eHarmony - want to take £65 off me for cancelling

jon81uk

0SP0 said:

jon81uk said:

No pricing is shown without registering, but everything on their website suggests you need to actively click buy or upgrade to premium, if you don't select premium and use the basic service it should be free.

Did you choose a premium membership?

I was very confused at the end of paying I had to choose between 2 options, about premium, I didn't understand and thought I could change later if I clicked the wrong option, but I opted for premium not knowing about this extra £65 if I cancelled. As there seems to be a good few complaints about this online, is there no body governing this kind of thing online?

How much did you expect to pay then?

MalMonroe

Hi,

It appears that eHarmony is ripping people off left, right and centre, gaining a terrible reputation in the process. (But why should they care when they're raking it in?)

See this article from the Guardian dated January last year - it's over a year old but the circumstances appear to be the same as yours and that of @0SP0.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/jan/12/i-was-charged-65-by-dating-service-eharmony-after-i-broke-up-with-it

It says that eHarmony agreed to waive the £65 as a “goodwill gesture” when the customer said they’d contacted the media.

As you will see, it also says that eHarmony 'appear to be in breach of the Consumer Rights Act, which requires key terms and conditions to be explained and accepted before a contract is agreed.'

And at the end of the article it says - "Don’t be beguiled by seductive websites until you’ve checked out the reviews. You should, of course, study the small print, but that wouldn’t have been of much help to MR, who should consider reporting her experience to trading standards." (MR being the person who wrote in to complain).

To report to trading standards, you have to do it via Citizens Advice but it seems that it'd be worth it. 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

Maybe you could consider reporting your experience to trading standards? And telling eHarmony that's what you intend to do, especially because when people write to the Guardian, that £65 is waived as a 'goodwill gesture'.

As well as commenting on Facebook and Twitter, perhaps? Talk about a company getting money for old rope, they really should be ashamed.

I hope things work out well for you, these are just my own opinions and thoughts, of course - but it wouldn't hurt to let eHarmony know that you are not going to just take what they say and let them take your money when they've not provided anything for it.

born_again

Bottom of front page

https://www.eharmony.co.uk/termsandconditions/

Makes mention to 3.3  “Membership / Prices and Services” Which I guess is after you have signed up. As there is nothing in the T/C re this.

elsien

Although for the person paying by PayPal, I’m pretty sure it shows the fee before you press the final confirmation button?

cloudyz

It might have said £xx per month, but you have to look as a lot of subscription services will give you a monthly price but you have to pay for a year.

0SP0

elsien said:

Although for the person paying by PayPal, I’m pretty sure it shows the fee before you press the final confirmation button?

Nope, this was exactly what i was waiting for so I kept pressing continue, and then it just went through and I had to check my email to see exactly what I'd been charged

0SP0

jon81uk said:

0SP0 said:

jon81uk said:

No pricing is shown without registering, but everything on their website suggests you need to actively click buy or upgrade to premium, if you don't select premium and use the basic service it should be free.

Did you choose a premium membership?

I was very confused at the end of paying I had to choose between 2 options, about premium, I didn't understand and thought I could change later if I clicked the wrong option, but I opted for premium not knowing about this extra £65 if I cancelled. As there seems to be a good few complaints about this online, is there no body governing this kind of thing online?

How much did you expect to pay then?

Not £180! I was guestimating around £30 and they did take an initial amount of £28 out (which I believed was for a quarter/3 month membership), and then read I was expected me to make 3 more payments of £50 which I cancelled as I didn't have any knowledge that it would be that expensive, I would never have signed up for that kind of money. Now I have them demanding I pay £65 for 20 mins use of their site and their personality thing.

eskbanker

frugal_sharkey said:

Where can I take this? Now that they've taken my first payment, could I go to my bank and have them block any future charges?

Yes, see earlier post about this on page one....

frugal_sharkey

eskbanker said:

frugal_sharkey said:

Where can I take this? Now that they've taken my first payment, could I go to my bank and have them block any future charges?

Yes, see earlier post about this on page one....

Thanks, of course I did see that first time around.

The thing is if I do this will it cause any grief for me from eHarmony? Will they take action against me? I don't feel they have any right considering I asked numerous times for them to cancel my account and they have just ignored me e-mails completely!

eskbanker

frugal_sharkey said:

eskbanker said:

frugal_sharkey said:

Where can I take this? Now that they've taken my first payment, could I go to my bank and have them block any future charges?

Yes, see earlier post about this on page one....

Thanks, of course I did see that first time around.

The thing is if I do this will it cause any grief for me from eHarmony? Will they take action against me? I don't feel they have any right considering I asked numerous times for them to cancel my account and they have just ignored me e-mails completely!

As always pointed out on here, cancelling a recurring payment authority or direct debit with a bank doesn't cancel the underlying contract, so doesn't resolve any dispute with the retailer, who may then choose to pursue the customer for any money owing.

However, in this situation, where you have made several documented attempts to exercise your right to cancel within a cooling-off period, if the merchant attempted to pursue the matter it would be highly unlikely to succeed in court, so preventing further payments in this situation seems very sensible....