Online purchase of digital content

HarryJoe

I needed to convert a pdf document into a word document so I used an online company and paid £1.
There was advice that stated I had a 7 day free trial and if I didn't cancel then I would be charged after the 7 days.
Exactly 7 days after I "signed up" they debited my card with the amount.

Am I covered under the 14 day distance selling cooling off period?

Thanks.

eskbanker

HarryJoe said:

I needed to convert a pdf document into a word document so I used an online company and paid £1.
There was advice that stated I had a 7 day free trial and if I didn't cancel then I would be charged after the 7 days.
Exactly 7 days after I "signed up" they debited my card with the amount.

Am I covered under the 14 day distance selling cooling off period?

Thanks.

Within which legal jurisdiction does the company operate?

user1977

And what are you hoping the effect of cancellation would be? Cooling off doesn't necessarily mean you get the services you've already used for free.

TELLIT01

'Exactly 7 days'  but how exact?  If you signed up at 8am and cancelled at 1 minute past 8 7 days later, that could be classed by the supplier asover 7 days.

km1500

for future reference there are many sites that will do this for free

born_again

In a word no, as you used the service.

I guess you forgot to cancel?

You can create PDF from word 👍

eskbanker

born_again said:

You can create PDF from word 👍

But that isn't much consolation to OP, who wanted to create a Word document from a PDF!

Having said that, it is possible to open a PDF in Word, but the format conversion is unlikely to be visually appealing for anything other than simple documents:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/opening-pdfs-in-word-1d1d2acc-afa0-46ef-891d-b76bcd83d9c8

born_again

OPPS.
Most people want to do it the other way.

HarryJoe

USER1977 - I paid £1 to convert one document and have not used it since so I got what I paid for.  I'm hoping that the 14 day cooling off rule for distance selling will apply and I will be refunded the first month's subscription.

TELLITO1 - Exactly 7 days - confirmation of the original transaction was received on 29/3/24 at 15.48 US time as they are based in Oregon which was 11.48pm here in the UK.  They debited my account with the first month's subscription on 4 April 2024 and the funds cleared on 5 April 2024.

eskbanker - Governing Law - These conditions are governed by and interpreted following the laws of United States, and the use of the United Nations Convention of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is expressly excluded. If your habitual residence is in the US, and you are a consumer, you additionally possess the protection provided to you by obligatory provisions of the law of your country of residence. Softflakes, Inc and yourself both agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Delaware, which means that you may make a claim to defend your consumer protection rights in regards to these Conditions of Use in United States, or in the US country in which you reside.

So as per my original question does the 14 day cooling off rule apply?

Aylesbury_Duck

That would depend upon whether there is the same 14 day cooling off period under US consumer law.

Alderbank

Aylesbury_Duck said:

That would depend upon whether there is the same 14 day cooling off period under US consumer law.

There isn't a federal consumer law in the US, each state has their own version.

The OP's quote above says non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Delaware. This means the claimant can choose between Delamere and his own home state if he is resident in a different state (similar to the rules about small claims in England&Wales or Scotland in the UK).
Non-US litigants would have to bring a claim in the state of Delaware.

The Delamere State Code does not seem to say anything about a 14 day cooling off period.
https://delcode.delaware.gov/title6/c027/sc04/index.html