Payment of a monthly contract

[coffeechocolatecoffee]

I'm going to try be as concise as possible without outing myself.

So I pay for a monthly membership. T&C state must give one calendar month's notice before cancellation (like most monthly contracts).

Payment has historically been taken on 10th of the month but I took 1 weeks break (agreed by manager and in line with T&C) in Dec so payment date has been moved to 17th of the month. Next payment due 17th Jan but I wanted to cancel so informed on 12th Dec to please cancel contract.

They are insisting that one more payment needs to be taken before I can cancel. I am saying it doesn't because I have given one month's notice as per T&C.

I am happy to be told IABU and should have to pay for one more month but I just want to know how everyone else would interpret this.

I would interpret a calendar month as the full period from 1-31 of the following month. So yes, in your instance, the end of January.

Thanks @SparklyLeprechaun and @GladAllOver. I paid 10th Dec and gave notice on 12th Dec. My next payment is due 17th Jan due to a suspension in late Dec. Their argument was that it's industry standard to have one final payment after giving notice but the more I think about it, the more it doesn't make sense to me either as the contract states a timeframe for notice and absolutely nothing about payment.

My interpretation of calendar month was exactly as you both say as well but I'll ask a few friends too and see what they say.

If you gave notice on the 12 December, then the notice period ends on the 12 January and you need to pay the 17 January payment.

No more, no less.

Sorry, what I just posted is for "payments in arrears".

What sort of thing is this contract for (might make it easier to find other similar companies online)?

Payment is in advance, not arrears. 17th jan payment is for services between 17/1-16/2. Contract is for a leisure activity.

Just adding that my monthly mobile phone contract runs from the 18th of each month however my payment is made in arrears on the 1st of the month so I would carefully check your contract.

If it’s the “industry norm” to take one final payment after notice has been given then they’ve had it. Notice given: 12th December, final payment taken 17th December.

You need to figure out what dates each payment is for. You're assuming that you pay on the 17th January for the 17th January -16th February, but you might be paying for 1st-31st January or even 1st-28th February.

I still stand by my statement that you need to pay until the end of January, so you need to figure out how much you need to pay for that to be true. It might be half a month, it might be a whole month, or they might end up owing you money.

@Bringmewineandcake problem is the last payment was 10th Dec because we had a week's freeze in Dec. So notice was given on 12th but there isn't another payment between 12th Dec and 17th jan (when next payment would be due). They believe they should receive one payment but I didn't agree because I provided one month's notice as per contract.

To all those talking about clarifying dates - the payment is made one month in advance. The date payment is made covers from that date until that date -1 the following month. There is no ambiguity over this as the activity commenced on 10th April and I paid for one month on that date (and since paid on the 10th of each month from that date forward).

Ok so that’s a pain.
I think from their point of view, you’ve taken a week’s holiday and tried to cancel during that time, thus fiddling the system somewhat. What was the week’s holiday for? I can’t see what benefit you would have had, considering you pay monthly rather than weekly. Other than hoping that by taking the holiday when you did, you could bypass the final payment. Had you not have taken the holiday, you would have had to pay on 10th Jan. To give a month’s notice you needed to do it on 10th December, not later, as your contractual month runs 10th to 9th.
Can you keep going so at least you’re still getting the service that you are having to pay for?

But I haven't bypassed anything @Bringmewineandcake - although I had pre-arranged to freeze for a week, they took payment on 10th Dec (rightly so).

At this point, my payment date changed to 17th of each month and my contracted payment date moved 17th (I have written confirmation of that ). A change in circumstances have resulted in me needing to cancel and I notified them of this immediately, therefore giving more than one calendar month's notice (if defined as from a certain date in one month to same date -1 in next) exactly as per contract requirements.

At the point of arranging the freeze, I could also have cancelled and avoided that same payment. So by freezing, I didn't avoid any payment and I was permitted the freeze in my contract (if that makes sense).