Online purchase not supplied but money taken

graham44

Was looking online for a manual on 24/7 for an old Elextrolux 'hoover' - - up came the 'my manuals' website - looked a possibility so paid £1.49 to order it and got an order confirmation. They contacted me the following morning to say they couldn't supply it and asked me [FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]The type of Device?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]· What is the brand of the device?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]· What is the make and model of the device?[/FONT]
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ie. information I had already supplied plus



[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]We remain at your disposal for any further questions. Please feel free to contact us .....
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I thought it was pointless to answer so wrote off in my mind the £1.49. Then I discovered that they had taken the first of a £24.90 per month subscription had been taken off my bank account and quickly cancelled the suscription online which they acknowledged and confirmed no further charges.


I phoned today and pointed out I had paid for an order they could not fulfil and also taken off another £24.90. They said it was clear on their website that the £1.49 charge was only valid for 72 hours and I was too late to query it. They said they had sent me 2 emails - the one requesting more details and the one acknowledging subscription cancellation - there were 4 in total (order confirmation and one saying they would send me the manual being the other 2) -

and I should have got back to them earlier.


This seems to me like sharp practice. Have I any comeback against such treatment?

sheramber

States clearly on the website

For only £1.49 for 72 hours followed by an automatic renewal of £24.90 per month for a duration of three years, which can be cancelled at any time!

MyManuals offers unlimited access 24/7 to help solve your problems and find the right user manual for you! You will have access to a library of user guides and documents to help you solve any issue you may have with your device.

graham44

But they were unable to do so!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

If you paid by card contact your bank and recall the transactions, VISA offers protection for shopping online and not getting your order.

graham44

I paid by Mastercard debit. Do I have a case under the chargeback scheme? They failed to fulfil the order.

eddddy

You weren't ordering a product - you were paying a subscription for access to a website (so that would be a service).

And you were given access to that website, so the service was provided.

BUT... it sounds like you believe you were misled. You feel you were led to believe that you would get access to a specific manual on the website.

So that would be 'misrepresentation'.

That's still a valid reason for doing a debit card chargeback. (But the card company might ask why you let the subscription renew, if you feel the service was misrepresented.)


Also, did you miss the deadline for the 14 day cooling off period?

DoaM

eddddy wrote: »

Also, did you miss the deadline for the 14 day cooling off period?

If OP was misled into believing they were buying a product rather than a service, then they likely wouldn't even consider that a 14 day cooling off period was relevant.

graham44

Perhaps you could clarify -

I thought I would be able to download a soft copy of the manual I was looking for but this never happened. Is that goods or services?

The cooling-off period, if it applies, has not yet expired since I ordered on 24/7. If I exercise my right to cooling-off today or tomorrow does that mean that the supplier should legally refund.

If they don't then debit card chargeback should apply anyway?

Any thoughts?

stragglebod

They provided you with the service they said they would and charged for the first month's subscription like they said they would. It's all pretty clear from the home page.

unholyangel

graham44 wrote: »

Perhaps you could clarify -

I thought I would be able to download a soft copy of the manual I was looking for but this never happened. Is that goods or services?

The cooling-off period, if it applies, has not yet expired since I ordered on 24/7. If I exercise my right to cooling-off today or tomorrow does that mean that the supplier should legally refund.

If they don't then debit card chargeback should apply anyway?

Any thoughts?

It was never going to be goods unless they're physical/tangible. A downloadable manual would have been digital content.

But in any event, the contract seems to have been 72 hour trial of their library of manuals for £1.49 rather than a sony x43929 manual for £1.49. So it would be services.

As for cooling off periods.....where are they based and what information were you given prior to entering the contract/did you do anything which might indicate you requested provision of the services begin before the end of the cancellation period?

lucy03

stragglebod wrote: »

They provided you with the service they said they would and charged for the first month's subscription like they said they would. It's all pretty clear from the home page.

I just searched for a manual and found the site in question. It's not clear at all, it says that I would pay £1.49 for a specific manual (on a product model number that I made up) which I could immediately download. This is a complete fraud, as they are claiming to have a manual available to download immediately for a product that doesn't exist. The monthly subscription also isn't laid out clearly at all if a user comes to the site via a specific manual request.