Easyspace - how to dispute an unauthorised auto-renewal with your card issuer

NFH

Olinda99 said:

well obviously I don't understand contract law because to me you entered into a contract with certain terms and conditions one of which was the auto renew (which seems prominently displayed with an option to turn it off on control panel). 

all contracts have terms and conditions and to say that some don't apply because they involve extra payments sems strange to me

It is incorrect to believe that agreeing to terms and conditions means that they always apply or are binding. For example, Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 causes an unfair contract term to be not binding on the consumer. The legislation that I quoted above similarly causes contractual terms for additional services to be not binding, specifically regarding the payment.

Olinda99 said:

as you know lots of things sold with auto renew including car insurance, house insurance, mobile phone air time etc are all these contracts enforceable?

There's a difference between a service to transfer a domain name and a service to extend the validity of a domain name. Buying insurance from one year to the next is the same service each year, because the renewal is the same service as the original purchase.

Olinda99 said:

the legislation you refer to seems to say they can't take extra money unless you've expressly agree to it which is what you did when you took out the contract initially?

No, I did not expressly agree to the additional service of a renewal one year later, particularly not at a price that was never agreed or even notified.

saajan_12

Olinda99 said:

all contracts have terms and conditions and to say that some don't apply because they involve extra payments sems strange to me 

as you know lots of things sold with auto renew including car insurance, house insurance, mobile phone air time etc are all these contracts enforceable?

the legislation you refer to seems to say they can't take extra money unless you've expressly agree to it which is what you did when you took out the contract initially?

Well if it was a rental contract and the T&C said £10000.0 a month when the going rate and what you've been discussing is £1000, would the LL be able to enforce getting 10k a month? 
--> No, it would probably be seen as an obvious typo and that the meeting of the minds was £1000.00

What if the T&C said if you terminate then they get your first born puppy to stop them missing you? 

Contract terms can indeed be unenforceable. 

NFH

There is a further issue with the way that Easyspace conducts business.

Regulation 6(4)(d) of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 requires any invitation to purchase to include "the price, including any taxes".

Likewise Articles 1 and 4 of the Price Marking Order 2004 defines "selling price" as "the final price for a unit of a product, or a given quantity of a product, including VAT and all other taxes", and requires that "where a trader indicates that any product is or may be for sale to a consumer, he shall indicate the selling price of that product in accordance with the provisions of this Order".

As a result of this legislation and similar legislation in most of the world, consumers (except in North America) are accustomed to seeing prices that include VAT or sales taxes. Nearly all other UK businesses comply with the above legislation by including VAT within their prices, but Easyspace fails to do so. Instead Easyspace's invitations to purchase show prices of its services excluding VAT with a message on very faint grey text "Not including VAT @ 20%", and Easyspace misleadingly adds VAT only at the end of the purchase process. This is a misleading indication of price.

DullGreyGuy

Selling domains isn't aimed at consumers, 99.9% of buyers are businesses and it is perfectly allowable for business services to be advertised as price+vat. You'll note that most other domain sellers are the same, 123-reg simply advertises a .co.uk domain for 79p with a * next to it... if you scroll a way down the page you'll see the * means its 1st year only and exc of VAT

NFH

DullGreyGuy said:

Selling domains isn't aimed at consumers, 99.9% of buyers are businesses and it is perfectly allowable for business services to be advertised as price+vat.

This is nonsense. Please read the wording of the legislation that I quoted above, specifically the part "where a trader indicates that any product is or may be for sale to a consumer". Easyspace asks the user to select whether the services are being purchased for business or personal use, so Easyspace's services most definitely "may be for sale to a consumer" and consequently the requirement to indicate a selling price including VAT applies.
Why are you trying to defend Easyspace, particularly with bogus reasoning?