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.

@Cranacha seems to be a common thing. They'll be raking in millions if they do this with everyone, and those who notice just get an apology and a refund-but how many people don't?

Yeah that’s a good point, it’s probably part of their business model. They just hope people won’t notice.

I find it interesting how companies never come across any errors when it comes to deducting your money on time, but when they’re meant to stop suddenly they face tech problems and there’s all these “mistakes”

This is why Monzo is the main account I use for direct debits. It very clear alerts you on the app when a payment is due and just after it’s been taken out .

Yes but that still doesn’t make sense, once you cancel a contract with a company automatic renewal no longer applies.

For example I have a BBC maestro subscription, which will automatically renew in November but if I cancel it before it renews my subscription will end. And it wouldn’t make sense for them to start taking payments again at some point next year.

Very sneaky and illegal of them. Maybe contact citizen advice?

Well I spoke to my bank who said that there is a direct debit set up by paypal, to take a certain amount bi-annually. Because paypal are basically a bank, I need to go thorugh them. PP are a NIGHTMARE to get hold of a human being, with but eventually I managed it and he told me that I can only claim back for 180 days ago, through paypal's policy. so that's just one payment. I had already began a dispute with them on 21st of last month and he told me (today) that they had to wait '5 or ten days for them (eHarmony) to respond'. I had to point out to him that we're beyond the '5 or ten days' and he then opened up a claim for me for the £180.

Bank can't do anything because It's paypal.
I haven't given up yet-I have gone through Resolver. And if I get nowhere with them I will go through Small Claims Court.

Are Monzo any good? I think I do need to change banks, for this and other reasons!

You have cancelled the contract, they accepted the cancellation and should refund you for any payments taken after that. Autorenewal only applies when you are actually continuing as their customer.

Write them a letter before action and report them to trading standards. If no joy do an online money claim, it's very straightforward.

Another one agreeing that you need to take action via the court. It's pretty easy to do and doesn't require any legal expertise.

You have their acknowledgment of your cancellation so they'll need to prove that you entered into a new agreement with them afterwards, which of course you haven't done.

Ask for a full refund of all the monies you've paid after cancelling plus accumulated interest.

www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money

If you have a copy of the original cancellation email put in a small claims at court. The court will find in your favour.

Yes that’s the issue PayPal will be limited in the amount you can get back due to their time limit.

I’d agree with pp, it’s time to crack on with the court claim process because you can’t get all of it back from PayPal.

re. Monzo - I have another bank account that my main salary gets paid into before I transfer some of it into the Monzo to cover my bills. I like the clear overview of all my past & upcoming transactions and the payment alert notifications. I do freelance work on the side and it’s easy to keep track on when I’ve been paid. For someone like me who really doesn’t check through my statements as I should, it’s really helpful. Their customer service has been alright too. They have their live chat through the app but you can also call too.

If the bank claim it's a direct debit with PayPal, might you be able to claw it back via the direct debit guarantee? I'm pretty sure that would cover it.

I can ask the bank again, but they did say that their D/D is to PayPal, and PayPal haven't done anything wrong-It's eHarmony who have, so it wouldn't cover it. I will keep trying.

This is interesting OP. Australia Law but wondering how much of this applies to UK law.

https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2023/australia/takeaways-for-fmcg-brands-on-avoiding-subscription-traps-and-misleading-claims#:~:text=The%20ACCC%20claims%20that%20eHarmony,prices%20than%20their%20original%20payment.

It is exactly the problem that you describe.

Thank you-that IS interesting.

I am going to go down the Small Claims Court way-I just don't know if I'll have a leg to stand on. Paypal say they might be able to get me ONE payment back. They've been quite useless. Resolver haven't come up with anything yet.