Shaw Academy cancelling and taking payments before end of free trial.

Megan_Anne

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone else has had issues with Shaw Academy?
I signed up for 4 weeks free trial and was enjoying it until a week before the end of trial, I had a phone call trying to get me to sign up to one of their packages. I stated I wasn't able to do that at the minute but I was enjoying the trial. The lady confirmed that I had the free trial until the 29th April. I happened to have this call recorded by an app on my phone. I finished the course yesterday 27th April and tried to cancel the trial. I then noticed that without any warning or notification Shaw Academy took £24.99 a month's subscription via paypal from my account. 
I tried to cancel on the app and found I have to call them to cancel. This is an automated call (also recorded). No actual human to speak to. I had to press to choose to cancel 5 times before the cancellation was processed.
What bothers me most about this  is having recently left an abusive relationship, the language used in the recording is emotionally coercive and controlling. I.e. Press 1 to continue with Shaw Academy and follow your dreams, press 2 to give up on your dreams etc etc ... Shaw Academy is the best way to plan for your future etc... 
They have 5 levels of this coercion, is there anyway to report this company. I find it absolutely appalling behaviour.
I have screen shots of the cancellation confirmation email showing I cancelled 2 days before the end of the free trial, but PayPal has refused to do anything about it. I'm hoping that by stopping any further pre authorised payments via PayPal will mean the £24.99 subscription doesnt leave my account.
Any help or advice?

malteser17

Hi,
Not exactly the same issue but I've got problems with them. I quickly figured out I could complete one of their modules by rescheduling the classes for the first week, and I was very careful not to click on any of their "one-click" purchases for £39.95. Anyway at one point it said the e-certificate for the end of the module was free so I clicked on it and subsequently got charged £39.95 which they are refusing to refund so I'm going to take it further with my bank and if that doesn't work, I might try a small claim. They're counting on people clicking by accident to make money and also they make you jump through hoops to cancel your trial :-(

mjm3346

They get promoted quite a lot on swagbucks, a recent comment on the swagbucks thread

"I noticed Shaw Academy are back under Discovery. They offer "free courses" with a free trial. Just a warning, I had a huge headache getting them to refund money they stole from my paypal account a while back after taking one of these free trials. I cancelled well within the 30 days limit but was charged the full amount when the trial expired. Because I was weary of taking such offers, I screenshot EVERYTHING during the sign-up and cancellation process.

After a lengthy back and forth opening a dispute with paypal I got the money back because there was nothing they could do in the face of my screenshots from their members area where it clearly stated I cancelled, AND  screenshots of emails I had from their "customer service" clearly confirming  that I had cancelled and would NOT be charged (these were sent BEFORE they stole the money from my account). As soon as I sent these to paypal, within 24 hours I had my money back - but it was a couple of weeks of paypal giving me the brush off with closing disputes with the usual cut and paste replies from them.

So I'm sure several people here have taken up the offer and had no problem with them - that's great, I'm just saying be careful and screenshot EVERYTHING if ou decide to take up the offer."

CharlieH0lliday66

I have had the same issue with Shaw Academy. I knew it was strange as when I signed up for one of their free courses I was asked to provided my card details in order to access this free course, already this is a warning sign for me as this is usually used by scammers. I carried on regardless and signed myself up. However, I was never informed that my free trail was over so it was by chance that I checked my mobile banking app and they had taken £49.99 off me, I was very confused by this so I cancelled my account straight away and rang the number to cancel my account. I was greeted with an automated voice that was very patronising and insulting in some places by saying I was foolish and wrong for cancelling my account and had to press the key pad 5 times to skip the "offers" they were promoting. The lack of communication from Shaw Academy in regards to free trails  is disgusting and the fact that they ask for your card details up front on a free trail just sums it up. The reason I signed up for this is due to the lockdown from Covid-19, I have been wanting to progress my skills during this lockdown as I have been out of work for some time and its a shame they seem to be taking advantage of this. 

theparty

@CharlieH0lliday66, do you have the phone number to hand? The same thing's happened to me and I can't find a number anywhere. Their business practices are an absolute disgrace and I wish I'd never bothered with the trial. If it sounds to good to be true it probably is... lesson learned but I don't intend to pay £49.99 to learn it.

Any information you've got would be really helpful, thanks!

melly20

@theparty I've had the same problem. After about 6 weeks of emails and not getting anywhere I did a review on Trustpilot and they responded straightaway. They assure me it's cancelled but I just need to check later this week to make sure no further payment has come out.
 Hope that helps.

theparty

That does help, thanks. I'll give it a go.

stripeysocks2

I think I’ll leave a review on trustpilot now, I’ve just been billed £50 for “not cancelling” before the free trial end date, but I cancelled within a week of starting and never even used it. I emailed my complaints and received a clearly standard copy and paste response saying I cancelled too late. But when I emailed back again, a real person has replied to say they can’t find my email and account on record- so how would they “check” my account details before to say I was too late to cancel?! I’m still waiting for a refund a week later, and sadly don’t have much proof except the screenshot of the call I made to their number. The number I eventually found was ‭0808 164 0752‬ but I admit now I’ve dialed it, I can no longer access it on their pages. Good job I have call history!!

CharlotteMaidment91

Same thing has happened to me, 49.99 has been taken and one reply said I had clicked on a banner and the other said I hadn't cancelled. No idea how to try and get my money back as they are refusing a refund in each response and just keep offering a discount towards a membership. Just had a pay cut at work so this has left me in such a hard position!

jpmckeown

Reading about Shaw Academy is worrying. I signed up for trial but havent used it. Last week cancelled online with some days to spare, change-your-mind screens to go through and then it asked me to phone them to cancel, which I consider dodgy as the signup was online. On phone they did cancel, and webpage now says trial cancelled but no email confirming. Screenshots I have but reading here of people who cancelled (in time?) and still got charged is troubling, as my credit card doesnt seem to have a way to pre-emptively stop them billing me in the future. 

marlon4

Having the same problem, tried to cancel the day before the free trial ended online and couldn't as you have to call apparently but they were closed to had to wait till the day after and they try to make you feel so bad with the emotional blackmail of giving up your goal! Eventually got it cancelled but they still took £49.99 from paypal which I'm struggling to get back! They wont refund and neither will paypal, the  bank cancelled it but now shaw academy have taken the money again from another account on paypal! Really not happy as I cant afford to lose £50 at the minute 😔