EliteSingles took my money

PurvesGrundy

I subscribed to Elite Singles in December just to try it for a month and see what happens. When going through my bank statements, I discovered that instead of debiting my account by 15 euro monthly, they have locked me into a subscription and taken an advance payment of 180 euro that will cover the entire year. They now say that I cannot be refunded the money, as I had a seven day period to cancel the subscription which has now expired.

I am quite upset and annoyed about this, as I feel the way it was advertised gave the distinct impression that you paid a monthly fee. Do I have any rights here?

Kinikie

PurvesGrundy wrote: »

I subscribed to Elite Singles in December just to try it for a month and see what happens. When going through my bank statements, I discovered that instead of debiting my account by 15 euro monthly, they have locked me into a subscription and taken an advance payment of 180 euro that will cover the entire year. They now say that I cannot be refunded the money, as I had a seven day period to cancel the subscription which has now expired.

I am quite upset and annoyed about this, as I feel the way it was advertised gave the distinct impression that you paid a monthly fee. Do I have any rights here?

I would guess the small print says that the full amoint will be taken after month trial unless cancelled

Have a look at subscription T&C's on website to check

PurvesGrundy

Kinikie wrote: »

I would guess the small print says that the full amoint will be taken after month trial unless cancelled

Have a look at subscription T&C's on website to check

Is that enough to cover them though? Small print does not always absolve an organisation from wrongdoing.

Here is a response I received:

Dear Sir,
We have just stopped the automatic renewal of your subscription, which will end on the 26.12.2014.
Unfortunately we are not able to grant your refund request.
According to the Terms and Conditions, you only have 7 days to benefit from your right of withdrawal.
If you wish to have more information, please read the Terms and Conditions that you accepted during your registration on our website.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Sincerely,
Your Customer Care Team

Kinikie

Without ready terms and conditions in depth id guess they probably cover themselves well enough on this and the 7 day cooling off...personally id chalk it up as experience ( and see if anyone wants to buy a subscription on the cheap)

Only out you might have is if they have not provided the service as described.

Only an opinion not an expert in law around subscriptions

Every subscription service I've ever encountered, whether it be Netflix, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Prime, LinkedIn Premium, etc., have all the stipulation that once your 30 day trial is over, you'll be charged thereafter.

PurvesGrundy

Deleted User wrote: »

Every subscription service I've ever encountered, whether it be Netflix, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Prime, LinkedIn Premium, etc., have all the stipulation that once your 30 day trial is over, you'll be charged thereafter.

I never had a trial. I paid from the outset and only realised they charged me what they did when I checked my bank statement weeks later.

Upon registering, they had the various membership options as '14.95 per month', '19.95 per month' etc. They obviously aim to do this sort of thing.

wmpdd3

So you sign up on day 1 and only have till day 7 to give notice to cancel after 30 days.

That does sound unfair if that is the case.

Found this but no mention of a free period.

5. Cancellation, Automatic Renewal, Termination



The cancellation of the free membership (deleting the profile) is possible at any time. To do this click on the "My Account" tab under "My Membership."

Every contract for the paid membership is automatically extended at the end of the contractually agreed period for the same duration as agreed for the original subscription if the customer does not give notice to cancel his/her contract at least 7 days before the expiry of the agreed term.

The termination of the paid membership is only effective if the notice of termination or cancellation has been made in writing (e.g. letter, fax or email).

For the written notice we ask you to specify your ELITESINGLES email address or your security code, so that we can uniquely authenticate your claim and protect against possible abuse. The written notice should be sent to:

Affinitas GmbH
- Customer Care -
Kohlfurter Straße 41/43
10999 Berlin

Fax: +49 (0)1805 - 777 449

Email: cancellation@elitesingles.ie

After termination of the paid membership, the status of the custom

knucklehead6

Those 14.95 per month or 19.95 per month are discounted depending on your initial outlay. You probably saw something similar to the attached image


But instead of them highlighting that it's a 6 month package it probably highlighted the reduced monthly cost. The total cost of the 6 monthly package displayed above would come out of my account now, if i signed up, not at 9.99 on the 11th of every month.

