CancelCheck scan report

Harlow & Finch Coffee Roasters

Report HF-0926-S · Prepared September 2026 · Scope: checkout, order confirmation, renewal notices, cancel path, retention offers

The bottom line

Your front door is compliant. Your back end is where the exposure sits, and it is concentrated in your two largest states.

Checkout disclosure and consent would pass in all eight states reviewed. Every finding is post-sale: cancellation, renewal notice, and retention sequencing. The two that matter most, California and Virginia, share a single root cause and a single fix. Nothing here requires leaving Shopify or Recharge.

64out of 100

Action needed

Projected after remediation: 91

PlatformShopify + Recharge

Plans reviewed$22/mo · $220/yr prepaid

States in scope8 (customer base)

Findings2 high · 3 medium

Why this is serious but contained

Concentrated

Two states carry the weight

Of eight states, California and Virginia hold both high-severity findings. Fix those and the risk profile changes materially.

Post-sale, not checkout

The hard part is already done

Disclosure and consent are the parts most merchants get wrong. Yours are compliant. The gaps are all after the customer has paid.

Configuration, not rebuild

Settings, not a migration

Four of five gaps close with three Recharge settings and one Shopify template edit. No platform change, no engineering project.

Where the risk concentrates

1. CancellationCalifornia + Virginia

Offline-only cancel path · both high-severity findings

2. Renewal noticeCA, NY, IL, CO

Silent annual renewal

3. Sequencing & recordsMN + all states

Save-offer gate · no acknowledgment

Findings

CC-CA-004Online enrollment, offline cancellationPriority 1High

So what: This is the single most-cited defect in California auto-renewal enforcement. Charges collected under a non-compliant cancel path can be treated as an unconditional gift to the customer, refundable in full.

Jurisdiction	California. Cancellation mechanism.
Observed	Customers enroll online in under a minute. The account page has no cancel control; the FAQ tells them to email support to cancel, confirmed within one business day.
Requirement	A consumer who accepted an automatic renewal online must be able to cancel online, without steps that obstruct or delay termination. Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602(c)
Fix	Enable the one-click cancel control in the Recharge customer portal (native setting) and remove the email instruction. Confirm on screen and by email.
Owner	Product Engineering · Under one day

CC-VA-002Cancellation harder than enrollmentPriority 1High

Same root cause as CC-CA-004. One fix resolves both.

So what: Virginia now measures cancellation parity in steps, not intent. A survey that gates processing fails on its face, and this took effect for Virginia customers on July 1, 2026.

Jurisdiction	Virginia. Cancellation parity.
Observed	Enrollment is one screen. Cancellation is the support-email path plus a reply plus a three-question exit survey before the change is processed.
Requirement	Cancellation must be at least as easy as the method used to enroll. Va. Code Ann. § 59.1-207.45 et seq., as amended by SB 361 (2025)
Fix	Resolved by the CC-CA-004 portal fix. Move the survey to after cancellation is confirmed and make it optional.
Owner	Product · Included in CC-CA-004

CC-CA-007Annual plan renews without advance noticePriority 2Medium

So what: Your annual prepaid customers are your highest-value cohort and the most likely to dispute a surprise charge. Missing reminders drive chargebacks and are a standalone violation in four in-scope states.

Jurisdiction	California, New York, Illinois, Colorado. Renewal reminder for terms of one year or longer.
Observed	The $220 annual plan renews on the anniversary date with no reminder email beforehand. The monthly plan is unaffected.
Requirement	Terms of a year or longer require a clear renewal notice, including how to cancel, within a statutory window before the charge. Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602(b); N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 527-a; 815 ILCS 601/10; Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-732
Fix	Enable Recharge's upcoming-charge notification for the annual plan at 30 days out (satisfies the tightest window in scope). Include price, date, and a cancel link.
Owner	Retention Engineering · Under one day

CC-ALL-001No post-purchase acknowledgmentPriority 3Medium

So what: The acknowledgment is also your proof-of-consent record. Without it, your chargeback defense rests on server logs alone.

Jurisdiction	California, New York, and most states with an acknowledgment requirement.
Observed	The Shopify order confirmation lists items and price but does not restate renewal terms, the cancellation policy, or how to cancel. No separate subscription confirmation is sent.
Requirement	After acceptance, provide an acknowledgment with the renewal terms, cancellation policy, and how to cancel, in a form the consumer can retain. Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602(a)(3); N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 527-a(2)
Fix	Add a "Your subscription terms" block to the Shopify confirmation template, or enable Recharge's subscription confirmation email. Retain a copy per customer.
Owner	Engineering · Under one day

CC-MN-003Retention offer shown before consentPriority 4Medium

So what: The discount itself is lawful. The sequencing is the defect, and it is the same pattern the FTC cited in its 2025 Amazon action: an obstacle placed ahead of the cancel control.

Jurisdiction	Minnesota. Retention and save-offer restrictions.
Observed	Selecting "pause or cancel" triggers a 20% discount screen that must be dismissed before the cancel option appears.
Requirement	Retention offers may not gate cancellation unless the consumer agreed to receive them; the cancel option must remain immediately available. Minn. Stat. ch. 325G, automatic renewal provisions (2025)
Fix	Show cancel and pause first. Present the discount as optional on the same screen, or ask whether the customer wants to see an offer, with cancel available either way.
Owner	Retention Product · One to two days

What you are already doing right

Pre-purchase disclosure and consent (CC-ALL-000, aligned in all eight states)

Price, billing frequency, renewal, and cancel policy sit in a bordered block directly above the payment button, and consent is a separate unchecked box with its own label. This meets the clear-and-conspicuous and affirmative-consent standards everywhere in scope. Preserve this pattern if you redesign checkout. Reviewed against the pre-purchase disclosure and consent requirements in all eight in-scope states.

Do this, in this order

Four changes close the file. One sitting for most teams.

Turn on portal cancellation and delete the email instruction. Closes both high findings (CC-CA-004, CC-VA-002).
Enable the 30-day renewal notice on the annual plan (CC-CA-007).
Add the subscription-terms block to the order confirmation (CC-ALL-001).
Re-sequence the save offer behind the cancel control (CC-MN-003).

Re-scan after deploy. Projected score: 91 / 100.

This, for your flow, in two business days.

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Harlow & Finch Coffee Roasters is a fictional business created to show the format and depth of a CancelCheck scan. Citations reflect CancelCheck's reading of the law as of the report date and are re-verified quarterly. CancelCheck provides compliance information for subscription businesses. It is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Consult licensed counsel in your jurisdiction before relying on any finding.