Any get out for an accidental auto-renewed app subscription?

Thekwango said:
Did you get a notification or any sort of contact reminding you it was going to auto renew.
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No email/notification, just a nice surprise from the bank/revolut this morning saying payment has been taken.

UberTiger said:
Contact Apple, not the App company.

I’ve had Apple process the refund for me on an iOS subscription. They were very helpful.
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Unfortunately for whatever reason I must have signed up via their website rather than inside the iOS app as there's no active subscriptions in my Apple account so it won't be anything Apple could get involved with
 
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PaulM said:
No email/notification, just a nice surprise from the bank/revolut this morning saying payment has been taken.


Unfortunately for whatever reason I must have signed up via their website rather than inside the iOS app as there's no active subscriptions in my Apple account so it won't be anything Apple could get involved with
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They need to notify you of an upcoming auto renewal.
 
Thekwango said:
They need to notify you of an upcoming auto renewal.
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Do they really though?

I use many services that don't do this, and will even increase the price without notice sometimes.

eg. my broadband subscription, Netflix subscription etc.

A quick google seems there's been a bill introduced to tackle subscription traps, but as far as I'm aware there's no existing legislation. Would be happy to be proven wrong though

www.gov.uk

Enhancing consumer rights: policy summary briefing

www.gov.uk www.gov.uk
 
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UberTiger said:
Do they really though?
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They don’t currently have to, legally. However the general rule of thumb is that by not notifying customers of an auto renewal it could be (and almost certainly would be in a court of law) deemed ‘unfair terms’ It would also almost certainly be classed as ambiguous which would go in the customers favour.
 
The thing is it’s not their fault you forgot to turn off auto renew or cancel the subscription or whatever but if you contacted them they will probably honour it. If they don’t then contact Apple and explain the situation.
 
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GaryTheSnail said:
The thing is it’s not their fault you forgot to turn off auto renew or cancel the subscription or whatever but if you contacted them they will probably honour it. If they don’t then contact Apple and explain the situation.
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Problem is they didn't send a reminder. I see this as a scummy tactic to charge users who forgot to cancel and their reply to the OP reinforces that view.

Reminds me of this

 
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It was around this time last year I decided I wasn't going to renew my RING subscription because I knew I was having another make and model but it renewed and I had the Renew option off?
I then found out I had my Amazon account linked to it and that paid :(
 
I thought I would post here instead of making a new thread. I signed up to Wombo.AI back in March for £21.50 (1 year). It was all good until May, then they went offline and the app stopped making new content. It just said that the app has been taken down from Google Play and offered me to register my interest for their next / upcoming Wombo app with no indication of it offering to reimburse me for the remaining 10 months. I found their web site and emailed them at [email protected] stating my Google Play order number, but I never heard back from them. Google Play itself doesn't show a refund option as I guess the purchase was made over a month ago so the refund window has closed. Do you know where I stand?
 
Getting your bank to recover the money is probably the easiest way. It will be up to the company to appeal it, but if it's gone or the service has gone...

I didn't think companies were allowed to offer no refund at all either. A lot of the "fitness" related things seem to be a bit scammy and hard to cancel. I had some insurance a few years back which I needed to end and the company just never responded to cancellation requests. I think in the end I just got my bank to send out a new card, so they couldn't take payment anymore, that works.
 
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Pawnless Endgame said:
I thought I would post here instead of making a new thread. I signed up to Wombo.AI back in March for £21.50 (1 year). It was all good until May, then they went offline and the app stopped making new content. It just said that the app has been taken down from Google Play and offered me to register my interest for their next / upcoming Wombo app with no indication of it offering to reimburse me for the remaining 10 months. I found their web site and emailed them at [email protected] stating my Google Play order number, but I never heard back from them. Google Play itself doesn't show a refund option as I guess the purchase was made over a month ago so the refund window has closed. Do you know where I stand?
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In this case you would have a solid reason for a charge back though the bank.
 
peterwalkley said:
Microsoft and JetBrains send me reminder emails about a month before so if I wanted to cancel their services I'd have time to do it.
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Should be illegal not to send a reminder, especially for a year long renewal.

One got me on the £100 renewal fee a few months back, admittedly entirely my fault for not cancelling it but come on, an e-mail reminder two weeks before.

We all know why they do it.
 
The problem in my view is all subscriptions should have to offer (by default) the option to have auto-renew off at point of contract unless specifically activated by the customer.. and then make it opt-in every year, not turn on auto-renew again and then have to turn it off..

I have noticed that many make turning off auto-renew difficult, or hide it behind the 'cancel subscription' option which seems to deliberately obfuscate if cancelling to turn off auto-renew will allow you to still carry on using the current subscription.

I've had this happen a couple of times, however, I have found contacting customer services and just telling them I didn't want to renew but missed the email and forgot about it has worked, and they've refunded me, however, as everyone points out, they are probably within their rights to tell you to do one..
 
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Their support must have been having a bad day yesterday or maybe they just checked and saw I hadn't used the account at all after the first week. Contacted them again today and the response couldn't have been any more different, got a £100 refund, a get better soon and hope you might rejoin us one day when you're able. Wasn't expecting that at all because their trustpilot is full of people saying they couldn't get a refund after forgetting to cancel.

Either way, happy days, the nephews Christmas present is back on :D Thanks for all the advice given, still taught me a lesson to use disposable (or at least spend capped) cards for subscriptions and to keep a much closer eye on them.

Also interesting to read about the proposed new laws where companies have to notify you before a subscription renewal, actually sounds like a pretty good proposal for once.
 
PaulM said:
Their support must have been having a bad day yesterday or maybe they just checked and saw I hadn't used the account at all after the first week. Contacted them again today and the response couldn't have been any more different, got a £100 refund, a get better soon and hope you might rejoin us one day when you're able. Wasn't expecting that at all because their trustpilot is full of people saying they couldn't get a refund after forgetting to cancel.

Either way, happy days, the nephews Christmas present is back on :D Thanks for all the advice given, still taught me a lesson to use disposable (or at least spend capped) cards for subscriptions and to keep a much closer eye on them.

Also interesting to read about the proposed new laws where companies have to notify you before a subscription renewal, actually sounds like a pretty good proposal for once.
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Good and correct outcome.
 
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