Dating Agency Rip Off - Can't cancel!

LordLee

I'll cut to the chase... I joined the dating agency Plenty More Fish. A 3 month deal for £49 or something. I found it pretty lame.

As the end of the 3 months approached. I decided to cancel. As they take another £49 for 3 months if you don't ring a certain telephone number 72 hours before next installment. You apparently cannot cancel by email.

I called this number two weeks prior to next installment and have been nearly everyday since. It is impossible to get through!!! Sometimes the line just transfers to a voicemail which does not allow messages.

I even asked my bank for a new card to stop the payment. Alas this didn't work. Low and behold money has now been taken for another 3 months membership... despite my constant phone calls & new card.

Any advice? I apparently am not allowed a refund in the T&Cs.

pinkshoes

WRITE to them, stating all the times and dates you tried to phone them to cancel as per their own T&Cs, and state that if they do not refund the £49 within 7 working days from receipt of the letter, you will take them to court for the money.

UncleZen

Im guessing you paid by credit card, if so this is whats called a recurring transaction or continuous authority transaction. There are fewer rules surrounding these than with direct debits. Thats why companies like this prefer them. I second what pinkshoes said, and also talk to the credit card company.

LordLee

Debit Card. I thought getting a new card with new number and expiry would sort it. But no. OK thanks... i will write to them.

UncleZen

OK, Debit card, same principal, just cheaper for the retailer, its a recurring transaction.
Warning to others. Please avoid these types of recurring payment as they are really hard to cancel as there is no equivalent of the "direct debit mandate".

toffe

getting a new debit card should have stopped it.

what reason did you give the bank for needing a new card?

if you said the card was lost or stolen it would have been/should have been cancelled on the spot however if you said you had damaged the card or gave any other reason that menat you had not lost or had the original card stolen and were still in possession of the card then i beleive it can be around 30 days before the old card is canceled.

you can ring up the bank and have it cancelled sooner though.

visidigi

if you say its damaged they just give you another card with the same number, so the OP must have said something to have got a different card number...

Likes been said, doublecheck on the status of that card you had 'cancelled'

danothy

LordLee wrote: »

I'll cut to the chase... I joined the dating agency Plenty More Fish. A 3 month deal for £49 or something. I found it pretty lame.

As the end of the 3 months approached. I decided to cancel. As they take another £49 for 3 months if you don't ring a certain telephone number 72 hours before next installment. You apparently cannot cancel by email.

I called this number two weeks prior to next installment and have been nearly everyday since. It is impossible to get through!!! Sometimes the line just transfers to a voicemail which does not allow messages.

I even asked my bank for a new card to stop the payment. Alas this didn't work. Low and behold money has now been taken for another 3 months membership... despite my constant phone calls & new card.

Any advice? I apparently am not allowed a refund in the T&Cs.

Hope you get it cancled, can't really offer any more advice to that end than has already been given.

On a money saving note though, have you considered okcupid and/or plentyOFfish? They are both free dating sites that allow you to contact other members without paying for the premium service.

LordLee

OK i have a letter prepared but managed to get a response via their email support. They just went over their auto-renewal T&Cs and said if I had trouble getting through i should have emailed. Which i did... but hey presto... the support email was down at the end of the month. Funny that. So they just said they've canceled my membership for 'NEXT' payment. No mention of refund. Grrrrrrrrr.

How do I take them to court?

And to reply to Danothy above... when i signed up I had a blond moment and thought 'PlentyMoreFish' was PlentyOfFish.

maninthestreet

Stop CARPing!

PZH

LordLee wrote: »

..They just went over their auto-renewal T&Cs and said if I had trouble getting through i should have emailed. Which i did... but hey presto... the support email was down at the end of the month. Funny that. So they just said they've canceled my membership for 'NEXT' payment. No mention of refund. Grrrrrrrrr.

How do I take them to court?

Write to them again and send it recorded delivery to their head office, detailing their response showing that their system was down and you did, in fact, request to cancel to service and specifically ask for a refund of the last payment.

State that you are giving them 14 days to respond (it may take a little longer to get ther efund proccessed) and if they do not then you will start a small claim through the courts.

Entitle the letter "Letter Before Action" (You might want to Google for examples)