PurvesGrundy

knucklehead6 wrote: »

Those 14.95 per month or 19.95 per month are discounted depending on your initial outlay. You probably saw something similar to the attached image


But instead of them highlighting that it's a 6 month package it probably highlighted the reduced monthly cost. The total cost of the 6 monthly package displayed above would come out of my account now, if i signed up, not at 9.99 on the 11th of every month.

That is pretty similar to what I saw. From what I gathered, I had no idea that it was going to be a 12 month package.

Do I have any grounds for misleading advertising?

Chazz Michael Michaels

It sounds like you didn't read into what you were signing up for, sorry.

knucklehead6

PurvesGrundy wrote: »

That is pretty similar to what I saw. From what I gathered, I had no idea that it was going to be a 12 month package.

Do I have any grounds for misleading advertising?

Sounds like you don't have a leg to stand on to be honest.

You could try to appeal to their better nature and admit you made a mistake in the hope that they'll refund you, but i wouldn't hold my breath.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

knucklehead6

Fred Swanson wrote: »

You could always try and do a chargeback.

I had similar issues with a dating agency before and a chargeback worked.

Why? He messed up, didn't read the thing properly and signed up willingly.

pleasant Co.

knucklehead6 wrote: »

Why? He messed up, didn't read the thing properly and signed up willingly.

To get his money back, yes he messed up, but he'd still like his money back.

PurvesGrundy

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Would it be too late to do that?

It was with a Visa debit, not a credit card.

knucklehead6 wrote: »

Why? He messed up, didn't read the thing properly and signed up willingly.

pleasant Co. wrote: »

To get his money back, yes he messed up, but he'd still like his money back.

Indeed.

I'm assuming you must always be perfect, knucklehead6, and are never swayed by things?!

Sam Mac

I agree, try and get your bank to initiate a chargeback if they refuse to refund you. Usually I'd say thats its your own fault for not reading into the T's and C's, but in this case, since its for an online dating site, I do not see why the company cannot as a goodwill gesture refund you your money and simply stop the service. But thats up to them.

Bottom line; If it was me I'd go down the chargeback route

BuffyBot

It's not really a valid ground for a chargeback, but *if* the bank does one for you, the dating agency may simply decide to not contest it as they don't feel it worth their, hence the money was returned to the other poster.

So even if you did convince the card issuer to do it, there's not guarantee that it would succeed.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

knucklehead6

PurvesGrundy wrote: »

I'm assuming you must always be perfect, knucklehead6, and are never swayed by things?!

Oh no, I've made mistakes, and plenty of them. But I accept personal responsibility, and learn from it when I make a mistake. The thread title should be "I gave Elite Singles my money but didn't realise what i was doing and now I'd like it back" because the company didn't TAKE your money, you PAID for a service that you have decided you don't need.

If I'm getting something on the web and the suppliers website is showing me 3 different prices for the same product then I'll check it out because there HAS to be a difference.

dudara

Posters - stay on topic please. This is not After Hours.

dudara

PurvesGrundy

knucklehead6 wrote: »

Oh no, I've made mistakes, and plenty of them. But I accept personal responsibility, and learn from it when I make a mistake. The thread title should be "I gave Elite Singles my money but didn't realise what i was doing and now I'd like it back" because the company didn't TAKE your money, you PAID for a service that you have decided you don't need.

If I'm getting something on the web and the suppliers website is showing me 3 different prices for the same product then I'll check it out because there HAS to be a difference.

Through their marketing and promotional layout, it is quite deceiving and in no way openly transparent that one will be charged 180 euro up front. It is impossible to go back and see where the small print lies, as registering requires spending about half an hour filling out various questionnaires, which was actually part of the reason why I gave in to registering and trying it out in the first place, seeing as I put in so much time getting through them.

The service I paid for was through the understanding that it was a monthly installment, as at the time it clearly read "14.95 per month". Say what you will and go all guns blazing at me to for the purpose of your internet alter ego, but I would say that whatever legal writing they had in place was for the eagle eyed.

knucklehead6

PurvesGrundy wrote: »

Through their marketing and promotional layout, it is quite deceiving and in no way openly transparent that one will be charged 180 euro up front. It is impossible to go back and see where the small print lies, as registering requires spending about half an hour filling out various questionnaires, which was actually part of the reason why I gave in to registering and trying it out in the first place, seeing as I put in so much time getting through them.

