Eharmony

jlpear10

Hi, I have recently signed up to eharmony dating site but cancelled my subscription within the 14 day cooling off period. In fact I cancelled the same day. The fee for initially signing up was approx £14 so i expected to lose this fee, however they have withdrawn £50 from my account quoting a value compensation fee for the eharmony personality test which is basically a tick list. I have complained to eharmony that this is an excessive fee for being a member of the site for less that 24 hours and they replied saying that they class it as a reasonable amount for the service as stated in the T&C's. I have checked the page they indicated and it doesn't state an amount just a 'reasonable amount for the service'. I can no longer use the site as my membership is cancelled as I requested so the 24 hours on eharmony has cost me £64!!!
I read the T&C's before signing but as it was indicated there is a cooling off period i didn't expect to have this amount charged to me. Any advice? Do I have a case to complain further or should I reluctantly write it off!!! Thanks

Aylesbury_Duck

As I understand it, cooling off periods for services end when you start using the service or after 14 days, whichever is sooner.  Otherwise, people would simply use things like two weeks free insurance, two weeks free subscription,etc in perpetuity and keep switching service provider.   It looks like you used the service so the cooling off period ended at that point.

In your case, you can dispute the value of the service you used in that day because it would have to be reasonable.  Only you can decide how far you want to take it for £50.

Bradden

Initiailly I thought the OP was trying to obtain the maximum discount rate but  only pay for a short period.. I've used other dating sites who charge considerably more for one month compared to 12. I was wrong .. It seems eharmoy only offer 6,12 & 24 month options. Whick makes me wonder why @jlpear10 didn't sign up for 6?

However.. I still think the OP may have an argument perhaps someone more knowedagle could comment on the following.

I cannot find anywhere on thier site the cost for preium membership.

I'd expect it to be here.. https://www.eharmony.co.uk/tour/eharmony-cost/

or maybe hidden in a support page called  WHAT ARE THE EHARMONY MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS? sorry cant link to it.

Is this lawful? I'm thinking it potentially falls foul of Advertising Standards. Whislt not related directly I have used tihis lever in negotiations previously to my advantage. 

Bradden

@jlpear10 when you say you dinlt use the platform.. you presumably completed their personality tests which they consider the service. Did you then proceed to view any matches after this? I think that it could be argued if you backed out before seeing any potential matches.. or swiping on them 😘

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Aylesbury_Duck said:

As I understand it, cooling off periods for services end when you start using the service or after 14 days, whichever is sooner.  Otherwise, people would simply use things like two weeks free insurance, two weeks free subscription,etc in perpetuity and keep switching service provider.   It looks like you used the service so the cooling off period ended at that point.

In your case, you can dispute the value of the service you used in that day because it would have to be reasonable.  Only you can decide how far you want to take it for £50.

Assuming one exists, the cancellation period doesn’t expire early (unless the service is completed) but the consumer would be due to pay for what they had received from the time the service began to the time they cancelled (subject to required info being provided) And I now see your post was 2 years old! 

So someone who cancelled would have to pay for x days which is easy to work out when you have a monthly/yearly subscription fee.

This assumes eharmony are covered by UK or EU regs (haven’t checked so don’t know).

It seems they claim OP (and Beckyuk) has used a second service and is now charging them for it because they cancelled, that doesn’t really sound right to me (as it appears to be a penalty for cancelling assuming the fee wouldn’t be charged if you didn’t cancel) but not sure if it would be legal.

Under UK regs where no price is given for a service the price must be reasonable and what is reasonable is a matter of fact (whatever that happens to mean). 

@beckyuk the amount isn’t worth the headache of small claims, you could have a chat with  your card provider to see if they can help or send a letter before action as a bluff but the strength of that bluff is going to be significantly weakened if the contact was governed by laws outside the UK. 

born_again

Bradden said:

Initiailly I thought the OP was trying to obtain the maximum discount rate but  only pay for a short period.. I've used other dating sites who charge considerably more for one month compared to 12. I was wrong .. It seems eharmoy only offer 6,12 & 24 month options. Whick makes me wonder why @jlpear10 didn't sign up for 6?

