Repeated Charges from Web Company, Difficulty Cancelling

Jinks

Hello,

I hope this is the right forum for this. I have been having difficulty with a web hosting company which has been charging me for a service I'm not using and ignoring my requests to cancel it, and I don't understand very much about it so I would appreciate some advice.

They have an automatic recurring payment set up on my bank account (not a direct debit which would show up on my online banking with an option to cancel, but the other kind which I don't have access to) and are charging me twice per year for a web hosting service. It started out as a much cheaper service but went up in price for no apparent reason, and after a while I decided it was too expensive and I wanted to switch to a cheaper package. So, I decided to cancel it and purchase a cheaper package instead. That appeared to be straightforward because it looked like I could cancel the original package through my online account. Purchasing the cheaper package was easy but cancelling the old one turned out not to be.

When I tried to cancel it the system said that I had to call the company to confirm the cancellation. I have a disability which makes it difficult for me to use the phone. However, I was concerned about being charged again the next month and how long putting it in writing would take for them to process, so I called them and they confirmed that the contract had been cancelled and that I would not be re-charged.

I was re-charged the next month, and when I emailed them to complain and request a refund I was told that the package had not actually been cancelled and that I needed to call the cancellation department again. I did not want to do that, and while I did not understand why my email from the email attached to the account was not sufficient confirmation of my desire to cancel the package, I put my request and complaint in a written letter and included a photocopy of ID in case they needed that. I received no response to my letter. Last month I was charged again for the service I had tried to cancel.

I sent them another email two days ago but have so far had no reply. Also, they have just sent me an invoice for re-billing of my second contract (the cheaper one). However, because of my lack of control over their continuing charges (they have been charging me for two packages and I cannot afford it) and lack of helpfulness (so far my emails just get "scripted" replies) I no longer want to continue with them.

I have two questions about this. One, what is my legal stance on being refunded for the erroneous charges they have been making? I'm not sure I can prove when I first tried to cancel it because the first time was over the phone, though I have copies of the complaint emails I sent after I was charged.

Two, they sent me an invoice yesterday for renewal of my second package, and presumably they have initiated a payment request to my bank to pay for the next usage period. The charge doesn't usually appear in my bank account until about a week after I receive the invoice, so if I tell my bank to refuse their payment request, will this get me into trouble? My thinking is that if they don't receive the payment for the next six month period they should just terminate the service (which I want) or does it not work this way and will they demand payment because they haven't processed a cancellation at their end? I haven't communicated my desire to cancel the second package to them yet because I was awaiting a reply to my email in which I indicated that I would be ending my custom with them if they weren't willing to offer a refund, though considering I have communicated my desire to cancel the first one four times now and they haven't done it, I feel they have forfeited their entitlement to be the ones to initiate the cancellation and I would like to take charge of what is coming out of my bank account.

Sorry this explanation was long. As you can probably tell, I don't really understand much about how this works, and would appreciate some advice about what to do.

Thank you!

gb12345

They have what is called a Continuous Payment Authority on your debit/credit card from the sound of it.

Write to them advising that you are withdrawing their right to use the CPA as you have previously advised them that you wished to cancel their service. Then also write to your bank and advise them that you have cancelled your contract with the company and they should allow no further payments to be made. That should stop them taking any more money.

Regarding the money already taken / if they won't refund then try and see if your bank will treat them as fraudulent payments as you had previously advised the company to cancel your contract.

Jinks

Thank you for telling me what it's called and what I might be able to do about it, that has clarified some of the confusing things. I will talk to my bank about this and see what they have to say (and also write to both as you have suggested). Hopefully, they will agree that the payments taken were fraudulent, though I don't think there is a way to prove when I first cancelled over the phone.

I have just been reading the T&Cs on the hosting company's website and it says that all charges once invoiced are non-refundable. Because of that, I'm concerned that if I block them from taking the money from my account for the invoice they sent me yesterday they might start saying I have a debt with them and adding additional charges (I haven't specifically told them yet to cancel the second package yesterday's invoice is for, only the other one, but since I doubt they would have cancelled it if I had and their behaviour in general has been unreasonable, I hope I'm still within my rights to argue for its cancellation - the invoice came earlier than I expected). I have difficulty managing situations like this, but at the same time I don't want them to take more money from me for a service I don't want or use.

dalesrider

Fact is once you cancelled with them. There is a chargeback right avaiable via your card provider.
Speak to your bank. Have the date you 1st cancelled to hand and when they ask for it give them it.
Under PSD (payment services directive) any payment after you have cancelled have to be refunded by the bank straight away. This also includes any charges.
You do mention that you struggle on the phone, but you may need to talk to the disputes team that deal with these as branch staff may not have a clue on PSD or CPA's and how they are delt with.

Jinks

Thank you, dalesrider!

Does this chargeback rule apply even though the first charge after I cancelled was about a year ago? I would be really happy if my bank could refund the payments they have taken since my first cancellation request as it's about £120. (I would have asked them to do it earlier if I had known about that, I thought I could only get a refund through the company which charged me).

I may be able to take someone to help me if I will have to use the phone. Thank you for letting me know.

Fire_Fox

Agree write a letter.

dalesrider

Jinks wrote: »

Thank you, dalesrider!

Does this chargeback rule apply even though the first charge after I cancelled was about a year ago? I would be really happy if my bank could refund the payments they have taken since my first cancellation request as it's about £120. (I would have asked them to do it earlier if I had known about that, I thought I could only get a refund through the company which charged me).

I may be able to take someone to help me if I will have to use the phone. Thank you for letting me know.

Sadly not. Chargebacks can only be done for the last 120 days.
But PSD does give you 13 months to raise the issue, before the bank does not have to refund.
You may have to raise a complaint to get ALL refunded and do not worry about doing this.
Just explain why you are coming to them now as you were trying to resolve with the company.

Jinks

dalesrider wrote: »

Sadly not. Chargebacks can only be done for the last 120 days.
But PSD does give you 13 months to raise the issue, before the bank does not have to refund.
You may have to raise a complaint to get ALL refunded and do not worry about doing this.
Just explain why you are coming to them now as you were trying to resolve with the company.

OK, thank you. It does appear that I would then be able to use it to recover the amount they charged last month, which is half of it, and that's a start. If the complaint procedure is a simple one I will also try to use that to recover the one 8 months ago.

Thanks again.