NOWTV 14 day cooling off period- when is it valid?

Exodi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81947507#Comment_81947507

That's a good step in the right direction.

I remember when we were signed up for HelloFresh… god the cancellation process was exhausting… no reason to need to go through 10 different screens trying to trick you into staying…

Seems I'm not alone… in fact I see there's a wikiHow page dedicated to cancelling a HelloFresh subscription!

https://www.reddit.com/r/hellofresh/comments/12yhwo4/how_do_you_cancel/

I don't remember it being so painful to sign up 🙃

born_again

Totally agree should be as simple as signing up.

My only issue is such as this thread where you sign up for a fixed period & can then cancel in 14 days, despite using the service.

You could see co's saying OK, you have signed up, but service is not available till day 15. Imagine the complaints…

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81947614#Comment_81947614

I kind of agree. The idea of signing up to a 12-month package, viewing the specific event you want in the first couple of days, then cancelling under the 14-day right to cancel makes rather a mockery of things and is wholly unfair against the provider. It is in all our interests, overall, that consumer rights are fairly balanced, otherwise we will all end end up paying more.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81947676#Comment_81947676

Yes, that view aligns with the 'binge and cancel' concerns highlighted by industry reps in the consultation referred to earlier, but it's difficult to get the balance right and there have been similar concerns expressed in other sectors about the lopsided rights inherent in the CCRs, e.g. buying expensive camera lenses and cancelling after (undetectable) use, or purchases of substantial amounts of clothing, knowing that most will be returned at the retailer's expense.

A_Geordie

I didn't have a chance to fully digest the Sky EU opinion by the AG yesterday but now that I have, I think going forward into 2027 we might start to see a divergence between UK/EU law.

The Sky case centred around the fact that the EU implemented new legislation in 2022 (Directive 2019/770) which created a new type of contract, being a "digital service" contract. That Directive effectively changed the Consumer Rights Directive (Directive 2011/83) as to the definition of "digital content" so that digital content would now be defined as one off supply items and a new definition of "digital services" which includes a continuous supply, such as streaming TV.

The issue presently, is that neither the Consumer Rights Act nor the Consumer Cancellation Regulations currently distinguishes between digital content that is on a subscription basis and content that is a one off supply. So the reasonable assumption is that streaming TV services would fall into the digital content category instead of the traditional service type contract.

The Government's statement today suggests that subscription services would likely fall into the digital content category and that there would be no change to the waiver of the cooling off period as currently provided under the CCRs. This appears to support the argument that streaming services were always treated as digital content for these purposes. Also, the current Government BIS Guidance I referred to previously backs up this position.

There is, I suppose, a counterargument that subscription services for TV should be classified as a traditional service contract rather than digital content. It would be more of a technical argument but the argument would be based along the lines that the real intention behind the CRA and CCRs was to treat digital content more of a one off supply rather than ongoing streaming services. This would prevent consumers exercising cancellation rights to a digital purchase that could not be returned. Since streaming content is based on an ongoing subscription and not a one off purchase, once the subscription is terminated the consumer can no longer use the digital content, so a right to terminate the subscription and only pay for the time period used would seem to be more appropriate. This is essentially the argument put forward in the Sky case but without the actual legislation to back it up.

A third view could be that it is really a "mixed" contract made up of a contract for services (subscription element) and digital content (streaming element). I think this is what @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head could be alluding to in their previous post. Therefore, there would be a cooling off period for the subscription side, but not for the digital content side. Theoretically, I can possibly see how this could work but I am not sure how it would work in the context of streaming TV because the predominant purpose of the TV subscription is to stream TV so the subscription element cannot be separated from the streaming element and continue to work independently of another (or maybe it could e.g. cancel subscription but enable the streaming on a pay per view basis perhaps?). I do think in some circumstances this situation could apply other forms of subscription services, but it will be fact specific.

I have found no equivalent UK case that matches or mirrors the Sky case, so it is open to interpretation and consider it a grey area. The new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will likely be the UK version of EU Directive 2019/770 but from the sounds of it, they are not going to be like for like in the digital content arena.

For the OP, if NOWTV didn't comply with Regulation 37 of the CCRs i.e. the OP has given express consent and also an acknowledgment that the cancellation right would be lost, then the cooling off period still applies. I haven't checked the sales process on NOWTV's website but if they have merely buried the cancellation text in the small print, I personally don't think that would satisfy Reg. 37.

born_again

Wonder how Sky will view the above, given that they are pushing streaming, rather that the old style box/satellite link.

Sky Stream puck and Sky Glass TV require broadband connection