Maybe it's not the exact same thing, but I got suckered into a similar thing for a "lifetime" NordVPN subscription for $120 or something, only to get re-billed 2 years later. I like the service so I kept it, but it really rankled me. Seems like you shouldn't be able to do things like this so easily - companies, especially telecoms, have gone full "fuck you" mode the last 10 years to their customers and this is a prime example.
There are VPNs out there with better business practices. You'll find these are ones that don't blow disproportionate amounts of money on advertising strategies like "carpet bomb you with influencer endorsements"
I have my own VPN I setup for anything serious. I like the interface and convenience of this one better than anything else, but yea, I agree. Their claim also that they don't keep logs or give any user info away I know is disputed and probably generally untrue, but they seem like one of the better behaved commercial ones that won't use your bandwidth as an unwitting node in their network (at least from what I can tell, if this is untrue, please correct me).
It's one of those tiny costs that ultimately don't matter, "the principle" of it is sometimes not worth it to me to do anything about. VPN is a generally scummy business from what I can tell.
