then moved to a higher-priced plan at renewal unless they selected another plan or cancelled.

Microsoft offered existing customers a time-limited route to Classic plans with the earlier feature set and price. The CMA says annual Personal and Family subscriptions with the additional features cost £25 more than their Classic equivalents. The investigation is examining whether renewal communications gave customers enough information about those options and the difference in cost.

The old product became the hidden alternative

This is an investigation and the CMA has not concluded that Microsoft broke the law. The product question is already clear: when a supplier changes a recurring plan, the renewal screen should compare the current plan, replacement plan and any continuing lower-cost option in the same place.

A notice that announces new features without showing the price of keeping the old arrangement is not a complete choice architecture. The customer needs the renewal amount, effective date, feature difference and direct route to each available option before the charge is scheduled.

Subscription state should be inspectable

Technically, an account should expose the plan identifier, price version, renewal timestamp and pending migration as durable fields—not infer them from promotional copy. A customer should be able to change the pending plan and receive a confirmation that names both the selected price and the features that will remain after renewal.

The CMA notes that Australian and Italian authorities are separately examining Microsoft subscription communications. Similar complaints across markets suggest that global product migrations need local legal review before the default is applied, not after customers discover the new bill.