The service I paid for was through the understanding that it was a monthly installment, as at the time it clearly read "14.95 per month". Say what you will and go all guns blazing at me to for the purpose of your internet alter ego, but I would say that whatever legal writing they had in place was for the eagle eyed.

I didn't go all guns blazing, and my internet persona is the same as 3d me, but try to change the subject all you want

Uou saw 3 prices, for the same product. Now to me, that is something that I'd look into a bit more to find out the difference between 14.95 per month for product A and 19.95 per month for product A, cos there HAS to be a catch. I haven't looked at the elite singles site, so I can't tell you what they say but I HAVE looked at other sites (even this one) and it quite clearly states that you are authorising your card to be debited for X amount recurring. And the X amount is the total amount. You made a mistake, accept it, learn from it and move on.

Chazz Michael Michaels

This took me less than a minute to find, its from the uk site, but the Irish site led me there. It seems clear to me that they block book subscriptions. Maybe that's just me?

OP, it reads to me that you rushed into picking the lowest number from the list below, which is a twelve month contract, with the intention of reneging on this contract after one month if you didn't like it? That isn't how a contract works.


ELITESINGLES costs – different types of subscriptions

ELITESINGLES uses staggered subscriptions which cost less with a longer membership, and we offer two premium options in addition to the free basic membership; ELITESINGLES Premium and ELITESINGLES Premium PLUS. For the ELITESINGLES Premium, a one month membership costs £74.95, the 3-month option £49.95 per month, 6 months costs £39.95pm, and 12 months £22.95pm. ELITESINGLES Premium PLUS costs £89.95 for one month, £69.95pm for 3 months, £44.95pm for 6 months, or £29.95pm for a yearly membership. Regardless of the subscription period you decide works best for you, the set of available site features is the same.

http://www.elitesingles.co.uk/em/online-dating/elitesingles-costs

slimjimmc

Chazz Michael Michaels wrote: »

This took me less than a minute to find, its from the uk site, but the Irish site led me there. It seems clear to me that they block book subscriptions. Maybe that's just me?

OP, it reads to me that you rushed into picking the lowest number from the list below, which is a twelve month contract, with the intention of reneging on this contract after one month if you didn't like it? That isn't how a contract works.


ELITESINGLES costs – different types of subscriptions

ELITESINGLES uses staggered subscriptions which cost less with a longer membership, and we offer two premium options in addition to the free basic membership; ELITESINGLES Premium and ELITESINGLES Premium PLUS. For the ELITESINGLES Premium, a one month membership costs £74.95, the 3-month option £49.95 per month, 6 months costs £39.95pm, and 12 months £22.95pm. ELITESINGLES Premium PLUS costs £89.95 for one month, £69.95pm for 3 months, £44.95pm for 6 months, or £29.95pm for a yearly membership. Regardless of the subscription period you decide works best for you, the set of available site features is the same.

http://www.elitesingles.co.uk/em/online-dating/elitesingles-costs

It's not just you, it's there for anyone who actually bothers to read their terms and conditions. https://www.elitesingles.ie/terms

3. Terms of Payment

1. The following payment methods are accepted: credit card or payment via PayPal.
2. The invoice amount for the chosen timeframe is paid to ELITESINGLES in advance without any deductions.
3. With the completion of the paid membership duration (the reaching of the end date of a paid subscription) and the disclosure of payment details, the customer grants ELITESINGLES permission to process payment.

PurvesGrundy

It wasn't easy, but guess who managed to wiggle a full refund!

knucklehead6

PurvesGrundy wrote: »

It wasn't easy, but guess who managed to wiggle a full refund!

From elite singles themselves? Or through chargeback?

BuffyBot

Given the timeframe, directly. Chargebacks have timescales involved.

PurvesGrundy

knucklehead6 wrote: »

From elite singles themselves? Or through chargeback?

The former.;)

knucklehead6

PurvesGrundy wrote: »

The former.;)

well done. I honestly didn't think they'd entertain you

PurvesGrundy

knucklehead6 wrote: »

well done. I honestly didn't think they'd entertain you

I didn't entertain you, which is hence the reason why I didn't give up and got a refund!:p

emeldc

PurvesGrundy wrote: »

It wasn't easy, but guess who managed to wiggle a full refund!

Great stuff. Now what will you do for a roide loike :rolleyes: