Pilates studio charged me without my knowledge and refusing to refund.

VintageLover

Hi all,

I recently purchased what I believed was a 5 class bundle from a pilates studio which lasted for one month. I've since moved out of the area to a completely different part of London.
I noticed on 1st April that my account had been charged again and when I contacted the studio they said that it was a rolling contract and it is stated on their site (not in any obvious way) and that I must notify them 1 month in advance to cancel.
However nicely I asked or explained myself, they are still refusing to refund me.

Does anyone here have experience of anything similar? Are they allowed to charge me without me having filled out a direct debit form or signed anything? Further to that, are they keeping my card details on file without my permission and wouldn't this be a breach of GDPR? If I have some facts about the legality of what they have done I may be able to influence them to refund me my money.

Thanks in advance!

[Deleted User]

It depends on the terms of what you agreed - both with regards to payment and to GDPR.

From what you've described, they would appear to have acted entirely legally.

Start by reviewing what you agreed to.

Benight

VintageLover wrote: »

Hi all,

I recently purchased what I believed was a 5 class bundle from a pilates studio which lasted for one month. I've since moved out of the area to a completely different part of London.
I noticed on 1st April that my account had been charged again and when I contacted the studio they said that it was a rolling contract and it is stated on their site (not in any obvious way) and that I must notify them 1 month in advance to cancel.
However nicely I asked or explained myself, they are still refusing to refund me.

Does anyone here have experience of anything similar? Are they allowed to charge me without me having filled out a direct debit form or signed anything? Further to that, are they keeping my card details on file without my permission and wouldn't this be a breach of GDPR? If I have some facts about the legality of what they have done I may be able to influence them to refund me my money.

Thanks in advance!

They would not be able to take any payment via Direct Debit unless you agreed to a direct debit mandate being set up in the first place.
You also would need to have been provided with a copy of the Direct Debit Guarantee if they had.
Not sure how they would have set up a direct debit mandate unless you provided them with your bank details anyway

Sounds like you paid by card, and they set up a Continuous Payment Authority to meet the payments needed under the contract you entered into. That is not a breach of GDPR.

You can cancel a continuous payment authority at any time by contacting your card issuer (or the supplier), but that will not affect your liability for the underlying contract.

Paul_DNAP

VintageLover wrote: »

Hi all,

I recently purchased what I believed was a 5 class bundle from a pilates studio which lasted for one month. I've since moved out of the area to a completely different part of London.
I noticed on 1st April that my account had been charged again and when I contacted the studio they said that it was a rolling contract and it is stated on their site (not in any obvious way) and that I must notify them 1 month in advance to cancel.
However nicely I asked or explained myself, they are still refusing to refund me.

Does anyone here have experience of anything similar? Are they allowed to charge me without me having filled out a direct debit form or signed anything? Further to that, are they keeping my card details on file without my permission and wouldn't this be a breach of GDPR? If I have some facts about the legality of what they have done I may be able to influence them to refund me my money.

Thanks in advance!

So it does state that this is a rolling contract on the website you used to sign up for it? Even if you didn't think it was obvious? Then I'm afraid they are right, you've agreed to all this and you are bound to their required notice period and are liable for all charges. You can't even use the "you never mentioned that to me" as you probably ticked a box saying "I have read all the terms and conditions" when you click "submit order".


It's all perfectly legal on their part, and absolutely nothing to do with GDRP. At worst it's a touch shady not to put the rolling renewal more prominently. (I'd have to look at the website myself to know what you mean by obscure).