It reminds me more of the book catalogues. 5 books for a pound or something as a joining perk, but you then had to buy a book a month for 6 months or they would automatically sell you the default book etc.

I never thought that was a shady business model, per se, and whilst it wasn't entirely intuitive how they worked to a 14 year old, I blamed myself for screwing up by joining- not the company.