Auto renewal taken a month prior to invoice date

Evm1978

Hi,
A couple of days ago I had money taken from my credit card from Easyspace.com for 3 domain names that I no longer require. The money has been removed a month prior to the invoice date which was set to autorenew. I asked for my money to be refunded as I no longer need them and the bills aren't due until February and this is their response.... do i have a leg to stand on?

Hello,

A staff member has replied to your question:

Hi Eliza,

Thanks for contacting customer support.

The reason the payment was taken is that you have an active auto renew feature set as your renewal payment method.

This feature is designed to ensure that our customers do not experience loss of domain registration, data or down time due to late or failed payments.

The feature attempts payment up to 30 days prior to the renewal date from the card registered to the account. Once payment is received the services are provisioned immediately.

As we accept an active auto renew feature as instruction to renew your services we cannot refund any charges for services taken in this manner.

I have set the following packages to cancel on their expiry date:

219280329 EASDOM627501 Easyspace Domain (yogatottenham.co.uk) 23.42 04/02/2020
219280331 EASDOM627503 Easyspace Domain (finsburyparkyoga.co.uk) 23.42 04/02/2020
219280330 EASDOM627502 Easyspace Domain (yogawalthamstow.co.uk) 23.42 04/02/2020

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

stuartJo1989

Well, I can see why you wanted to get rid of them if they are merely redirecting to another website.

Have to say but if your product expires on 23rd Feb 2020 then I'm assuming that it is a 2 year contract which starts on the 23rd Feb 2018?

If so, this would seem to contradict their own Ts and Cs which state:

Auto Renewal attempt one will take place 30 days prior to expiration date of a service. Should this attempt fail, a second attempt will take place 14 days prior to expiration. If this second attempt fails than a third attempt will take place 7 days prior to expiration. If this third attempt fails, then a final attempt will be made 1 day prior to expiration of your service. Should this attempt also fail, then the product must be renewed manually via the control panel or by calling our sales team

So yea, I'm quite shocked that they've taken payment beyond the 30 days prior to expiration date of a service...

You could have a look into the Ts and Cs for things like that and inform the company of them. Ultimately, though, if they don't agree that they owe you money then you'll need to take them to court.

Evm1978

Wow, that was quick!!!! Unfortunately the package is until 4th Feb, so it was taken 30days prior :-(
It's a swizz though as at the bottom of the invoice it says "All sales are subject to our standard terms and conditions, a copy of which is available on request." There is no mention that the payment will be taken 30days before.
Thanks for your time, it's just nice to know whether it's worth fighting for.
Evm

eddddy

Their T&Cs are on their website. Did you sign up online? If so, you probably had to tick a box to say you'd read them when you signed up.

Auto Renewal attempt one will take place 30 days prior to expiration date of a service.

Link: https://www.easyspace.com/terms-and-conditions

However, did you sign up as a business or as a consumer? If it was as a consumer, you might be able to argue that there terms are unfair:

6. Subscriptions and automatic rollover

If a business offers a subscription service or other long standing rolling type of agreement, for example, mobile phone contracts, insurance contracts, then businesses should make it clear how the subscription will be renewed, provide renewal reminders and allow customers to cancel without having to pay cancellation costs or give lengthy notice periods to cancel. Automatic renewals without sufficient reminders are likely to be regarded as unfair terms as are long notice periods or cancellation fees.

http://www.wablegal.com/unfair-contract-terms-new-guidance-businesses-published/

Evm1978

Thanks so much, I have no idea, but i will investigate..... wish me luck! :-)

DoaM

Are the domains registered to a business or sole trader, or registered to a UK Individual? The latter can easily be argued as a consumer, the former can't.

Edit - just checked. All of them are:

Other UK Entity (e.g. clubs, associations, many universities)

No consumer angle available there as far as I can see.