Dating site refund - help!

emilyaddis

hi everyone - I subscribed to a dating site (!) for a 3 month subscription - of course there was small print saying that you had to cancel the week before the 3 months was up or they would automatically enrol you in another 3 months (cost of £120) - i was away travelling in a difficult country for work - so didn't remember to cancel it in time. They have removed the money from my credit card and are refusing to refund. I am pretty sure that consumer rights protect me from money being automatically taken out if a reminder has not been sent (or a notification saying that they are going to remove money from my credit card) - is this correct? and is there any thing i can 'threaten' them with legally to encourage them to refund my money? Thanks in advance for any advice.

marliepanda

I imagine the small print which you knew about counts as a notification. You must have realised this was why it was asking for your card info for a free trial?

You had the opportunity to cancel and did not.

naedanger

emilyaddis wrote: »

I am pretty sure that consumer rights protect me from money being automatically taken out if a reminder has not been sent (or a notification saying that they are going to remove money from my credit card) - is this correct?

I think (but am not certain) that they would only have to notify you if the amount they were to take changed. So if you agreed to £1 immediately and £120 after 3 months and every 3 months thereafter then I don't think they would need to send you any further notification unless they were going to increase the £120 amount.

SouthUKMan

Hi. A direct debit means you give permission for a company to take an agreed amount from your bank account on an agreed date - that agreed date can be specified in the terms and conditions (e.g. 90 days after sign up to the dating site). A company is obliged to inform you of any changes to the amount they wish to take, the date on which they take the direct debit, and any change to the frequency of payments. If no changes are made, then they don't have to send a reminder - unless it was in their terms and conditions that they would send a reminder. Think about your household direct debits for rent / mortgage, insurance, gas, electric, etc - you don't receive monthly reminders for any of those. If a company does change any of the detail, then they have to inform you in advance of taking payment. If no time frame is specified, then assume 10 days. Failure by a company to do so means that you are entitled to a refund. From what you've said though, it sounds like the company hasn't done anything wrong. If you still believe that they have, then you can start a claim under the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme. Google

LilElvis

SouthUKMan wrote: »

Hi. A direct debit means you give permission for a company to take an agreed amount from your bank account on an agreed date - that agreed date can be specified in the terms and conditions (e.g. 90 days after sign up to the dating site). A company is obliged to inform you of any changes to the amount they wish to take, the date on which they take the direct debit, and any change to the frequency of payments. If no changes are made, then they don't have to send a reminder - unless it was in their terms and conditions that they would send a reminder. Think about your household direct debits for rent / mortgage, insurance, gas, electric, etc - you don't receive monthly reminders for any of those. If a company does change any of the detail, then they have to inform you in advance of taking payment. If no time frame is specified, then assume 10 days. Failure by a company to do so means that you are entitled to a refund. From what you've said though, it sounds like the company hasn't done anything wrong. If you still believe that they have, then you can start a claim under the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme. Google

The charge is to a credit card according to the OP so the Direct Debit Guarantee does not apply.