conned by ancestry.co.uk

mhairib_2

Sometime ago, I signed up for a free trial of ancestry.co.uk to research my family tree. They required my credit card details as proof of ID/age, and unknown to me they have been billing it for £10.95 a month ever since, for how long I am not quite sure yet, but it's been quite a while.

I have no doubt that they will have something written somewhere in the smallest of small print as a get out, so before I complain, I need to know my rights.

Has anyone else suffereed the same, or can offer advice?

Thanks in advance

Esqui

The link for the free trial takes you to this page: http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/popularmedia/hs1.aspx?landingpage=39713&o_iid=39713&o_lid=39713

where you have to choose which package you want after the trial ends. It's not really small print, so you're unlikely to get anywhere.

Optimist

You haven't been conned you should have read the terms

"14 day free trial: Terms and Conditions apply. Free trial requires registration with a valid credit or debit card but no money will be taken during the free trial. To cancel your membership without incurring cost, simply login and go to 'My Account' and click on 'Cancel Subscription', or call us free on 0800 404 9723, before the expiry of the 14 day free trial otherwise 100% of your chosen membership price will automatically be taken on expiry of the 14 day free trial."

If you now wish to cancel

"How can I cancel my membership?
You can cancel any time by visiting the My Account section on the Ancestry.co.uk website."

PlutoinCapricorn

Free trials followed by default regular charges unless you cancel seem to be standard practice: "Which" asks for a direct debit to be taken out, it is up to you to cancel it when the free trial ends. Amazon Prime does something similar.

It is up to the consumers to read the terms & conditions before signing up for anything and to check their statements, and to understand that if you give credit card or bank details they will probably be used to debit you. Unfortunately many people do not realise this, they learn the hard way. There are several examples on MSE.

mhairib_2

Esqui wrote: »

The link for the free trial takes you to this page: http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/popularmedia/hs1.aspx?landingpage=39713&o_iid=39713&o_lid=39713

where you have to choose which package you want after the trial ends. It's not really small print, so you're unlikely to get anywhere.

I appreciate what your saying, but when I signed up (about 9 months ago?) there was no such page. I didn't get a choice of tarrif after my trial ended, thats the first time I've even seen there was a £6.95 option, or 3 different choice of package.

It seems likely that I've ticked a simple T&Cs tick box. I know T&Cs are there to be read, but it was still misleading. Yes I feel annoyed and equally as stupid for getting caught out. My point is I genuinelly had no idea about prices or contracts.

mr_fishbulb

mhairib wrote: »

They required my credit card details as proof of ID/age, and unknown to me they have been billing it for £10.95 a month ever since, for how long I am not quite sure yet, but it's been quite a while.

In that time you never questioned the charge on your credit card statement?

mhairib_2

mr_fishbulb wrote: »

In that time you never questioned the charge on your credit card statement?

Yes I know, another reason why i feel stupid. My CC gets paid by DD and if I don't use it (and I hardly ever do), I don't look at the statement. I'm paperfree so don't get statements through the door.

Learning the hard way as someone earlier in the thread said.

So although ancestry.co.uk do the trial differently now and make it far more transparent, what can I do about the misleading trial that I signed up for unknowingly 9 months ago?

cleo1299

mhairib wrote: »

I appreciate what your saying, but when I signed up (about 9 months ago?) there was no such page. I didn't get a choice of tarrif after my trial ended, thats the first time I've even seen there was a £6.95 option, or 3 different choice of package.

It seems likely that I've ticked a simple T&Cs tick box. I know T&Cs are there to be read, but it was still misleading. Yes I feel annoyed and equally as stupid for getting caught out. My point is I genuinelly had no idea about prices or contracts.

Ancestry has been offering pretty much the same free trials for years. I signed up in August 2008 and everything was made extremely clear on the webpage. It's not a case of just being asked to tick a T&C box. And never has been, to my knowledge. As soon as I signed up I set my phone to warn me a couple of days before the trial expiry date, so I would not forget to cancel.

If you had no idea what contract you were signing up to, you shouldn't have signed up to it. Simple as that.

Ancestry provide a really really useful service, which most people can access for free through their local library. Ancestry are not scammers. Their free trial is a very fair offer, in my opinion, and is fairly explained and implemented.

pimento

I've also signed up for several free trials with Ancestry.co.uk and have always seen in plain English and large print on the page (and, I believe in the email they send to confirm your membership) that the onus is on you to cancel before the 14 days are up if you don't want to continue paying.

I was given full membership for a birthday present. Great present.

pimento

In fact, here you go, on the confirmation email sent to me by Ancestry almost a year ago to the day. 14 point font, can't miss it.

Please note that once your trial period ends, your credit card will be billed. If you do not want to continue your membership and to avoid the credit card charges, you’ll need to cancel your membership before the end of your trial period. To cancel, log on to Ancestry.co.uk and go to 'My Account' and click on 'Cancel Subscription' and follow the online instructions.
To ensure uninterrupted service, your annual membership will be renewed automatically at the end of the one–year period and your credit card will be billed at that time. Please read the Terms & Conditions for further details

Meepster

Yet another "I didn't read the T&C's, they have taken money from me, it's so unfair, it must be a con or scam" post.

No sympathy...