Web Hosting Company Not Refunding My Money

kash_5

fluffnutter wrote: »

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

The did send emails stating the auto-renewal but did not tell me they were about to take money out and didn't tell me they actually had taken the money out

fluffnutter

kash_5 wrote: »

The did send emails stating the auto-renewal but did not tell me they were about to take money out and didn't tell me they actually had taken the money out

When did they send mails about the auto-renewal? Was it as a general 'thankyou for signing up for this service. We will automatically renew annually'? If so, that's not good enough. They must give you notice each time they're going to do this, with adequate provision for you to cancel at that point.

kash_5

fluffnutter wrote: »

When did they send mails about the auto-renewal? Was it as a general 'thankyou for signing up for this service. We will automatically renew annually'? If so, that's not good enough. They must give you notice each time they're going to do this, with adequate provision for you to cancel at that point.

I received ONE email and it was an auto-generated email template sent on the 6th April with the info below:

We are writing to let you know that your subscription is due for renewal within the next 30 days, and to confirm that we will renew your contract automatically to avoid any disruption to your hosting service.

Renewal Information




Contract Term: 24 Month, Pay 2 Yearly Renewal Date: 06/05/2011 Renewal Price: £159.98 (ex VAT)
Hosting package price stated excludes domain name renewals.

Viewing Upcoming Renewals
Upcoming renewals can be viewed in the "Manage domains and hosting" section of your control panel. From here you'll see all automatic hosting package and domain registration renewals due on your account, and the date these renewals will be processed. Once any payment has been processed you'll find it in the "View Invoices" section, where you can also download VAT invoices for completed transactions in PDF format.

Payment Methods
This renewal will be processed automatically and will be charged to the payment card held on your account. You can update your payment details in your control panel if you need to, however if these details are already up to date you won't need to do anything.

You don't need to do anything to renew
Your contract will be renewed automatically once the renewal date is reached.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your business, and look forward to continuing to provide you with premium hosting services.

I also received an AUTO-generated email on the 1st May 2011 saying the website name was expiring but did not say anything about the bulk hosting package.

wealdroam

kash_5 wrote: »

I did receive emails from them stating that my package was expiring and that they would try to auto renew from my account.

It was at the point of receiving this/these emails that alarm bell should have started ringing.

Why would they send that sort of email if you had already cancelled the service?
The only reason could be that something had gone wrong with your cancellation request.

As soon as you received those emails suggesting that they were going to auto-renew, your should have been onto them re-confirming your cancellation request.

McKneff

[QUOTE=kash_5;43865356]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.[/QUOTE]

But you did, its in bold above.

Now, I dont think ou have a leg to stand on to be honest.

kash_5

1. What about the fact that the money they took out was less then the 30 days cancellation for original purchase (is this the date they took money from my account)?
2. Also their terms and conditions do not say anything about the 30 day cancellation period nor does it say it in their email?

tomwakefield

kash_5 wrote: »

1. What about the fact that the money they took out was less then the 30 days cancellation for original purchase (is this the date they took money from my account)?

They let you know on 6th April that they were going to renew your services. They didn't take any money until the renewal took place on 5th May. That gave you 30 days to ensure that the renewal was prevented and you weren't charged.

Do you have a company name or a URL for us to look at the terms ourselves and see if we can spot anything you missed?

kash_5

tomwakefield wrote: »

They let you know on 6th April that they were going to renew your services. They didn't take any money until the renewal took place on 5th May. That gave you 30 days to ensure that the renewal was prevented and you weren't charged.

Do you have a company name or a URL for us to look at the terms ourselves and see if we can spot anything you missed?

The company is called streamline.net and their link is www.streamline.net. Their terms and conditions are here: http://www.streamline.net/about-us/terms-and-conditions/general/

Any help would be really appreciated as it is a lot of money for me for something I will not even use

fluffnutter

We are writing to let you know that your subscription is due for renewal within the next 30 days, and to confirm that we will renew your contract automatically to avoid any disruption to your hosting service.

Renewal Information




Contract Term: 24 Month, Pay 2 Yearly Renewal Date: 06/05/2011 Renewal Price: £159.98 (ex VAT)
Hosting package price stated excludes domain name renewals.

Viewing Upcoming Renewals
Upcoming renewals can be viewed in the "Manage domains and hosting" section of your control panel. From here you'll see all automatic hosting package and domain registration renewals due on your account, and the date these renewals will be processed. Once any payment has been processed you'll find it in the "View Invoices" section, where you can also download VAT invoices for completed transactions in PDF format.

Payment Methods
This renewal will be processed automatically and will be charged to the payment card held on your account. You can update your payment details in your control panel if you need to, however if these details are already up to date you won't need to do anything.

You don't need to do anything to renew
Your contract will be renewed automatically once the renewal date is reached.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your business, and look forward to continuing to provide you with premium hosting services.

Oh, OK. It was the notification of the auto-renewal that prompted you to try to cancel. You can't pursue a refund on this issue, I'm afraid. It's now down to whether you followed the cancellation process correctly. And if you didn't... there's not much you can do. Have you asked them to listen to the transcripts of their calls? If they can see that you believe you've cancelled then that might do the trick.

tomwakefield

This is what I can see from the terms

5.3 You will be automatically charged the Price again on the anniversary date of the contract term unless You have cancelled the Services in accordance with Streamline.Net' cancellations procedure set out in clause 3 above. Payment of the Price will be taken via the payment method specified within the control panel.

Given that they gave you 30 days written notice before taking the money for the renewal, I don't think you could contest that point.

3.1 You are entitled to cancel the Services by submitting a cancellation request to our support team via the Streamline.Net 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.

Did you do this?