Trouble getting rid of a subscription service

dstar86

Hi,

I subscribed to an online PT membership back in December, for what I thought was an introductory month however when they took another payment in January I raised it with my bank and got the money back whilst they investigated it. I had cancelled the service within the timescales so I don't know why they still took the money the following month.

Since then I have had numerous attempts from them to take the following months subscription service, to the point now it is bordering on harassment. My bank has obviously stopped them for gaining access to my account but I thought to be on the safe side I would just cancel my bank card as well to stop future attempts. However today I received another email from them trying my account and they listed the last 4 digits of what I assume is my new bank card (I haven't even received this yet!).

My question is how do I get them to stop? I'm fearful that after the 3 months is up on my bank account, they'll try again and be successful and I'm going to have to go through this whole process yet again. They surely have no right to continually keep trying my bank account, as other subscription services simply say I need to update my card before they can reinstate my account which is fair enough. I'm getting really stressed out with the whole thing as almost every day I'm getting emails from them. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6657627/trouble-getting-rid-of-a-subscription-service

What is PT membership?

1st off have you been back in touch with the company to advise them that you have cancelled?

Who is the company & are you sure that it is not something like a 12 month subscription?

Company have used Visa/Mastercard update system to get your card details.. So pointless stopping card.

t's not harassment, they feel they have the right to the funds.

la531983

The nuclear option would be to close the associated bank account? But they may then try other means.

dstar86

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81906018#Comment_81906018

Sorry, it's Personal Trainer.

I did say to them I wanted to cancel, and I thought I had removed my payment details from their website. I have this evidence as well should my bank require it for their investigation. It was sold as a month trial, and 6-months if you wanted to continue it, which I didn't.

Their own website states that "failure to make a payment may result in the termination of your coaching service" so I also assumed that if they couldn't take the payment this would terminate the service, but it appears not. As I said other subscriptions I have simply ask for a new card and don't try to take payments off me which they have done literally every day this past month.

eskbanker

I did say to them I wanted to cancel

Does that imply that this was solely verbal, or was it in writing? Either way round, was it compliant with the cancellation policy in the Ts & Cs, and did you get any written confirmation back?

PRAISETHESUN

Removing your payment option doesn't doesn't remove any obligation to pay a bill that you've agreed to pay - that will be dictated by any agreement you signed up to. It's wise to never assume that you know how things work without reading the fine print.

Putting aside that issue for a moment however, if you contact your bank and instruct them to cancel the CPA you've set up then they are obliged to act. Raise a formal complaint if payments keep getting taken after you instructed them to stop them. It also sounds like you might need to ask them to dig a bit deeper and also cancel the Visa/Mastercard automatic updates that are passing along your new card details to the merchant.

dstar86

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81906084#Comment_81906084

I sent them an email asking to cancel. I received an email back trying to get me to stay but I then said I didn't want to continue it and didn't get a response. The T&Cs stated as well that within the first 90 days you could contact them to request cancellation which is what I did.

I think my main worry is if this will adversely affect my credit rating. I'm re-mortgaging this year and have a really good credit rating, I don't want this to affect it.

la531983

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81906098#Comment_81906098

The only way it would affect that is if they issued you with a small claims court claim, you either fail to defend it or they win (unlikely given what you have typed above, we will assume its correct), and then you fail to pay any CCJ within 30 days of the judgement.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81906098#Comment_81906098

From OP

I subscribed to an online PT membership back in December, for what I thought was an introductory month however when they took another payment in January I

How does a 1 month free trial turn into a 90 day cancelation period?

Then would tend to say it was a longer period of contract.

Link to site?