Jack's Flight Club hidden subscription scam?

Smerky

Hi,
I signed up with Jack's flight club premium back in January to try them out and although they were surprisingly vague with the offers they sent (they only suggest you search yourself for a period), I decided not to ask for a refund in my first 30 days as I wanted to support a small business.

Anyway, jump to today, nearly 11 months on I see a bill on my card (they've now billed me four times unknowingly!). I've not received any renewal notification, there is NO wording, let alone clear wording on the signup page and the only mention of a subscription is on a page linked on the footer regarding refunds. They don't even show you any t&cs before you've already subscribed.

I haven't opened one of their emails since January and the country was not allowed advised travel for more than 50% of the last 11 months. 
Just wanted to:
a) get some advice around getting my money back
b) warn others
Since Moneysavingexpert suggested Jack's to me in first place thought maybe here's a good place to get some advice.

Voyager2002

Whatever this is, it is not a scam. You could not possibly have believed that the premium subscription was a free service, so it should not be surprising that they are asking you to pay for it.

Westin

Come now, you have made a mistake. Let’s not seek to blame others.  

Glad you have picked up the  subscription charges and cancelled them now. I don’t see an opportunity to try to recover payments made if you signed up and agree to pay them after any promotional free period ended.

Fair point on a warning for others to also check for continuous payment authorities on subscriptions. Other than that I think you have to slip those big boy trousers on again and accept that you should have been more careful when signing up to subscription services and to keep a better check on your bank statements and financial records.

Smerky

Voyager2002 said:

Whatever this is, it is not a scam. You could not possibly have believed that the premium subscription was a free service, so it should not be surprising that they are asking you to pay for it.

There wasn't a free period I agreed and was happy to pay for the first quarter.

Smerky

Westin said:

Come now, you have made a mistake. Let’s not seek to blame others.  

Glad you have picked up the  subscription charges and cancelled them now. I don’t see an opportunity to try to recover payments made if you signed up and agree to pay them after any promotional free period ended.

Fair point on a warning for others to also check for continuous payment authorities on subscriptions. Other than that I think you have to slip those big boy trousers on again and accept that you should have been more careful when signing up to subscription services and to keep a better check on your bank statements and financial records.

It's literally one button to purchase instantly you must enter your card details on a model/same page showing no t&cs. The issue here comes with it being an email subscription service. If you pay for a premium email subscription, is that a subscription to the mailing list or a subscription as in a recurring paid subscription? 
It's not clear. 

NoodleDoodleMan

https://jacksflightclub.com/upgrade

The requirement to pay for the upgrade to Premium appears clear enough here - unless I'm missing something ?

30-Day money-back guarantee

Try out Premium membership for yourself and if for any reason you don’t absolutely love it, simply email us within the first 30-days for a full refund - no questions asked

Rod999

I agree with Smerky. I was pretty sure I only signed up for one month's trial membership and I don't remember it being obvious the subscription would auto-renew but now I've seen that it has I'm not happy. However, putting that aside, when I try to delete my account I get the message "you cannot delete your account while your subscription is still active" Their help page says I can cancel auto-renew under the subscription tab but the only thing available to change there is my credit card details. It has all the appearance of a scam to me, otherwise, why make it so difficult to cancel?

Westin

Not a 'SCAM' Rod999 - you obviously just didn't do as instructed.  "simply email us within the first 30-days for a full refund - no questions asked".   

If you ignored that and took no action then the membership continues.

payee

I found, to my surprise! that I had payments taken a few months ago- on an 'account' with JFC which i thought was dormant.
NO means of contact- no way to discuss account or repayment so I have blocked JFC on my card,
I would not touch this company with a barge pole!

mattyprice4004

On the sign up form it's quite clear it'll be paid annually - it's described as an annual subscription which clearly implies it'll renew. 
In addition, at the bottom of the page: 
'By confirming your subscription, you allow JFC Travel Group Co to charge your card for this payment and future payments in accordance with their terms. You can always cancel your subscription.'

mattyprice4004

payee said:

I found, to my surprise! that I had payments taken a few months ago- on an 'account' with JFC which i thought was dormant.
NO means of contact- no way to discuss account or repayment so I have blocked JFC on my card,
I would not touch this company with a barge pole!

No means of contact? Their email address is plastered all over the site, and there's even a 'live chat' button! 
Are you sure you're looking at the right website?