To think this surely isn’t entirely my fault….

[sunrise16]

Ok hard hat on and will expect a flaming…to be told I’m a total idiot etc. Which I know! But I am totally in shock about this.
At the start of this year I signed up to a (local business, not a chain) beauty salon offer to pay a subscription every month - as part of that you got money off treatments and monthly facials as well as gifts a couple of times a year.
I went a couple of times and both times there was a bit of confusion with the system - finding me on there etc, and the last time (March!) the girl working there said she couldn’t find the subscription at all and wasn’t sure it existed. I asked them to call me to sort then to be honest it entirely went out of my head (unwell parent and usual busy life with three children etc….)
Fast forward to today and I went in there for another treatment. When I went outside to pay the woman said - ah you actually have this subscription already. I checked my account and they’ve been taking the money out every month - it came up as something else on the statement and I thought it was something to do with my DH. (Yes I know I’m an idiot, yes I know I should have checked sooner.)
I said to the woman - I’ve now missed seven months of these - did you never think to call to ask if I still wanted the subscription/to book in etc? This is a small local salon with maybe three rooms so I wouldn’t imagine they have unmanageable numbers of clients?
She said ‘oh we tried to call a couple of weeks ago but there was no answer…and it’s our policy not to give any refunds/credit etc’.
She’s not the manager and the manager’s not back in til next week - I appreciate I’m at fault for not realising this money was going out but do I have a leg to stand on with regards to them keeping it all?! At the very least it seems incredibly dishonest on their part and not a very sensible idea for a local business that relies on goodwill?

Its the same as the gym, they're not going to chase you

Your responsibility to use the subscription, not theirs

It’s not entirely your fault, because they don’t seem to have known their arse from their elbow with it at first so I can see how you could have forgotten.

You can ask the manager to extend the subscription for the months you’ve missed, given the poor service you were given when you first tried to use it.

All subscription services like this rely on a percentage of people not using it - that’s how they are profitable.

Unfortunately it's on you to organise your own finances and check everything is as it should be.

They are a business; I imagine they don't have time/finances to chase every client double checking if they still want their subscription.

They won't have even noticed you were paying and not going - it won't be on purpose.

You could ask for a goodwill part refund, the nicer you are about it, the more likely they'll help.

This sums it up, OP.
Don't give yourself too much of a hard time but either use the subscription or cancel it and call it lesson learned.
I don't think you can expect a refund just because you haven't been using the subscription.

I have never really heard of any place that you take a subscription off and they take the time to remind you you’ve got a subscription. That’s on you.

The more people who pay for a subscription that they don't use, the better it is for the salon. That's why they do it.

YABU. You signed up for the subscription, presumably you never told them to cancel it as you haven't mentioned doing so. It's your responsibility to book in your appointments, not theirs.

I don’t understand how you think it’s dishonest, you keep saying you appreciate it’s your fault, but blaming them. They haven’t been dishonest, you signed up for this, the fact you then didn’t bother to deal with it, doesn’t make them dishonest. And you can’t expect a refund either,

This is why it's a subscription, they are hoping people don't use it.

I think you’ve probably got grounds for a ‘can we come to a sensible agreement’ given you were told by a staff member you didn’t have it, and that the billing details don’t reflect the salon name. So as far as you were aware, you didn’t have one. And they kept taking your money.

A sensible way forward could be to pause the charges for the number of months you missed, while giving you access to the scheme, then resume paying.

This is on you OP, no one else.

But they told her they couldn't find her subscription and didn't think it was active the last time she went in, so what would she have been cancelling? OP's error is in not noticing that they were in fact taking the monthly subscription despite telling her she didn't have one.

It's not her fault, as last time she tried to use the subscription they told her it didn't exist! And I assume made her pay for her treatment!

So they are in the wrong, yes. They need to apologise to you, refund you for that former incident, and in my opinion at least come to some arrangement with you regarding the month's you have paid for and not used, because they had told you you didn't have the subscription..... I doubt they will refund it, but maybe give you some extra free months?

I don't understand why everyone thinks this when they told her she didn't have the subscription! Just a shame she doesn't have that in writing .... But she could perhaps prove from her bank statements that on that occasion she had to pay for a treatment that should have been free?

She must have known she set up a direct debit and then didn't cancel it though?

Also, have they given you the free gifts? How is that supposed to work - do they send them to you or are you meant to pop in to collect them?

You can surely at least claim the gifts you've missed......

This is how the subscription business model works. You’re totally daft to ask for money back. Maybe you could ask to squeeze in an extra facial or two.

I’m sorry op, but this has to be entirely on you. You cannot expect a small business paying an admin person to spend time getting paid less by a customer. It’s not in their interest.
tou might have a small window of chance given the march instead. Did you pay twice for that?

thank you for all the messages - especially the nice ones! (I already know I’m an idiot, don’t worry…!)
I’m not expecting a refund and I understand that subscriptions make more money if people don’t use them. I think this one feels worse as the salon pride themselves on offering such a local service etc - I’d guess there’s likely only around 20 people in total who do this so not a huge amount of admin for them to notice a regular customer hasn’t used it for eight months.
They obviously did clock it as they apparently tried to call me a couple of weeks ago (why wouldn’t they have left a message if that were the case?!)
I will as a PP suggested very sensibly come at this very politely and ask them to make an offer of what they think might be fair which I would hope would be some free treatments. Not sure how many….!

Re the treatment in March I paid in cash as their tills were down….so I don’t have a record unhelpfully! They should have a record but not sure how likely they are to be honest about it!

I think the gym analogy is a good one - gyms only stay in business because far more people sign up than ever go!

I’m sorry I think getting nothing is fair. You only have you to look at one subscription, your own. but are criticising them for having 20 and not rushing after you to get you to use it. How you even came up with 20 is unknown.

the bottom line is you paid a subscription and then didn’t use it. Which is on you not them.

The gym analogy is only comparable if you go in March and they tell you that you're not a member and then you're shocked 7 months later to realise you in fact are a member.

I'd only say you have a small leg to stand on because the receptionist told you you weren't a member in March, but even then this is a bit of a stretch.