web host auto renew question

cosumersteve

hi all. over the last four years i have had three running web domains registered with Easyspace but now i just need one of them. so i went on the easyspace website to cancel two of them.
when i got into the site it appeared that one of them was due to be renewed on the 2nd feb and it said that it had been renewed on the 4th january (a month in advance) when i checked my bank account it confirmed this.

so i phoned easyspace to ask them why it had been renewed so early and to get them to return the payment. they said that it had been renewed a month in advance to prevent there being any break in service. ( rubbish as it was set to auto-renew) plus they flatly refused to refund the yearly fee even though it had been taken a month too soon.

what i need to know is, am i entitled to a refund under these circumstances as it seems a little unfair to me that they can take money a month up front of the renewal date and not return it in this event.
many thanks in advance.
steve

InsideInsurance

If it is in their terms and conditions that it is renewed early and they have followed those terms then yes its fine for them to do what you agreed for them to do when you bought and signed up to the T&Cs

railbuff

yes auto renews will always auto renew early, but even so you would still get the emails about domain renewals and if auto renewed will say when the payment will be taken.

If its set to auto renew then you have given them authority to renew the domain at anytime they seem fit. they could even renew the day after registration if they wanted.

also you should change the title "web host auto renew question" as its nothing to do with web host it is domain autorenew.

wealdroam

railbuff wrote: »

If its set to auto renew then you have given them authority to renew the domain at anytime they seem fit. they could even renew the day after registration if they wanted.

Could they really?
Are you sure about that?

Seems a little unreasonable to me.

railbuff

wealdroam wrote: »

Could they really?
Are you sure about that?

Seems a little unreasonable to me.

yes it is unreasonable, but they can if they wish (non do this that i am aware of) and i have been hosting websites and providing domain since 1999, but a month before a renew is not unreasonable with an autorenew set, but even with autorenew set the OP would have been getting the domain renewal emails, which would give him the chance to renew manually or to change the autorenew option. Autorenew is usually a default setting when registering domains. I normally disable this feature unless its a mission critical domain.

I have heard of autorenews activating 2 months before renewal date

Reclusive

I've had the same issue as cosumersteve.

EasySpace don't provide e-mail reminders, I know it is standard practice in the industry, but EasySpace don't do that. EasySpace do state that they post the invoice in your account area online 60 days before the payment is due. This may or may not be true, I got caught out, raised the issue the day the payment was taken and have been in an ongoing complaint process with EasySpace since then.

So thanks to EasySpace's sharp sales practices, I now have a hosting package I never asked for (bundled with the domain registration at the time of sale), don't need and have paid £68.15 for. I'm sure the Iomart management are proud of their sales figures generated by deceiving their customers. I just wish I had read their reviews online before ever getting involved with EasySpace.

unholyangel

railbuff wrote: »

yes it is unreasonable, but they can if they wish (non do this that i am aware of) and i have been hosting websites and providing domain since 1999, but a month before a renew is not unreasonable with an autorenew set, but even with autorenew set the OP would have been getting the domain renewal emails, which would give him the chance to renew manually or to change the autorenew option. Autorenew is usually a default setting when registering domains. I normally disable this feature unless its a mission critical domain.

I have heard of autorenews activating 2 months before renewal date

Any terms along those lines (which allow them to renew and the customer to lose their cancellation right) would likely be seen as unfair.

Schedule 2, paragraph 1, states that terms may be unfair if
they have the object or effect of:
(h) automatically extending a contract of fixed duration where
the consumer does not indicate otherwise, when the deadline
fixed for the consumer to express his desire not to extend the
contract is unreasonably early

8.1 A clause which states how long a contract has to run is likely to be among its most important 'core' terms24 If a lesser term in small print can be used, relying on customer inertia, to extend the contract period beyond what the consumer would normally expect, it is not a core term, and is liable to be considered unfair.

8.2 Particular suspicion attaches to a term in a contract for a fixed period which, if early notice to cancel is not given, automatically commits the consumer to a renewed fixed term

OP, what does the contract state with regards to cancellations and notice period required to cancel?