Cancelled Subscription - Still Charged

sh856531

Hi there

I purchased a training subscription last year with an "optional" extra attached to the subscription. Its a bit squirrelly but essentially I went and cancelled the main subscription - but the provider have been a bit cheeky in my view and not cancelled the optional extra element. They then charged my card £250 out of the blue even though I was of the view that I thought I had cancelled everything and that was my intention. 

I honestly can't tell if they did some devious UI trickery or whether I just legitimately missed needing to cancel two subscriptions somewhere.

I have explained the situation to them but they are just ignoring my emails. This is a US company that has notoriously poor Customer Service.

My question is - can my bank (First Direct) do anything to assist in these circumstances?

They apparently have a team I can call but I don't really want to sit in a queue for an hour if its essentially a fait accompli at this point :-/

Thanks

born_again

Ring them.
Put phone on one side while old music is on.
Or best bet ring up when they open @ a guess 08:00. Should get straight through then.

boingy

Definitely ring First Direct - it's rare that they have a very long queue.

Is the "optional extra" any use to anyone if they don't have the main subscription? In other words, would it be legitimate for someone to just be subscribing to that part? 

PRAISETHESUN

Call FD and say the transaction is unauthorised and you want it refunded. The charge back might get disputed down the line by the company concerned, but that would then force them to at least acknowledge your complaint.

nyermen

boingy said:

Is the "optional extra" any use to anyone if they don't have the main subscription? In other words, would it be legitimate for someone to just be subscribing to that part? 

I think this bit will make a big difference if its gets to a dispute.  US law or whatever, there has to be a contract formed and if you're not getting anything...?

sh856531

Is the "optional extra" any use to anyone if they don't have the main subscription?

It is useful to some people for sure. But when I purchased it the whole invoice related to the "main" subscription. The invoice even talks about cancelling the "subscription" singular rather than plural. So when I cancelled the main subscription it wasn't obvious to me that I was doing anything other than cancelling the whole thing. 

There is a fair bit of noise on various forums with them doing similar shady things and then just repeating the mantra of "all subscriptions are final - its in our terms and conditions" rather than doing what a decent company would do and just treating people fairly

Exodi

I'd at least have an attempt trying to call them, at least to show you'd exhausted all avenues should you need to take it further in any way.

sh856531 said:
just repeating the mantra of "all subscriptions are final - its in our terms and conditions" rather than doing what a decent company would do and just treating people fairly

Sorry but this is a niggle of mine since this view gets expressed quite often when people are trying to cancel services - surely you can appreciate that there is little motivation for a business to pull out all the stops for a customer who is actively trying to end their business with them.

eskbanker

PRAISETHESUN said:

Call FD and say the transaction is unauthorised and you want it refunded. The charge back might get disputed down the line by the company concerned, but that would then force them to at least acknowledge your complaint.

But the transaction was authorised, so that approach is unlikely to succeed!

M25

Phone your bank and get your story water tight (don't mention anything other than what you are intending to say) and say it's "unauthorised". They will likely reverse but that company may try to take the money again or chase you via a debt collection company.

Sounds like a scam or relying on people's laziness/ignorance to me anyway.

Be careful in future.

born_again

Wonder if Op has got through yet?

Would be nice to know how they go on 👍