Revolut chatbot Rita mischarged customers seeking to cancel their premium subscriptions, imposing a break fee the digital bank had already agreed to waive following a reduction in a key membership perk.
The automated assistant, formally named Revolut’s Intelligence Troubleshooting Assistant, told at least one customer they owed £55 to downgrade from the company’s Ultra plan (the same amount as a single month’s subscription) despite Revolut having quietly extended fee-free cancellations to affected members.
WeWork Cuts Trigger Ultra Subscription Revolt
The incident follows Revolut’s decision to reduce the number of WeWork office locations available to Metal and Ultra subscribers. WeWork cited economic factors for the reduction. Around 265 sites remained accessible to Revolut subscribers, but more than half are in the US, where Revolut’s customer base is considerably smaller than in Europe.
Paris, Milan and Edinburgh lost all of their WeWork locations. According to Allwork.space, Brussels, Dublin and Prague were also stripped of all sites, cities absent from Revolut’s initial communications on the change.
Customers were given no advance notice. Revolut’s general terms and conditions commit the bank to 30 days’ notice before altering an existing product or service. A person close to the bank said partnership perks are governed by separate terms, which permit both Revolut and the partner to alter or cancel benefits at any time, and that participating locations are also controlled by WeWork.
Revolut’s own paid plan terms state that the provision, scope and terms of subscription benefits may be changed or cancelled by Revolut or a partner at any time, and that advance notice of detrimental changes will be given wherever possible.
How Revolut Chatbot Rita Got It Wrong
In an exchange seen by City AM, Revolut chatbot Rita acknowledged the customer’s complaint but still demanded payment. Rita 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 had, in fact, already decided not to charge the fee. A spokesperson said: ‘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.’ The spokesperson added: ‘We apologise that this option was temporarily unavailable to some users.’
The bank also confirmed it was replacing Perplexity with ChatGPT in its plan bundle from September, having informed customers at the start of August. TechTimes reported that Ultra and Metal subscribers will receive 12 months of ChatGPT Go free. The switch marks Revolut’s third AI provider partnership in under a year, following Perplexity and the Swedish platform Lovable.
Subscriptions Drive Revolut’s Record Revenue
The episode touches a commercially sensitive line. Subscriptions are among Revolut’s fastest-growing revenue streams, with turnover reaching $936m (£708m) in the latest financial year, a 67% increase from $541m (£423m) in the prior year, according to the Revolut 2025 Annual Report.
Total group revenues rose 46% to $6.0bn (£4.5bn), up from $4.0bn (£3.1bn) in the prior year. Profit before tax climbed 57% to $2.3bn (£1.7bn), the company’s 2025 results show, making it a fifth consecutive year of net profitability.
The customer base underpinning those figures stood at 52.5 million retail customers at end-2024, up 38% from 38.0 million a year earlier, per the Revolut 2024 Annual Report. Retaining premium subscribers at £55 a month is central to maintaining that revenue trajectory.
Revolut said it retains a good working relationship with WeWork, describing the co-working firm as a valued partner. WeWork’s own relationship with Revolut extends beyond perks: the two have a commercial tenancy arrangement, with Revolut taking space for staff at a WeWork site in Dallas.
Whether Rita has been corrected is the immediate test. Any repeat of automated misbilling on a product line generating nearly a billion dollars a year would be a harder apology to script.
