Lovefilm Free trial not so free

Rainbow_Butterfly

Myself and my husband have both had lovefilm accounts with free trials in the past. In December we both received £50 giftcards for 3months free, with the blurb

We haven't forgotten you - in fact we're sending you an amazing gift to show how much we still think about you. 3 months of FREE LoveFilm. Use the enclosed gift card, see our service is even better than ever and enjoy 3 months of LoveFilm absolutely FREE.

I logged into my account and went to reactivate, I then got a message saying that I could not use the giftcard as I had previously had a free trial.
I rang customer services, said that it was a strange thing to do to send me a card I cant use, and was that correct? They told me to goto lovefilm.com/giftcard and click on the ive been a member button and reactivate that way and it should all go through fine.

As far as I knew it had and I was now enjoying a 3 month trial.

This morning I got a letter from my bank telling me id been charged for going overdrawn, odd I thought as I rarely use that bank account.

It turns out that I have been charged 3 lots of £15.65 on 9th Dec, 9th Jan, 10th Feb.

I reactivated on the 5th Dec, my account on the lovefilm website has been and still is showing my first billing date as the 5th March - 3months later.

I rang customer service who have been particually obtuse and keep repeating to me that as I have had free trials before, I was not eligable for this offer, so its tough luck that I have been charged.

My arguement is that I specifically checked, was told to goto a different part of the website, the website accepted the code, told me I had a free trial, and I then believed it.

For arguements sake, while on the phone to customer services I have logged into my husbands account (having been told 2minutes previously neither of us could have used these cards), and gone through the same process with the other giftcard we received...



It is exactly the same circumstances, and has gone through as it did for me in December offering the the reactivation with the free trial.

I offered to send screen prints through to lovefilm of this to show that there is an error with their website, but they declined telling me it simply isnt possible that I could use the giftcard and that I must be mistaken.

They also keep telling me that on their system log it showed that I received a website message on the 5th dec telling me I couldnt use the card, but I then reactived 10 minutes later (yes.. because I rang customer services in this time etc etc etc)

I have spoken to a manager who is going to speak to head office, apparently the decision is completely out of her hands and she will ring me back tomorrow with the result.. she did say that she is very doubtfull I will be refunded.

Where do I stand legally with this.. if I am told something is free.. the website then confirms it is free.. can they then charge me?

Very grumpy now :mad:

Shinds

If you got the Giftcard and it worked - Then it's FREE

Report this to your bank and they could actually help you get the funds back.

But compaining to Lovefilm should do the job.

Jazzy_B

I got the card too, and tried to order it again. I got the message saying I couldn't use it and phoned them up. The person I spoke to said I could not claim this because I'd had this offer before. I complained and spoke to a supervisor,but they said if I rejoined, I would be charged.
Good luck.

Rainbow_Butterfly

This is a thread from the time. It seems some others were able to use this offer even if they had before, some wernt. It seems to depend on who you spoke to. Either way really, if its gone through on their website as free then surely they should honour that.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1347855&highlight=lovefilm+giftcard

JAG

In their terms and conditions it stated that if you had already had a free trial then you weren't entitled to another, and would be charged at the current rate for the service.

Although the website stated it was free you accepted their T&C by rejoining so I doubt you would have any legal challenge to the fees that have already been took.

Rainbow_Butterfly

To be honest I didnt read the T&C small print, I didnt see any reason why I would need to.

Say if you bought something from a website for £10, would you read the tiny small print to make sure that it actually was that price and the company didnt have a get out clause somewhere, or would you assume that the information given was correct and proceed?

Is it not the same thing? Their website allowed me to 'purchase' a service for a certain price (free) and in the small print it says that I am not allowed to have made this purchase so they charge me.

Surely the error is theirs, as their website did, and still does allow these gift cards to be used on inelligable accounts.

emweaver

Im a bit worried now as I had a card off them recently also and followed the same steps as you! My billing date shows as 10th March and my status says im on a free trial though so surely they wont take any money?

Rainbow_Butterfly

I dont know, mine was saying that.

Have you checked your bank? I have been charged each month since dec, I just didnt notice it until yesterday.

xx

zenseeker

Rainbow_Butterfly wrote: »

To be honest I didnt read the T&C small print, I didnt see any reason why I would need to.

To avoid problems like this :rolleyes:

T&C's are there for a reason, don't come whinging here because you didn't bother to read them.

love2save

I had this card too. It wouldn't let me sign up for the trial when I first looked. A week later however I tried online again and all went through ok. On the account section it says first payment due on the 9th March and also that I am on a free trial. I have had no payments taken from my bank. Fingers crossed all is well.....

emweaver

I signed up on 10th feb, have checked my bank so far nothing has been debited. It said existing customers click her for thecredit so I did. I was a customer before so if this is the case why would they send me the code?