Overview
- The CMA announced on Thursday, June 18, 2026, that Marks Electrical must refund nearly 40,000 customers and pay a £720,000 penalty for automatically opting shoppers into paid extras at checkout.
- Marks will return about £600,000 in total to affected customers, an average of roughly £15 each, with refunds applied automatically to the original payment method or sent by cheque if that is not possible.
- The extra charges involved two services sold at purchase: a 'Recycle Old Appliance' removal service and an 'Unwrap & Recycle Packaging' service that were pre-selected without customers’ express consent.
- Marks stopped the practice when the CMA opened its probe, admitted breaching consumer law and secured an early settlement that cut the financial penalty by 40 percent.
- The case rests on new CMA consumer enforcement powers that took effect in April 2025 and serves as a warning for other online retailers to remove pre-ticked paid extras and check checkout settings.