Revolut chatbot goes rogue by charging users to cancel subscription
Revolut’s chatbot has gone rogue by charging customers who wanted to cancel their premium subscription because a key membership perk was reduced, Morning Wire understands.
The digital bank’s automated assistant Rita – which stands for ‘Revolut’s Intelligence Troubleshooting Assistant’ – has ordered customers to pay a break fee when they requested to cancel their subscription.
A number of customers tried to end their paid membership to Revolut after it quietly changed a perk offering discounted rates at Wework offices. Revolut confirmed earlier this week the number of Wework sites available as part of its ‘Ultra’ membership package had been cut.
Customers were left furious due to the lack of warning over the changes and some attempted to downgrade their top-tier subscription plan, which costs £55 per month. But they were then hit with a charge by the bank.
One customer was told by Rita they would have to pay a “break fee” due to having the plan for less than six months.
In an exchange seen by Morning Wire, the automated assistant told the customer: “I understand your frustration regarding the changes to the Wework and Perplexity benefits, and that this break fee is unexpected given the situation.”
Revolut informed customers at the beginning of August it would be swapping out its AI answer engine Perplexity for Chat GPT in September.
Revolut apologises after Rita mischarges customers
The customer was told to pay £55 if they wanted to downgrade to Revolut’s free alternative despite the fintech having actually waived its typical fee for customer’s cancelling on the grounds of the Wework changes.
A spokesperson for Revolut said: “We understand that some are disappointed with the recent update to the Wework benefit on our Metal and Ultra plans…
“We are not charging an early termination fee for customers who reach out to customer support wishing to downgrade their plan, as a result of this recent update.”
They added: “We apologise that this option was temporarily unavailable to some users.”
Revolut’s general terms and conditions promise 30 days’ notice before switching up an existing product or service. A person close to the bank said the plan’s partnerships are governed by different terms, which permit both Revolut and the partner to alter or cancel perks at any time. They added participating locations are also controlled by Wework.
Wework pointed to “economic factors” for reducing Revolut customer’s access. It left around 265 sites available for Revolut subscribers, but more than half of them are in the US, where Revolut’s customer footprint is significantly smaller.
Paris, Milan and Edinburgh had all of their locations removed.
Revolut said at the time it still has a “good working relationship with Wework and they remain a valued partner”.
Subscriptions have served as a top revenue driver for the bank, notching 67 per cent growth to £708m in the last year.