eHarmony taking money from me when I cancelled years ago!

[Afternoonteavirgin]

I cancelled when I met someone in 2021.

And last week I noticed that they'd taken £161 from me!
They're refusing to refund it.
They've said that It's in the terms and conditions.

The first response I got stated;

"I have received your recent inquiry regarding a refund for the Value Compensation.

I am sorry, but unfortunately the fee in question (£65) cannot be waived or refunded.

As stated on the last page in the purchase process, if you confirm immediate use, value compensation in the amount of £65.00 will be due in the event of cancellation within 14 days. Should Value Compensation be declined, a message is shown reiterating the £65.00 cost if the membership is later used and then cancelled within the 14 day period. We also state in our Terms & Conditions, if the subscription is canceled within the 14-day cancellation period, we will be entitled to retain from the refunded payment a reasonable amount (value compensation) to account for that portion of the Premium Membership that you have already received. The unique personality report is an essential part of the Premium Membership and must therefore be paid upon cancellation within 14 days. As a value compensation, we only charge half of the value of the report, i.e. £65.00. "
When I protested this, saying that I cancelled in 2021 and that it was a lot more £ than £65, I got this.

'I have received your recent inquiry regarding a refund of auto-renewal charge incurred and I regret to hear of your concern regarding your subscription.

^Please note that Renewal charges are not eligible for refunds as stated in our Terms and Conditions. As a result, we are unable to process a refund at this time. You can review our complete cancellation policy in our Terms & Conditions here: https://www.eharmony.co.uk/termsandconditions/#tc11.^

Your subscription will expire at the end of your current term on 12/09/2024 (MM/DD/YYYY). Your account will return back to the status of a Basic Membership after this date.

As we have now carefully reviewed Customer Care’s original denial of your request and found it appropriate, this decision will be final. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any further consideration of your request.

Thank you for taking the time to try our service and I wish you all the best.'

Prior to this, they'd not taken any £ from me since before I cancelled.

I have forwarded them my confirmation of cancellation email. I have raised a dispute through PayPal (where the payment was taken from) but they've not acknowledged that yet.
I am not 100% sure they've read my emails properly? Are they thinking I only cancelled recently?

Can they do this (refuse to refund me)?
Is there anything I can do?

As an aside, I found them totally useless anyway and most definitely not worth paying for, but that's another story.

Just bumping, can anyone help?

It sounds like a cock up. Keep pushing!

Did you pay via credit card? If so, do a chargeback.

It has come out of my PayPal account. I can't remember if that's how I paid when I was a member-it seems a bit unusual?

I could find out.

And thank you for the response both.

It's infuriating that they're being so dismissive! £161 isn't an amount of money anybody would throw away!

Go on to your PayPal account and change the card details on there to stop them taking more. But definitely dispute it with your bank!

Paypal comes from my actual account rather than a card, so I can't really change that. I will keep pushing, I just don't understand it!

They are really giving me the runaround. The last email I sent them bounced back-I hope they haven't blocked me!
They've said all sorts of weird, different things-I think they're trying to blind me with their jargon.

An email I had this morning said this;
Dear ATV,

Thank you for your reply.

I received your inquiry regarding your accounts and I will certainly assist you.

From the information you provided us with I can confirm that you have an eharmony account under the email address (my email) and Profile ID XXCXC.

I reviewed the account and see that on December 06, 2020 you purchased a 12-month subscription plan.

Subscriptions renew automatically to provide our customers with uninterrupted service. For your convenience, we mention this during the purchase process and on the order confirmation sent when you initially subscribed.

Please be aware that we never received any cancellation request from you for this account prior to the automatic renewal of your subscription and if you did request a cancellation, please forward us with the same so that we can investigate.

Since the automatic renewal of your subscription was still on in your account, your subscription renewed automatically on December 09, 2023 for another 12 months in the amount of £322.80 billed bi-annually each at a rate of £161.40. You do not have any further charges and your last payment was made on June 09, 2024.

As stated in our Terms & Conditions, renewal charges are non-refundable. Please visit: https://www.eharmony.co.uk/termsandconditions/#tc11 to know more about our cancellation policy.
Your subscription is currently set to expire on December 09, 2024 without any further charges.
As we have now carefully reviewed Customer Care’s original denial of your request and found it appropriate, this decision will be final. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any further consideration of your request.

Thank you for taking the time to try our service and we wish you all the best.

Then, I had ANOTHER Email to which I've replied (My reply is obviously the top one)...As an aside I've ALREADY sent them the screenshot of the transaction and I have already told them it was a paypal transaction-what is my bliddy credit card details going to do for them!? And 'ZIP Code'?!

