Companies rights to take money without consent

Hemel25

Can I ask about a companies right to take money without agreement please?  My friends parents bought an item out of a consumer catalogue back in October 2019 which was delivered and despite being sent their catalogues at intervals made no further purchases from them. When looking through their bank statement this week they saw the company had taken 2 amounts from them, £1.90 and £65.95. I checked my emails as I do online ordering from them and there was nothing regarding purchases after October 2019, just an occasional email about new items they were selling. In checking their postal mail there was a letter from a travel club with the same company name which was undated but had the sale date as 7th April and trial end date 14 days later. The letter (in the penultimate paragraph) says "Our current promotion is a 14 day no obligation trial for just £1.90. If you decide to continue after the trial period there is a membership available for just £65.95 for the year, but if it's not for you please contact us by telephone, post or e-mail within 14 days of trial start date".  

Unfortunately they didn't contact the company within 14 days as they didn't realise they had been signed up for anything and thought the letter was an advert. They made a purchase with company X and this letter was from Company X Travel Club so a different entity in their minds as their initial purchase was for clothing and not travel related.  As a couple in their 80's who haven't been on a holiday for many, many years (and particularly in the middle of an international pandemic!!!), a letter re travel didn't interest them (lesson learnt and we will counter read all mail in the future) but how can a company take money from their account for the no obligation trial in the first place??? Neither of them signed anything agreeing for money to be taken from their bank account for this no obligation trial and neither agreed to paying anything over the phone either so surely it can't be legal?  Surely their only legal agreement with the company was for the items they bought and not giving permission for future payments to be taken for alternate services without prior consent???  I plan to contact the company and their bank but wanted advice as this doesn't sound at all right to me.

Many thanks in advance. 

JReacher1

They must have signed up for the £1.90 promotion and then didn’t cancel. They probably signed up by mistake but that is what would have happened. 

You want to make sure to cancel it or another £65 will come out in October. 

davidmcn

Hemel25 said:

Neither of them signed anything agreeing for money to be taken from their bank account for this no obligation trial and neither agreed to paying anything over the phone either 

But they obviously agreed for something to be taken out of their bank account, so how did they do that, and how sure are they what the smallprint said?

waamo

If they signed up for a deal they obviously consented to the money being taken. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Ask the company for a copy of the agreement.  It will be there because how else did the original payment get taken?  You can then get the renewal cancelled so they're not charged another £66 in a year's time.

You'll have to get your parents to tell the company they're happy for you to represent them, otherwise the company doesn't have to respond to you at all.

LadyDee

You have to be alert to the new "norm".  It used to be the case that if you wanted something you ticked the box, it seems more and more common nowadays that you are deemed to have accepted something or agreed to something if you don't tick the box.  It's a very underhand way of trading and often in very small print at the bottom of an order page - easy to overlook.

born_again

Hemel25 said:

Can I ask about a companies right to take money without agreement please? 

"Our current promotion is a 14 day no obligation trial for just £1.90. If you decide to continue after the trial period there is a membership available for just £65.95 for the year, but if it's not for you please contact us by telephone, post or e-mail within 14 days of trial start date".  

Unfortunately they didn't contact the company within 14 days as they didn't realise they had been signed up for anything and thought the letter was an advert. 
Many thanks in advance. 

And there is the consent/agreement, if they did not contact them to cancel.

DoaM

LadyDee said:

You have to be alert to the new "norm".  It used to be the case that if you wanted something you ticked the box, it seems more and more common nowadays that you are deemed to have accepted something or agreed to something if you don't tick the box.  It's a very underhand way of trading and often in very small print at the bottom of an order page - easy to overlook.

Any (UK or EU) website following that methodology is breaking the law (as I recall). There was an EU directive a few years ago (that became law in all EU member states) that mandated that all such things must be opt IN.

Hemel25

Thank you for your comments so far. They are adamant that they did not sign or agree to anything about a travel club (it's something they would never need as they don't travel/take holidays) and they are both of sound mind so I'll ask the company for a copy of the agreement to take the money and see what they say.  It's worrying methods like you describe can be used and we'll be going through all their mail in future.  

waamo

If they didn't sign up for anything then how did this company get their bank details?

sheramber

Is there anything  on company x website saying it includes a  subscription to the travel club?