Unexpected charges from online businesses

KtM95

Recently, I have been finding more and more companies have given me unexpected charges...
For instance, Fabletics charged me for their VIP membership after I didn't notice a pre-ticked box. 
I joined a dating site (for singles in my county) run by venntro media. After being bombarded with likes from much older guys all over the country (even after setting an age limit) I decided to cancel. So I began the process and clicked cancel, thinking that "cancel" meant cancel and not cancel cancelling. I was very shocked when a month later I was charged again. I was also told quite rudely that it was my fault that I assumed clicking cancel would cancel my membership. 
I signed with eharmony and nearest matches are 1.5 hours away. On cancelling they charge me £65 for a personality report and said that this was in the T&Cs. They also said that basic members pay £130 for the report, despite the fact that basic membership is free.

I don't want to ask how to stop this happening as I realise the answer is to be more vigilant, check the T&Cs and check reviews etc. But I'm getting sick of companies taking advantage and then shoving the "it is set out in our terms and conditions..." line in my face. I actually have started calling them 'conditional magpies'.
Is anyone else finding this? Does anyone have any tips about what to do when they've actually taken your money? Is this the sort of thing trading standards can help with? 

George_Michael

KtM95 said:

Recently, I have been finding more and more companies have given me unexpected charges...
For instance, Fabletics charged me for their VIP membership after I didn't notice a pre-ticked box. 

Providing that you were dealing with the UK arm of the company then what you should do about that is to contact Fabletics and point out to them that taking the payment for the VIP membership is illegal and you wish for it to be refunded.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/part/4/made

Additional payments under a contract

40.—(1) Under a contract between a trader and a consumer, no payment is payable in addition to the remuneration agreed for the trader’s main obligation unless, before the consumer became bound by the contract, the trader obtained the consumer’s express consent.

(2) There is no express consent (if there would otherwise be) for the purposes of this paragraph if consent is inferred from the consumer not changing a default option (such as a pre-ticked box on a website).

KtM95

That is super helpful to know. As much as I realise I should be vigilant of that kind of thing, its so helpful to know that it genuinely wasn't my fault for not noticing it. Thank you 😀

Fosterdog

On the fabletics one they really can't make it any more obvious, it's not just a pre ticked box but clearly marked on every single page on the site. I've never used them but have browsed a few times and there is no way you can even get onto their site without knowing that you either pay a one off higher price or join their paid VIP membership to get things cheaper. I just went on there and clicked to add an item to my basket and this screen pops up. This isn't a pre ticked box but an active choice you made at purchase.

George_Michael

Fosterdog said:

On the fabletics one they really can't make it any more obvious, it's not just a pre ticked box but clearly marked on every single page on the site. 

You're right.
My response was based on:

KtM95 said:

Fabletics charged me for their VIP membership after I didn't notice a pre-ticked box. 

something that doesn't appear to be the case.

Fosterdog

George_Michael said:

Fosterdog said:

On the fabletics one they really can't make it any more obvious, it's not just a pre ticked box but clearly marked on every single page on the site. 

You're right.
My response was based on

Your advice was 100% correct if OP had been truthful about the scenario. Fabletics has come up here several times when people have done the same as OP, seen a bargain and paid no attention to what they are agreeing to even with it being obvious.

I've never used a dating site but based on the fabletics one I'd also give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were also OP not paying attention rather than the companies being in the wrong.

Teapot55

@KtM95 I was wondering if you did the transactions in each case using your phone & that’s why it was less easy to see stuff that would have been more obvious on a larger screen?

(Not a criticism btw - I often use my phone - and find I have to do more ‘scrolling down’ to check stuff).

KtM95

Fosterdog said:

George_Michael said:

Fosterdog said:

On the fabletics one they really can't make it any more obvious, it's not just a pre ticked box but clearly marked on every single page on the site. 

You're right.
My response was based on

Your advice was 100% correct if OP had been truthful about the scenario. Fabletics has come up here several times when people have done the same as OP, seen a bargain and paid no attention to what they are agreeing to even with it being obvious.

As you can see in my screenshot here, there is a pre-ticked box on the page where you add the item to the bag so was not being dishonest about the scenario. 
I already said I needed to be more vigilant in my original post, I know I overlooked it - and clearly others have too. I'm just sick of how easy a mistake it is to make. 

DoaM

So the earlier comment was correct about you using a phone/mobile device. Many websites are presented differently depending on the device used to access them - in this case the pre-checked option assumption was valid for the mobile presentation.

KatrinaWaves

I disagree this falls into the ‘pre ticked box’ scenario. This is clearly an option on the sales page, same as selecting a size or colour. It’s not a sneaky ‘yes I’d like to sign up to auto billing’ tick box in the middle of a checkout. It’s incredibly clear and gives you lots of info about how you get the saving. 

DoaM

It's still pre-checked - they could easily have pre-checked the other button but that's obviously not in their favour to do so. What they should have done was pre-checked neither of them, meaning the consumer would have to actively select an option in order to proceed.