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Why isn't it already illegal for cancellation to take effect right away for prepaid services without being given a prorated refund? Isn't that basically theft?

The law should take care of dark patterns like this.

Agree one hundred percent!

Apple is also culprit of this.

I activated the free trial for Apple Arcade because an ad for it was prominently shown in the settings app.

If you cancel the free trial, they immediately terminate the access. But worse: they did not send an email before charging the first non-free month. When I saw a €4.99 charge on my credit card, I canceled the trial (that I did not even use). I was disappointed about Apple using such dark patterns.

Got names? Useful to know and to avoid.

ClassPass is one example I recently ran into. I’ve already bought credits for the month and am planning to cancel my current plan, but if I do I immediately forfeit my (prepaid!) credits.

Interesting. Might as well try charging that one back if you need the money back and they refuse.