However.. I still think the OP may have an argument perhaps someone more knowedagle could comment on the following.

I cannot find anywhere on thier site the cost for preium membership.

I'd expect it to be here.. https://www.eharmony.co.uk/tour/eharmony-cost/

or maybe hidden in a support page called  WHAT ARE THE EHARMONY MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS? sorry cant link to it.

Is this lawful? I'm thinking it potentially falls foul of Advertising Standards. Whislt not related directly I have used tihis lever in negotiations previously to my advantage. 

Where did the Op mention "Premium" service?

Bradden

born_again said:

Bradden said:

Initiailly I thought the OP was trying to obtain the maximum discount rate but  only pay for a short period.. I've used other dating sites who charge considerably more for one month compared to 12. I was wrong .. It seems eharmoy only offer 6,12 & 24 month options. Whick makes me wonder why @jlpear10 didn't sign up for 6?

However.. I still think the OP may have an argument perhaps someone more knowedagle could comment on the following.

I cannot find anywhere on thier site the cost for preium membership.

I'd expect it to be here.. https://www.eharmony.co.uk/tour/eharmony-cost/

or maybe hidden in a support page called  WHAT ARE THE EHARMONY MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS? sorry cant link to it.

Is this lawful? I'm thinking it potentially falls foul of Advertising Standards. Whislt not related directly I have used tihis lever in negotiations previously to my advantage. 

Where did the Op mention "Premium" service?

Sorry it seems I got my wires crossed I was replying to the OP after @beckyuk resurrected the thread.

The premium service is the paid for subscription the OP signed up for. They offer two tiers.. free.. which is essentially useless and the "premium" subscription. I still wonder if not having any pricing available on their website is lawful. 

CharlieMG

Jlpear10 thank you for posting your experience. I only wish I had seen it before signing up. I too have just been duped by the ‘14-day free cooling off period’, which turns out to be no such thing.l, and also been charged over £60 for just over a week’s use. They charge ‘basic members’ for the automatically generated report based on your questionnaire answers, which you have no choice but to complete when you sign up, but they don’t charge their paying members for this. When you cancel during the cooling off period you become a basic member, and this is how they justify the charge. You can’t actually do anything much on the site unless you are a paying member. One week in I was getting very few messages and the matches were unsuitable - many living too far away. It was such a different experience to another website I’d used before. I decided it wasn’t for me and requested to cancel but I’ve been charged this money for basically nothing. If anyone is thinking of signing up with Eharmony, know that even if you cancel within the 14 days you will be parting with over £60. If you stay on longer than the 14 days you will be charged for the full term - either 6 months or 12 months (the latter works out significantly cheaper meaning the new and hopeful are much more likely to sign up for a year).

mr_stripey

CharlieMG said:

Jlpear10 thank you for posting your experience. I only wish I had seen it before signing up. I too have just been duped by the ‘14-day free cooling off period’, which turns out to be no such thing.l, and also been charged over £60 for just over a week’s use. They charge ‘basic members’ for the automatically generated report based on your questionnaire answers, which you have no choice but to complete when you sign up, but they don’t charge their paying members for this. When you cancel during the cooling off period you become a basic member, and this is how they justify the charge. You can’t actually do anything much on the site unless you are a paying member. One week in I was getting very few messages and the matches were unsuitable - many living too far away. It was such a different experience to another website I’d used before. I decided it wasn’t for me and requested to cancel but I’ve been charged this money for basically nothing. If anyone is thinking of signing up with Eharmony, know that even if you cancel within the 14 days you will be parting with over £60. If you stay on longer than the 14 days you will be charged for the full term - either 6 months or 12 months (the latter works out significantly cheaper meaning the new and hopeful are much more likely to sign up for a year).

Thanks for the heads up! Considering the general soul crushing experience that is dating apps, it sounds like I don't need to add this one!
 

CharlieMG

I hear you! I’m glad it was helpful.