I've already forwarded them the email confirming that I cancelled.

Hi eHarmony,

I appreciate the apology but I have no idea how anyone could have misinterpreted my query. I have looked back over my emails to you and I don't believe I could have been clearer.

What did you think I meant?

If I have another account under a different email address, it most certainly is not me who set it up. I have had a partner since the day I cancelled the account (2021, not found through eHarmony)

On Wednesday, 26 June 2024 at 14:52:13 BST, eharmony Customer Care <[email protected]> wrote:

Dear ATVirgin,

Thank you for your email.

I understand your concern regarding your recent charge and I will surely assist you.

First of all, we would like to sincerely apologize for having previously misinterpreted your concern.

It may be that you have another eharmony account under another email address. To help us locate the account or further investigate the charge, kindly please provide us with the following information:

• Your full name
• Date of Birth
• Your service password
• Your billing address including your zip code
• Your Profile ID
• Any other email address you might have used to create the account
• The confirmation number of the transaction
• The last 4 digits of your credit card
• A screenshot of your purchase to eharmony

We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
eHarmony

Honestly?! So they've admitted to originally not understanding my complaint.

I am actually getting quite upset about this now. They've taken £161 from me, for nothing.

I had another email following this one, from someone different saying basically that my account is still active and they have no evidence of a cancellation-but I have already sent them the confirmation of cancellation email! What on earth can I do next?!

Did they take a payment back in December 2023 too?

I don't believe so, I think I'd have noticed especially as I was made redundant that year and living off freelance work-that would've been quite a chunk of money to me then.
I'll check.

don’t forget you can also do a charge back via your bank.
you can also threaten them with this as they take any extra amount from their account.

Can I do a charge back even though it was a paypal payment?

You should contact your bank’s fraud department and ask them to refund this money to you. Also tell them that you do not authorise any further payments to this company.

The fraud department will know how to sort this out for you.

Yep, I've done one before when a company told me they'd refunded me, but they hadn't - took over a month though if I remember as they'd have to consult with eharmony and wait for them to respond

Do you have a cancellation email from them, at the time you originally cancelled, or in fact any emails from them / PayPal (in relation to eHarmony) since you cancelled in 2021?

If they refuse to budge and you have no luck through PayPal you could raise a small claim. Easy to do and they will probably settle if you do this. I recommend warning them in advance and giving them a final opportunity to sort before you press go on the small claim.

They tried this on me. I repeatedly replied that I owed them nothing as I had cancelled it and stuck to my guns. After about 4 or 5 'scary' emails from them demanding a few hundred pounds I apparently owed them I mentioned getting legal advice and then they finally fucked off.

Email the CEO:

Neil Warren

[email protected]

Thank you so much all of you.
Grr. I wish I'd have never tried them! They're meant to be all 'exclusive' and only have 'professionals' and people above a certain income etc etc
They were mainly the same folk as on every other dating website. And it was tricky to use and I never found anyone who was remotely what I were looking for.
That's by the by however. Especially @katebushh and @Mellowautumnmists ! Definitely going to do that!
I've emailed them again last night stating that when I told them to look at my activity and they'll see that I've not used the site in years, they responded that they couldn't as my profile was deleted, and now they're saying I can't have my money back because I have an active membership! It cannot be both!

Going to do both of your suggestions. Thank you so much!

@Afternoonteavirgin let us know how you get on 🤗

@Mellowautumnmists the email to Neill Warren bounced back-going to see if I can find it elsewhere

@Afternoonteavirgin oh, I shall have a look too!

You were right (to a PP) they have been taking money from me ever since and owe me a lot more than I originally thought! 😡I am an idiot for not noticing obviously but they still need to refund me!

This is what I sent them this morning at 11:00 along with another copy of my cancellation confirmation message.

"Hello,

Just a further confirmation of the deletion in January 2021-as one of your representatives yesterday emailed me to ask for it-I'd already sent it but given the incompetence demonstrated I am as well to send it again.

I have double checked my PayPal now-you have been taking payments every year since. You owe me £1,129.80 and I will be pursuing this through the small claims court.

I am writing to your CEO this afternoon along with the local papers."

No reply! And they usually reply very rapidly! Something is going on...

OP it sounds as if they're suggesting these charges aren't from your account but that someone else is using your details to pay for their account.

I have just checked and none of the last emails I sent, with confirmation of cancellation and the amount of money they owe me, have sent. I think they've blocked me.
What else can I do? They owe me £1080 or something and I have proof that I canceled.

I'm determined to get this back!

£1080? That’s crazy! Why is it so hard to cancel? I’ve heard this a lot about Eharmony.