The Gourmet society rip off.........

powerful_Rogue

mblago wrote: »

So the fact they failed to send me any renewal notice is my faliure? As I said there is plenty of others out there who have been duped by them!

They dont need to send you renewal notices, you agreed to automatic renewal when you signed up.

If you didnt like the service, you should have cancelled it.

johnk

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

They dont need to send you renewal notices, you agreed to automatic renewal when you signed up.

In the tiny-worded "Important Note" section where they say "the membership is ongoing", they also say that "we will send you a renewal pack towards the end of "initial term" to give details how to cancel the renewal". If auto renewal is part of contract, so is the receipt of the renewal pack before renewal as it contains the details of the procedure to cancel.

Gourmet society is one of the worst offenders in the auto-renewal scam. They simply ignore the OFT Principle of Continuous Payment Authorisation:

"The consumer must positively indicate their informed consent to the use of a CPA.” and “All relevant terms of the CPA agreement should be set out clearly and in plain, intelligible language, and brought prominently to the consumer's attention. They should not just be contained in 'terms and conditions'.

Like many others, I was caught by their scam. I complained to Trading Standard of Stoke: they have readily printed form for Gourmet Society - a clear indication of how many complaints against them.

Nirvana9

johnk wrote: »

In the tiny-worded "Important Note" section where they say "the membership is ongoing", they also say that "we will send you a renewal pack towards the end of "initial term" to give details how to cancel the renewal". If auto renewal is part of contract, so is the receipt of the renewal pack before renewal as it contains the details of the procedure to cancel.

Gourmet society is one of the worst offenders in the auto-renewal scam. They simply ignore the OFT Principle of Continuous Payment Authorisation:

"The consumer must positively indicate their informed consent to the use of a CPA.” and “All relevant terms of the CPA agreement should be set out clearly and in plain, intelligible language, and brought prominently to the consumer's attention. They should not just be contained in 'terms and conditions'.

Like many others, I was caught by their scam. I complained to Trading Standard of Stoke: they have readily printed form for Gourmet Society - a clear indication of how many complaints against them.

Hi johnk, do you have details of this form? Thanks

Nirvana9

It appears the renewal emails wind up in people's spam folders. If the email isn't there, chances are that it got deleted automatically after a few days.

Nirvana9

wealdroam wrote: »

You did agree to automatic renewals when you ticked the box marked:

From their T&Cs:


They also state:


Therefore... not without your consent.

12 months ago or (presumably after the OP joined) the join page didn't say what it currently says, it said:

"Terms and Conditions

Yes please! I'd like to become a member of The Gourmet Society, and agree to the full Terms and Conditions. I understand that you'll send me a renewal reminder at the end of my membership, and will let you know if any of my contact details change."

Very different and not quite so clear. It explicitly says 'end of my membership' for a start....

Nirvana9

Sorry to post so many times on here, but here's the join page from March last year: http://web.archive.org/web/20130323170442/https://www.gourmetsociety.co.uk/join.php

wealdroam

Nirvana9 wrote: »

Sorry to post so many times on here, but here's the join page from March last year: http://web.archive.org/web/20130323170442/https://www.gourmetsociety.co.uk/join.php

OK, so they have improved their join page... probably in the light of complaints, but I have no idea if that's so.

Amyd61

No on seems very helpful on here same things just happened to me and I also received no emails now have arguments back and forth via email they are sending he screen shots of their confirmation emails to me so I sent them a screen shot of my inbox when I do a search for gourmet society and their emails are not there they sent in oct sept and January are! My renewal started on the 5th only found out when money got taken. Iv received no new gourmet card either! As a company they should just apologise and refund any other company would but instead they have cancelled subscription for 2016!!

wealdroam

Amyd61 wrote: »

No on seems very helpful on here same things just happened to me and I also received no emails now have arguments back and forth via email they are sending he screen shots of their confirmation emails to me so I sent them a screen shot of my inbox when I do a search for gourmet society and their emails are not there they sent in oct sept and January are! My renewal started on the 5th only found out when money got taken. Iv received no new gourmet card either! As a company they should just apologise and refund any other company would but instead they have cancelled subscription for 2016!!

Have you looked in your spam folder for the missing emails?

Others have mentioned that this where they found theirs.

Amyd61

Yes checked, my search on mailbox searches all mailboxes.