Right to cancel a recurring transation

andrewgmiles

Hi all

Today I received notification that my credit card had been charged over £300 for an annual fee on a service I had no intention of renewing and had attempted to cancel.

(my email to cancel had gone via a colleague who neglected to send it).

The company in question are claiming that if I cannot produce an email sent to them prior to today requesting cancellation I have no right to refund.

This seems harsh and unlikely to be lawful given that it's payment for services they would provide in the upcoming 12 months.

I'd be very grateful if anyone could let me know what rights, if any I have in this situation?

Thanks very much,

Andrew

cifpower

As you set up a Continuous Card Authority you had to inform the company of your intention to cancel before payment was taken. As you didn't they were perfectly within their rights to take the money

duggie1982

Well since they would only accept YOUR auth to cancel then prob no chance of getting the refund.

td_007

With regards to your rights to cancel, you will have to refer to the T&Cs. I guess company will have informed you (or it is in the t&c) that unless you do not inform them in advance, the fee will be recurring - so the charge they have made looks perfectly legitimate.

Yet another example of why CPAs should never be set up on credit cards.

andrewgmiles

Thanks for the input guys. Bad news but at least I know the likely facts now.

duggie1982

andrewgmiles wrote: »

Thanks for the input guys. Bad news but at least I know the likely facts now.

Give them a call to see if there is anything they can do.

bazster

Agree with everything that's been said, credit card mandates are bad news.

A trick I've used in the past when a company has ignored my requests to cancel is to 'phone the card company and report the card lost. They then issue a new card with a different card number, so future collections will fail.

In theory, the mandate is still in effect and the beneficiary could contact the card company and insist that it is paid, but they're not very likely to do that even if they understood that they could, which they probably don't.

Not much comfort now I know, but if I were cancelling an authority for as much as £300, I would put it in writing and send it by recorded delivery.

n.b. since you say this payment is for services not yet received, have you checked the small print to see if you are entitled to a refund if you cancel now?

Also, you could threaten them with a case in the small claims court, and actually bring the case if they still refuse to refund. I doubt you have a leg to stand on, but they might pay up anyway just to avoid the hassle and expense of defending it.

chattychappy

td_007 wrote: »

With regards to your rights to cancel, you will have to refer to the T&Cs. I guess company will have informed you (or it is in the t&c) that unless you do not inform them in advance, the fee will be recurring - so the charge they have made looks perfectly legitimate.

Yet another example of why CPAs should never be set up on credit cards.

Not really. If he'd agreed to renew (by not cancelling) then he'd have to pay anyway, whether or not he'd set up a Continuous Charge Authority.