Money taken from account...now in an awkward situation.

[Pollytom]

I've AIBU for traffic.

A couple of months ago, I purchased some fitness classes at my local gym. An invoice was sent to my email and I paid for the classes with my instructor. After the sessions, another invoice was sent over (the instructor had incorrectly billed me) but I paid the invoice anyway and notified her of the error, which she just said she would take off next time. There was absolutely no indication at any point that I had signed up to any type of subscription. It was simply an invoice with the amount for the sessions and then the option to pay for the classes using my bank card. There was no contract, and I didn't sign anything that reflected I had entered into any type of agreement.

Anyway, after two block of sessions with her, I notified her that I wouldn't be continuing as I felt confident to do my own thing. No invoice arrived - but a large chuck of money left my account. I've reached out to her to query this, and her response is that she needs 14 days notice and I must continue with this block of sessions. She didn't tell me I needed to give her notice, and she didn't tell me at any point that it was a subscription I was entering into. I don't have a clue how this has happened tbh. Why send me invoices, and then suddenly no invoice but an automatic withdrawal.

I feel awkward now as I needed that money for DD's birthday and now it's gone and will have to continue with classes that aren't even needed.

She really really needs to understand that you can’t impose terms and conditions retrospectively - and without allowing the client to see them! That’s not how contract law works.

she’s a very foolish woman if she doesn’t return that money to you. I’d be reporting her to trading standards.

I would do a chargeback in this situation. It's not right that you're out of pocket due to their mistakes.

'@Moser85 because if she wanted to she could keep on charging my card. I have no means to cancel anything from my side.'

@Pollytom you can actually request a new bank card and put a block on your current one so she cant't charge it again

Sounds like Stripe need investigating of their practices if it leaves it up to the vendor’s control how to process forward payments.

Surely under a credit act or something there must be some protection for consumers ?

OP my understanding is that if you have made a payment through Stripe or Paypal or similar the vendor doesn't have access to your card details and won't be in a position to take any unauthorised payments. On the other hand, if you have at some point signed up for a direct direct or given a 'continuous authority' on your card (a recurring payment) then she would receive money from your account. If you didn't sign up for anything like this, then it's hard to see how she has taken money from you unless of course you gave her your card details over the phone and she's now used them without your specific authorisation - that would be fraud.

You should contact your bank (not Stripe) and they will go through it with you, and investigate what type of payment you actually made etc.

Make it clear that if the money is not refunded you will be reporting her to trading standards, action fraud and going to small claims court.

Also, leave a review on Google etc. to let people know she's a scam artist.

I am really surprised you can do this on Stripe…I work for a charity and we send out invoices and people can pay by stripe but I’ve never seen that option.

tell her if she doesn’t show you a signed contract/small print that said she would hold details then explain you will take her to the small claims court and settle it there.

have you checked she is qualified and has insurance etc?

don’t let her get away with it….there are strong laws now about keeping people’s bank details.

I would also ask to see evidence of her ICO membership as she must have this if she is storing your details (which she evidently has). Breaches are taken very seriously.

Honestly, I think you are being a bit unreasonable. She’s probably self employed, and will have kept your slots as locked for you so not available to any new clients that come along. Perfectly reasonable to expect you to give some notice I think, a heads up that you weren’t going to continue with her so she’s free to find new clients for your slot.

I think her 'hope you're ok to continue ' meant she thought you'd be coming back regularly

If she wants notice to find other clients she needs to write that into her terms and conditions. She can't just take someone's money and tell them it's what they signed up for.

She hasn't stored OP's details. Stripe has.

I want to give everyone a clearer understanding and better idea of how this has happened, and it could happen to you. At this point, I cannot 100% guarantee she's done this, but from all my research it points to this. I have also watched a video on the Stripe website of this exact template and watched how customers receive invoices. The invoices on the video match the invoices which I've had sent to me, and what they look like when I paid for them.

After I paid the first couple of invoices, my bank details must have been stored on the system somehow. Sometimes my bank details are automatically filled out (my mac does an automatically fill sometimes to make things easier) so she could very possibly have them on her end. I am still unsure about this part.

From the image at the bottom, you can see the merchant (instructor) has two options. To email the invoice to the customer with link to payment page, or automatically charge a payment method on file.

She must have chosen the top one instead this time without my knowledge or consent. I genuinely can't see another way of doing it.

Look up the head office of the company owning the gym and send a letter of formal complaint to chief executive setting out details and what you want them to do ie close down the DD and refund your overpayment.
point out that you tried to settle with whatsername but she has refused

I don’t disagree with this, but I think the OP was being a bit unkind also in not giving her fair warning

@CatNoBag - I understand that and to my mind, I've been a really good client.This is why I'm so upset. The first block of sessions we had were not great because I was ill. I told her whenever I couldn't make a session for her to charge me for her time so she wouldn't miss out. I have said I would give her testimonials and sent pictures so she could promote her services on her website.

You have to understand, she only verbally told me about the 14 days notice when I told her I made a mistake and thought that we had two sessions left and that I was okay to continue on my own. I've held my hands up and as this was a genuine mistake on my part.

But there was no contract that I signed, no warnings, no T&C's which I was aware of. Nothing.

Contact your local trading standards department, ask to discuss an unfair contract term.

You could say exactly the same for the instructor.

This is shocking OP. Thanks for explaining this as I have no experience with stripe but will definitely not be using it if it's ever requested of me in the future.

Also contact the trader and ask for a copy of her t&c’s plus cancellation rights.

I fully agree with @Skiddlingmama .

I previously had a situation where a small business decided to keep my money (£500) paid in advance when I cancelled a service (within the time frame required in their T&Cs to get deposit back). They initially fought back claiming they were in the right, however when trading standards pointed out the laws they were breaking and basically said "sort it or CastleTurrets will see you in small claims court" I very quickly got it back!

The op should give her money for a service that she doesn't want????

You need back bone and not let people think they can take money that you haven't got. It's unkind not to give her money for something you don't want. What a load of BS op should become a charity for local small businesses.

*Shouldn't not should

I work in retail/high street banking and I honestly can’t see how she’s taken your money again. Have you asked the bank if they can confirm the retailer? I know in our work we have a list of commonly used services.
You may have signed up for something else?

Have you spoken to the gym about it?