Go Outdoors - Annual Membership enducement

thevivster

Beware people! I have just bought a coat online at gooutdoors.co.uk. There was a full price, and a reduced price for "members". The membership was only £5. So I added it to my order - it was saving me more than the cost of it.

2 hours later I received an email notifying me they had cancelled part of my order, and were processing a refund for it - I checked the detail and they had cancelled the coat, and were processing the refund for that. But the membership fee was not cancelled or being refunded.

Clearly I was buying the membership to use it on this purchase which was permitted (and accepted by their system during the purchase process). But they then failed to fulfil the contract - no reason given which is poor.

They should not refuse to refund the membership - I have the right to cancel it (the so called cooling off period) - because I have not benefitted from the membership and am unable to do so as I wanted. I have of course complained, and I am sure PayPal will sort it out if needs be. But just beware!

Flugelhorn

that is pretty bad! I was in one of their shops the other and noticed that there was a significant discount with the "card" - clearly they are very keen to have all the marketing info etc etc

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6657515/go-outdoors-annual-membership-enducement

Contact them & cancel.

It could be they do not cancel it automatically, due to people then going iin store to by the item.

Okell

Have you actually asked to cancel the membership? Have they refused?

eskbanker

Clearly I was buying the membership to use it on this purchase

I'm sure many would buy memberships specifically to benefit from discounts but it's not a given that you'd only want to make the one purchase, so it seems valid not to cancel the membership automatically.

elsien

The clue is in the name “annual” membership,

Alderbank

'Clearly I was buying the membership to use it on this purchase…'

That's not at all clear to me. It would only be 'clear' if the sole benefit of membership was to be able to buy that specific coat at a discount. But their T&Cs say 'When you purchase your Membership, you will get access to the Member's price as well as exclusive offers and special promotions.'

You say 'The membership was only £5. So I added it to my order…' but that's not how it works. They would have charged you the full price. To get the discount you must have first signed in then logged on to your membership account, then you can choose goods which are now showing the discounted price.

The T&Cs say

2.10 If you purchase your Membership online or via telephone, you have the right to cancel it without giving any reason within 14 days of the date you signed up to the Membership (“Cancellation Period”). You will be responsible for the cost of returning the Membership Card to us, if we request it. However, you should note that you will lose this cancellation right if you use the Membership at any time during the Cancellation Period.2.11 To cancel your Membership under paragraph 2.10, please contact our Customer Care team here with a clear statement of cancellation.

You say that coat was one of several items in that order and you imply that the rest of the order was supplied OK, so their software seems to have reasonably assumed that you have used the card during the cancellation period. This term is legal and is quite usual.

I can understand that they don't want people signing up for a particular benefit then cancelling immediately to get their fiver back. However I think your case is a little different.

Phone the Customer Care Team tomorrow and see what they say. I think they will refund your fiver.

If they don't, tell them you are cancelling the contract of sale as you have a right to do under section 29 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Because that contract no longer exists you have not used your membership during the cancellation period and require a full refund of the entire cost of your order within 14 days plus the refund of your membership fiver.

See if they change their mind.

Note: if you do have to cancel the contract you must return the other goods you bought, unopened and unused, at your expense. Might be more MSE to simply keep the membership and benefit from it during the rest of 2026.

eskbanker

You say that coat was one of several items in that order and you imply that the rest of the order was supplied OK

[…]

Note: if you do have to cancel the contract you must return the other goods you bought, unopened and unused, at your expense

The way I read it, the order had two items, namely the coat and the membership, but OP can of course clarify.

Alderbank

You might be right but could you be a bit more specific about how you are reading their T&Cs?

My reading is that Joe Public can only pay the standard prices (although each item has a teaser about how much lower the price would be if you were a member!)

To get those discounted prices you must first sign up for membership. Then, when you next log in as a member, you see and can avail yourself of the discounted prices.

In other words, to get all those 'mega discounts and rewards' you must already be a member.

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/pages/go-outdoors-membership

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81905231#Comment_81905231

I'm not seeing anything that explicitly states that a membership must have been purchased separately in an earlier transaction in order to be able to obtain discounted prices in later ones, so don't see any reason to disbelieve that an order containing both a membership purchase and discounted goods was processed, but are you looking at other clauses within the Ts & Cs beyond those you quoted?

elsien

You just sign up to the membership at the same time as you buy whatever is you’re buying to get the discount. That is how it’s always worked for me.