Callcredit charged me £12 for nothing!

Abu-Dina

Last summer I obtained online access to my credit file with Experian and Equifax which was all fine. Then I tried to get it with Callcredit but they couldn't verify my ID so I remember I just closed the internet browser and forgot about it.

Last month I found out they charged me £12 for the subscription even though I never accessed my credit file on their website. I tried emailing them but they came back to me with the following:

Dear Mr .....





Thank you for your email.





Callcredit Check is a subscription service which
provides you with unlimited online access to your personal credit report. The
service is currently being offered free for the first 30 days after which, it is
charged at £12 per quarter.





When you registered for your account, you received a
confirmation email which confirmed that your account had been set up and
therefore the free trial had commenced. When we process an application, we
are unaware of the depth of information that we hold and it may be that we
sometimes require further ID in order to validate your details. We sent
you a letter on 18/04/2013 advising that we require further identification.





We did not receive identification from you; this is not
something that Callcredit can take accountability for; Section 6.1 of the terms
and conditions state that payment will be taken after 30 days unless you cancel
your account. You did not cancel your account within 30 days and therefore
a payment was taken in accordance with the terms and conditions of the
service.





I can confirm that your account has now been cancelled
and no further charges will be made.





I appreciate this is not the response you hoped for but
trust we have now clarified our position.





Yours sincerely



Amy Turner


Customer Care

I don't remember getting a letter from them about this. Either way this surely can't be right? They're just copying/pasting their Terms and conditions but how can they claim that they provided me a service when they didn't?! Surely the service has to be ACTIVE for the money to be charged?! I know it's only £12 but is there anything I can do about this?

bargainbetty

To access the service, you have entered your card details and agreed to payment. The problem you have is that you cannot prove you did not receive the letter. It can equally be argued that you set up the service and couldn't be bothered to respond when they wrote to you, perhaps having got the info elsewhere, and you couldn't be bothered to email to cancel, if you see what I mean. It is one word against another.

I doubt very much there is much you can do - you have had access to the service and they have cancelled it at the first time of asking, which seems fair enough. Sorry.