The Athletic Subscriptions

Maley79

I signed up to a weekly trial through my apple phone back in October 2022 to The Athletic and cancelled this through my phone.

However, my subscription was not cancelled by The Athletic and I was charged for an annual subscription for 22-23 at a cost of £41.99.
Further to this, I have now been charged at further £59.99 for a renewal of the subscription on the 22nd October 2023. 

I have never accessed any of the Athletic portal since cancelling the trial on my phone back in October.

I have asked for a refund of the amounts charged against my account for the renewals that I was unaware of. However, The Athletic have indicated that I am not entitled to a refund.

Given that we are in a cost of living crisis, I think it is deplorable that pre-payment annual subscriptions are being used without forewarning of a subscription to the customer.

My question is do I have any consumer rights to request a refund on the payments. My Bank has said to contact the company but Athletic simply offer an automated response through E-Mail.

regards  

DullGreyGuy

Was this on a website or an app?

UK law doesn't require renewal notices to be sent other than for certain regulated industries. Similarly renewals aren't covered by cooling off periods because you've had chance to test the service on the original subscription. You are therefore down to goodwill of the company. 

It seems that they are based in the US and so any rights are likely to be based in their state of incorporation and US protections are generally a lot less than the UK

Brie

Someone in our house signed up for a subscription from the US without realising the location and that there would be FX fees added to the amount being paid.  When I spotted this I told the company to cancel it from the next renewal date.  I also informed my bank that the continuous payment authority (CPA) had been cancelled with the company and that they should not allow any further payments to be taken. 

Fast forward several months and another payment appeared on the account - I reminded the bank that they had acknowledged my previous instructions and needed to retrieve this money including the FX fee.  Grumble grumble - but they did it.  12 months later - same again.  It stopped being taken in year 4.

Presumably this is the second year they have taken a charge after being told you have cancelled?

sheramber

Do you have any confirmation of the cancellation?

Aylesbury_Duck

If you have confirmation of the cancellation, then you should be able to take some sort of action.  Did you not try and cancel again after the first payment was taken?

Cost of living crisis is irrelevant.  They're a business, and as long as they're abiding by the contractual terms, they owe you nothing other than any payments taken in error.  If being reminded of a subscription renewal is important to you, you need to ensure that businesses you use have that as an option.