If email isn't opened, is notice given

Cantheydothat

As a Tradesperson registered with Rated People for 10+ years, I feel too strongly to not let others know of my recent dealings them.

We were on a plan costing £150+VAT a year.  We only used their service sporadically, purchasing four leads since 2023. 

Recently, Rated People undertook a migration scheme, whereby they moved us to a new plan costing £149+VAT per month. 

Emails were sent regarding this new plan, however, they were not opened by us, and as such we made no contact with Rated People to explain that their new plan is not a viable option for us. 

Rated People’s position is that because we didn’t contact them to cancel, the £715.20 they have taken will not be refunded.

ElefantEd

This isn't a consumer rights issue as you are a business. You need to look at your contract to determine what cancellation rights you have and whether they can put you onto a new contract without your explicit permission (or at least whether there are permitted increases in the charges they can apply without this).

born_again

Just the same if they send a letter out & you did not open it. You had been advised.

Sadly you should have read it. 

Aside there is no consumer rights, as it is a B2B contract.

Aylesbury_Duck

Why did you not open them?  Did you deliberately ignore them?  And if you didn't open them, how do you know what they contained?

Cantheydothat

The email registered is rarely used.  Currently has 12K + unopened emails.  Became aware of the existance of the emails when we contacted them to question the payments leaving our account.

MyRealNameToo

Cantheydothat said:

The email registered is rarely used.  Currently has 12K + unopened emails.  Became aware of the existance of the emails when we contacted them to question the payments leaving our account.

Sounds like a costly mistake and probably more than just this one. Really need to be on top of the company emails. 

Cantheydothat said:

As a Tradesperson registered with Rated People for 10+ years, I feel too strongly to not let others know of my recent dealings them.

We were on a plan costing £150+VAT a year.  We only used their service sporadically, purchasing four leads since 2023. 

Recently, Rated People undertook a migration scheme, whereby they moved us to a new plan costing £149+VAT per month. 

Emails were sent regarding this new plan, however, they were not opened by us, and as such we made no contact with Rated People to explain that their new plan is not a viable option for us. 

Rated People’s position is that because we didn’t contact them to cancel, the £715.20 they have taken will not be refunded.

Ultimately you need to read the terms that you agreed to, generally these sorts of open ended contracts do contain terms that allow the seller to vary the terms of the agreement with sufficient notice and it may trigger additional rights of cancellation if the changes are material. 

They sent you a notification of the change, the fact you didnt bother reading it because you dont often monitor the email address you gave them is your problem not theirs. 

TELLIT01

With the email system I use, I can preview all messages without actually opening them.

user1977

TELLIT01 said:

With the email system I use, I can preview all messages without actually opening them.

Or you can just set your client not to notify the sender when you open an email. There's no legal "gotcha" about a lack of a read receipt.

Undervalued

Cantheydothat said:

The email registered is rarely used.  Currently has 12K + unopened emails.  Became aware of the existance of the emails when we contacted them to question the payments leaving our account.

And how is that their fault? You must have given them that email address so, unless you can show that you contacted them to change to a different address, it is perfectly reasonable for them to continue to use it!

In a civil dispute the normal legal presumption is that if there is proof of sending, a correctly addressed (posted) letter is assumed to be delivered. As far as I know the same principles apply to email. By giving somebody your address, physical or electronic, you are inviting them to communicate with you by that means.

Aylesbury_Duck

Cantheydothat said:

The email registered is rarely used.  Currently has 12K + unopened emails.  Became aware of the existance of the emails when we contacted them to question the payments leaving our account.

Oh dear.  I'm afraid that you registered that email address with the account, so it was your responsibility to monitor it.

What else might be in those twelve thousand emails that are important to your business?

Ergates

Cantheydothat said:

Emails were sent regarding this new plan, however, they were not opened by us, and as such we made no contact with Rated People to explain that their new plan is not a viable option for us. 

Cantheydothat said:

The email registered is rarely used.  Currently has 12K + unopened emails.  Became aware of the existance of the emails when we contacted them to question the payments leaving our account.

To sum up:   Oops.