Conned by a Car Check

FumingMama25

Whilst looking to purchase a used car, I downloaded a report on it. The site charged £5.95 which seemed reasonable for peace of mind.
3 days later they took £39.90 as a ‘subscription’. I complained that I hadn’t signed up to anything and wanted a refund.
They have refused on the grounds it’s clearly stated on their website & I agreed to it. They also mention three levels of offer in the reports which aren’t mentioned on any of the pages I saw.
I don’t even know where I can complain to but I dispute in the strongest way I can that this charge is ‘clearly stated’
The site I used was car-checking.com

anybody else experience similar and have any success with a refund?? Or do I just accept a painful defeat….

DullGreyGuy

Have you gone back through the process since (whilst not logged in) and actually read what you clicked to agree to? Does it say you are doing a £5.95 trial and then going onto a £39.90 subscription?

born_again

Not sure how much clearer they can make it🤷‍♀️

https://car-checking.com/

8th line down on main start page.
Get a full access to your Car History for £39,90/month

Section where it lists the various costing options & what you get for each.
£5.95 clearly lists £39.90 subscription after 48 hours as one of these (2nd from bottom)

So unless co are prepared to refund. Then there is no other way to get the money back.

FlorayG

I think that's what you might call a 'legal con'. 
You didn't read the t&c so you signed up for something you didn't intend to. I'm sure that website catches lots of people with that offer but they aren't 'conning' you, they say what the rules are and hope you don't read them

DjangoUnchained

I was once caught out by something similar a few years ago. Technically i was wrong as the details were buried in not very clear terms and conditions. I reported it to my bank and i dont know what they did but they got me refunded. Try your banks?

born_again

DjangoUnchained said:

I was once caught out by something similar a few years ago. Technically i was wrong as the details were buried in not very clear terms and conditions. I reported it to my bank and i dont know what they did but they got me refunded. Try your banks?

As Op had not cancelled there is no chargeback right.
TBH @ £39.90 you have a catch a rep on a good day for them to write it off, as good will.

visidigi

Yeah there is no way they could have made this any clearer really...as soon as you click the download link this page loads:

nkyo212

I paid £5.95 on Revolut and noticed they tried to take payment of £39.90 3days later .Luckily I hadn’t topped up card and have now blocked future payments .
It all seems underhand 

DeathByFluffy

nkyo212 said:

I paid £5.95 on Revolut and noticed they tried to take payment of £39.90 3days later .Luckily I hadn’t topped up card and have now blocked future payments .
It all seems underhand 

It really doesn't - I've just looked at the site and it's clear as day that it's a subscription service. It even uses the word 'subscription' in the product name! 

TELLIT01

In the OP's defence.  I'm viewing the site on a 24" monitor and much of it is so small it's extremely difficult to read.

Presumably legal, as the detail is in the small print - literally on that site.

DullGreyGuy

TELLIT01 said:

In the OP's defence.  I'm viewing the site on a 24" monitor and much of it is so small it's extremely difficult to read.

Presumably legal, as the detail is in the small print - literally on that site.

On a 16" monitor its fine?

The text is set to present at 80% of your standard font size, mines set to 12pt so it displays at 10pt. Suggest you want to look at your settings if 80% is too hard to read. There is also a 25x25 image of a tick in a circle against the Subscription line (as well as it being called a subscription in the product name) which again should be perfectly visible.