Can anyone help with a T&C question?

tusagirl

Hi

I signed up for an internet diet club; I prepaid 3 months membership for a personal coaching program. The T&C said that I could cancel within 3 days if I were not happy.

I signed up on Sunday night, and received access to the site on Monday morning. Of course, I work so had no time to really look until I got home that night. The website had a lot of different areas, which I didn't have time to fully look into too.

Over the course of the next 5 days, it became blindingly obvious that I was not, and was not going to, receive any personal coaching. Their idea of personal coaching was for me to fill in a form with tickboxes every evening, and get generic advice every day based on these choices. The choices are set - ie I cannot change the choices, even though some have little to do with me (e.g. the exercise program is very simplistic, my own is much harder, but I cannot indicate that - it should allow me to input my own exercise, and it should adjust my calories accordingly).

In terms of personal interaction, there is one volunteer moderator on the forum (ie not staff), and it takes about 3 days to get a reply to any question via email.

On Friday - that is, 5 days after starting, I wrote and said I wanted a refund because, as far as I can, there is no personal coaching element to this service. They refused, and said I have no legal rights at all, as their T&C states I have a 3 day cooling off which I did not utilise.

Is this correct? Does their 3-day T&C overrule the fact that they made grand promises about their service which they did not uphold?

Thanks

dmg24

You are saying that the service is not as described, they are saying it is. Which site is it? It is difficult to give an opinion without seeing what the site says.

paddyrg

You don't want to cancel under "cooling off" but "service not as described/mis-advertised", which is a different thing altogether. As mentioned by dmg, it'll turn on the exact wording of the site.

tusagirl

Hi

The site is: The Dukan Diet (I can't post a link)

They promise this:

A Powerful coaching to help you lose weight fast

Unique on the Internet, Pierre Dukan's diet coaching site offers you a totally new type of monitored programme: daily slimming coaching! In the morning, you will receive instructions, and every evening you will make a report. The following day, depending on what has taken place the previous day, we will correct any lapses, and answer your questions.
A personalized coaching and a diet adapted to you, making it the best diet for you.
In order to monitor you more closely, we have personalized the programme to incorporate 200 criteria! The Dukan method consists of helping you to lose weight fast by offering you a balanced weight-loss programme, adapted to your needs and good for your health. We also support you in the long term in achieving your permanent weight stabilization, so that you can keep motivated to stabilize your True weight for good. All this, for a symbolic price of 1 LS per week.
Are you looking for a natural diet for quick weight loss? The nutritionist Pierre Dukan personally monitors your progress throughout your tailor-made slimming coaching experience.

Perhaps I (and many others who are also unhappy) misread it, but I anticipated something more than an interactive food database, which is essentially what you get.

I don't think I really anticipated a 1-to-1 relationship with a real person, but I did think the program would offer true coaching, 'adapted' to *my* needs - for example, I am a busy working woman. Had I realised I would have to trawl through a database of food/recipes working out my own meals, I would have purchased the book (for a lot cheaper!). But what I got was a daily menu suggestion that was so off-base for *my* needs that it was laughable - every lunch menu was a 3 course cooked meal, not a packed lunch in sight and nowhere to even indicate the fact. So instead of getting something tailored for me, I got a generic email every day which was useless, and I'd have to spend ages trying to work out my own meals. Which I don't have time to do, and thus would never have signed up had I realised.

A lot of people have complained in the forum that the 'motivational' feedback is condescending, the advice/feedback is usually incorrect for their situation, and that there is no support (it takes on average 3 days to get a response to email sent to the support team - plus they officially close email over the weekend - your 'email support' button actually disappears until 12pm on Monday). The webiste, technically, often fails, the spelling/translations from French to English is poor, and the recipes are inaccurate (one cheescake recipe called for 800g of cream cheese - it was supposed to serve 2 according to the recipe, but it was a serving for 8!), and the instructions are confusing (one area of the site states that ham is allowed, yet when you fill in your feedback form, ham appears under the 'not allowed' foods). Quite a few people have tried to get a refund, but they have been fobbed off on the T&C argument. Yes, you get 3 days to cancel, but the chaos and lack of support is not immediately obvious, given that your first day or two is spent orientating yourself with the website.

Sorry, that was a bit long, but pretty much spells it out. Oh, and even the volunteer moderator emailed me to say the feedback is indeed ridiculous, and the official support team member emailed me to say Dr Dukan only responds to very specific cases (their advertising blurb says

Pierre Dukan personally monitors your progress throughout your tailor-made slimming coaching experience

which is an outright lie).

Thanks in advance for any help!

dmg24

I think I would be a tad miffed as well - you could contact your bank and request a chargeback. I've done a fair few of them for less 'mis sold' goods/ services than you have described, however some banks are more strict than others (I have never had a problem with Barclays or AmEx).

tusagirl

Hmmm I paid via Paypal - some other members said they had tried to cancel their payments but didn't get it right.

I haven't signed on to the site for a week, and I am still getting emails about my 'progress' - yeah, it's so personal no-one has even asked me why I'm haven't filled in a progress form for a week...

arcon5

tusagirl wrote: »

Hmmm I paid via Paypal - some other members said they had tried to cancel their payments but didn't get it right.

Login to your paypal account and go to the resolution center to file a claim.

Flyboy152

paddyrg wrote: »

You don't want to cancel under "cooling off" but "service not as described/mis-advertised", which is a different thing altogether. As mentioned by dmg, it'll turn on the exact wording of the site.

What do the DSRs say about buying services on line?

tusagirl

I've been researching, but I cannot find anything definitive. It seems like it's a situation no-one has thought of yet. I like the idea of trying to get them under the service as not described, but I can't find anything that describes my situation.

Flyboy152

Sorry Tusagirl, it was a rhetorical question to Paddyg; the answer to which he should have known.

The DSRs cover this situation, they have to give a refund if you cancelled within seven days. But, as has been suggested, go to PayPal and open a dispute in the resolution centre.

wealdroam

Flyboy152 wrote: »

The DSRs cover this situation, they have to give a refund if you cancelled within seven days.

Are you sure about that FlyBoy?

On page 19 of the OFTs Guide to the Distance Selling regulations we are told...

How do I make sure consumers do not cancel a service contract after I have started work?
3.25 Once you have started work or begun to provide a service the consumer is contractually bound to honour his part of the contract so long as you:

• had their agreement to start the service

• provided them with the required written information in advance of your starting, and

• told them that their cancellation rights will end as soon as you do start carrying out the contract.

I wonder if the signing up process includes the customer's agreement to start the service?
On the face of it, it sounds reasonable that the customer has agreed to the start of the service, but has also unwittingly given up their right to cancel the service under DSRs whilst doing so.