Family History Website Auto Renewal. Is there a cooling off period

brightondave

My last payment to My Heritage was £78 in Jan 2023
My wife had a major brain bleed in Feb 2023. I have had to give up work to look after her 24/7 i've organised everything from attendance allowance to a blue badge etc etc, just about keeping our heads above the water.
Tonight at 8.15pm there was a year advance renewal of £229 that came out of my bank account for charges to use their site from now until the same time in 2024. I cannot afford this given the circumstances that we have at the moment. I have messaged them half an hour later after spotting the transaction going out of my account explaining my situation, yet to reply to me.
Question with this advance billing for the whole year that only happened a couple of hours ago, would there be any legal cooling off period for this forgotten auto renewal?   Any help on this appreciated.
Happy New Year to all.

MorningcoffeeIV

Not for a renewal, unless allowed for in their terms.

brightondave

Ouch   Really?

GrumpyDil

No cooling off period but you have nothing to lose by contacting them tomorrow to ask if there is a possibility of a refund. 

RefluentBeans

Oh no OP - I don’t think there’s an automatic right to cancel for free. But I think you should be able to cancel and get at least some money back (they may charge a cancellation fee). Hopefully they’ll do the right thing and just refund. 

Out of interest - did they notify you before (via an email or something) if they were going to take the money? I don’t think it really matters here but just curious. I do think the automatic renewals/subscriptions need tighter regulation and even mandatory notification of upcoming is a step in the right direction. So many of these businesses seem to use the model of ‘hoping the consumer forgets and bill high’ - which seems just plain wrong. 

user1977

You're not deemed to need any "cooling off" if you're an existing customer.

Though if your last payment was in January, have they taken the money in advance of the actual renewal date?

Aylesbury_Duck

As above, unless their terms give a cooling off period there is no legal entitlement to one for a renewal.  In your circumstances I would definitely try speaking to an actual person, on the phone or web chat.  The right approach might get some goodwill.  

TELLIT01

If the payment has been taken in advance of the due date you may be able to cancel and be refunded.  You need to contact them without delay.  Try to find a phone number as there is no way to know if an email has been actioned.

sevenhills

Just email them about your circumstances. They don't want unhappy customers, so they may refund.

sheramber

3. Refund Policy

MyHeritage values the satisfaction of its customers and offers a thirty (30) day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with your purchased plan you may request a full refund by contacting Customer Support within thirty (30) days of being charged.
The money back guarantee applies to MyHeritage subscriptions (Premium, PremiumPlus, Data or Complete), and not to shipped products such as MyHeritage DNA kits.
All refunds will be reimbursed to the original credit card with which the purchase was made. Note that after a refund is made, it may take a few business days until the funds appear in your account.

https://www.myheritage.com/terms-and-conditions

Pollycat

sheramber said:

3. Refund Policy

MyHeritage values the satisfaction of its customers and offers a thirty (30) day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with your purchased plan you may request a full refund by contacting Customer Support within thirty (30) days of being charged.
The money back guarantee applies to MyHeritage subscriptions (Premium, PremiumPlus, Data or Complete), and not to shipped products such as MyHeritage DNA kits.
All refunds will be reimbursed to the original credit card with which the purchase was made. Note that after a refund is made, it may take a few business days until the funds appear in your account.

https://www.myheritage.com/terms-and-conditions

Do you think that also applies to auto-renewals?
Or just new sign-ups?

The OP will lose nothing by asking the company for a goodwill gesture.