Taking payments after subscription ended?

Xcellor

Looking for a bit of advice on this.

My wife signed my mother in law up for 6 months on match.com and paid in advance 6 months of subscription back in 2010.

I logged onto my credit card account (AIB online, dont receive statements). I noticed that for over a year match.com has been charging 12.90 since the 6 month subscription ended... They have taken 250 euros!!

I've contacted them in relation to this to ask for a refund, I also contacted my credit card company who told me to register a complaint with a retailer first. Do I have any come back? it seems a very bad practice to start billing after a set subscription expires...

Absolultey raging, I didn't think a company had the right to charge a card without explicit authorization...

X

Mimikyu

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Xcellor

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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You are probably right. I would have assumed if you pay a 6 month subscription then at the end you would be notified to renew.

As far as I understand my mother in law only used it for the 6 months. It's a lot of money for a service that wasn't used... Feel sort of robbed!

Mimikyu

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Xcellor

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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Ya I know netflix do but they give a free trial to start off with... I paid up front for what I believed was a fixed term of service.

I would hope they give something back. Not much in the way of consumer protection in this case... Seems set up to catch the person who doesn't study the T+C Lesson learnt though...

dudara

It's pretty standard with a lot of online subscriptions that it will automatically renew, until you cancel. But that may not be immediately obvious to everyone.

Nody

dudara wrote: »

It's pretty standard with a lot of online subscriptions that it will automatically renew, until you cancel. But that may not be immediately obvious to everyone.

On the top of my head I can't name a single subscription that is not automatically renewed when paid in a way making it doable for the service to keep on charging (i.e. Direct Debit, Credit Card, Paypal etc.).

questionmark?

You could issue a charge back in relation to the payments after the six month period and ensure that no future payments can be made to match.com from your card.

Any cardholder can dispute transactions for several reasons. The dispute will then technically be between who issued your card and match.com.

I would also lodge an official complaint with match.com about misleading contract details.

You could also take the cost on the chin and let it be a lesson learned.

Mimikyu

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Guy:Incognito

questionmark? wrote: »

I would also lodge an official complaint with match.com about misleading contract details.
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Choosing not to read it doesnt make a contract misleading.

Xcellor

I believed I was buying a 6 month subscription and that's what I gave my CC details for. I didn't expect any further money to be taken off the card. Perhaps they sent emails to my mother in law but I obviously didn't get those emails.

I just find it bad that this is the norm. It's not consumer friendly in my opinion..

davo10

The norm is before agreeing to T&Cs, you read what you are agreeing too, it saves confusion and the attempt to assign blame later.

slimjimmc

questionmark? wrote: »

You could issue a charge back in relation to the payments after the six month period and ensure that no future payments can be made to match.com from your card.

Any cardholder can dispute transactions for several reasons. The dispute will then technically be between who issued your card and match.com.

The service was provided and billed in accordance with the T&Cs which were agreed to by the OP's wife. I can't see how a charge back would be entertained when the service paid for was provided.
Not reading the T&Cs is not a valid reason.

questionmark? wrote: »

I would also lodge an official complaint with match.com about misleading contract details.

On what grounds? The T&Cs seem pretty clear to anyone who reads them. What exactly is misleading?

questionmark? wrote: »

You could also take the cost on the chin and let it be a lesson learned.

Agreed.

Xcellor wrote: »

I believed I was buying a 6 month subscription and that's what I gave my CC details for. I didn't expect any further money to be taken off the card. Perhaps they sent emails to my mother in law but I obviously didn't get those emails.

I just find it bad that this is the norm. It's not consumer friendly in my opinion..

Therein lies the root of the problem it seems, your wife didn't explain to you what you were paying for. Your dispute is not with Match.com.

Xcellor wrote: »

My wife signed my mother in law up for 6 months on match.com and paid in advance 6 months of subscription back in 2010.

Xcellor

slimjimmc wrote: »

The service was provided and billed in accordance with the T&Cs which were agreed to by the OP's wife. I can't see how a charge back would be entertained when the service paid for was provided.
Not reading the T&Cs is not a valid reason.


On what grounds? The T&Cs seem pretty clear to anyone who reads them. What exactly is misleading?

Agreed.




Therein lies the root of the problem it seems, your wife didn't explain to you what you were paying for. Your dispute is not with Match.com.

I'll see what they come back with.

Next time I'll be more careful but I do think its slightly shady practice to renew a subscription like this. I mean whats the harm in issuing warning then deactivating the account if payment isn't made. Seems like this is a way to take advantage.

Lesson learnt. Will update with what they say.

Lenny

I'd file a chargeback.
I had bought a 1 year with fileserve.com, and they had automaticly set it on auto renual.. coming to the end of the 1 year of it, I didn't want to continue & I could not see anywere to cancel from within my account thatit was going to renew..
then it just appeared on my credit card. I emailed FS and ask them to cancel & refund the ammount.
they had got back to say they had canceled any further charges, they didn't mention anything about a refund

I rang AIB and got their fax number(you have to do it in writing)
just basicly said that I felt I had been tricked into it, and there was no option for me cancel in account settings & no mention, although it was in the t&c's it should be made much more clear, as in bold or at the start,
the ammount was refunded to my cc about 7-10 days later, and when i logged into my account it was back to a free user

Do the charge back, you have nothing to loose, although it has been a monthly thing & which may be a bit harder to get all back - you really should check your account more often

juan.kerr

The most worrying thing here is how it went unnoticed for so long.

Xcellor

Lenny wrote: »

I'd file a chargeback.
I had bought a 1 year with fileserve.com, and they had automaticly set it on auto renual.. coming to the end of the 1 year of it, I didn't want to continue & I could not see anywere to cancel from within my account thatit was going to renew..
then it just appeared on my credit card. I emailed FS and ask them to cancel & refund the ammount.
they had got back to say they had canceled any further charges, they didn't mention anything about a refund

I rang AIB and got their fax number(you have to do it in writing)
just basicly said that I felt I had been tricked into it, and there was no option for me cancel in account settings & no mention, although it was in the t&c's it should be made much more clear, as in bold or at the start,
the ammount was refunded to my cc about 7-10 days later, and when i logged into my account it was back to a free user

Do the charge back, you have nothing to loose, although it has been a monthly thing & which may be a bit harder to get all back - you really should check your account more often

Yeah I will try this.

I know its the only credit card I dont really have visibility with since they only issue e-statements and I had lost my credentials. 12 euro a month isn't enough to go "wtf" but combined it added up to quite a bit.

I got a response which was the automated/copy and paste job. I wrote back... See what happens. Not expecting much.