Web Hosting Company Not Refunding My Money

kash_5

Hi All, I really need some advice.

I had a website hosting package which I bought 2 years ago. It expired in 6th April 2011 and at the time I did not wish to renew as I did not need the hosting package so spoke to a customer agent who said it was fine.

Today I checked my credit card and to my shock the company has taken £215 on 5th May 2011 for renewing the website name and hosting package. I called them up today and they have said they cannot refund any of my money as the hosting package is automatically renewed using my stored card details.

Now this is where I am confused and where I need help:

1. They claim I cannot have a refund as it is over 30 days from original purchase, however it has been less the 30 days since they took money from my credit card, can I still get a refund as it is less then 30 days since they took the money from my credit card?

2. I did not receive any email from them confirming the money was taken out of my account and my hosting package was renewed. If I did I would have called them up immediately and cancelled the package.

3. They claim the 30 days refund policy is in their terms and conditions, however upon looking at their terms and conditions I cannot find anything that says the refund must be done within 30 days of original purchase.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as money is tight at the moment and I cannot justify wasting £215 for something I am not going to use.... HELP!

McKneff

Take it up with your cc company..........

Hopefully it will come under a section 75.

Did it say anything in your original contract aout auto renewal.

kash_5

Hi thanks for your reply, their email did say if I wanted to keep the hosting they would automatically renew using my billing details without me having to do anything

PZH

Did you get a confirmation of cancelation when you spoke to their Customer Service?

The 30 days probably relates to the renewal date (i.e. commencement of service) rather than the payment date.

fluffnutter

Moreover, did you get written notice that they were about to take your money? Notice which gave sufficient time to cancel (even though you thought you already had)? Companies can not auto-renew without letting you know they're about to, and giving you time to cancel at this point. If you don't have this notification (check your mails, including your spam folder), then point this out and ask for a full refund. If they don't refund you and still bang on about their 30 day whatever, tell them they're in breach of the law by not sending you written notification and that you'll pursue a refund through the small claims court. Gits.

kash_5

phoodless wrote: »

Did you get a confirmation of cancelation when you spoke to their Customer Service?

The 30 days probably relates to the renewal date (i.e. commencement of service) rather than the payment date.

I didn't receive a confirmation of cancellation from their Customer Services. The guy I spoke to on the phone said I had to cancel via their online ticket system, but it doesn't state this in their emails or terms.

PZH

kash_5 wrote: »

I didn't receive a confirmation of cancellation from their Customer Services. The guy I spoke to on the phone said I had to cancel via their online ticket system, but it doesn't state this in their emails or terms.

So what is the cancelation policy - and did you follow it ?

fluffnutter

Even if the product wasn't cancelled properly they still shouldn't auto-renew without giving notification.

kash_5

fluffnutter wrote: »

Moreover, did you get written notice that they were about to take your money? Notice which gave sufficient time to cancel (even though you thought you already had)? Companies can not auto-renew without letting you know they're about to, and giving you time to cancel at this point. If you don't have this notification (check your mails, including your spam folder), then point this out and ask for a full refund. If they don't refund you and still bang on about their 30 day whatever, tell them they're in breach of the law by not sending you written notification and that you'll pursue a refund through the small claims court. Gits.

I did receive emails from them stating that my package was expiring and that they would try to auto renew from my account. However I did not receive any email stating they were about to take money out or that they had actually taken the money out. It was only by chance when I checked my balance today that I realised.

kash_5

phoodless wrote: »

So what is the cancelation policy - and did you follow it ?

According to their Customer Agent their cancellation policy was to write the request through their ticketing system which I was not informed of through email or in formal writing. Although their terms and conditions say I must request a cancellation through my control panel but does not specifically state the ticket system?

kash_5

phoodless wrote: »

So what is the cancelation policy - and did you follow it ?

3. Cancellations
3.1 You are entitled to cancel the Services by submitting a cancellation request to our support team via the control panel no less than 7 days prior to the anniversary date of the contract term or the relevant service specific terms & conditions pertinent to the Services or Package you have purchased.