How do I cancel this contract?

Posted by andypartridge PM | on Thu, 02/09/2010 - 12:47 1028 8 comments | report

A couple of years ago I made an impulse purchase online to a US technologies company owned by a large business software company. I have never accessed the service and so never made use of the username and password assigned to me all that time ago and I have no record of them. Dumb, yes!

A few months ago I tried to cancel the service online but was told they would need the username and password. Apparently a stalemate. I took the problem to one of the directors who said she would get someone onto it. Got an e-mail from someone very quickly willing to help. All I had to do was tell her my username and password!

So, it galls me to open my monthly statement and see the same $4.99 taken every month. I wonder if I will be paying this out every month till the day I die? If this was coming out of my bank account it would be an easy one, but my understanding is that you can not cancel yourself a recurring payment made from a credit card.

Does anyone have a similar tale and of so how did they get it resolved?

Comments

When this happened to me...

Albert Camus | Thu, 02/09/2010 - 13:21 | Permalink

I cancelled the credit card and had it reissued with a different number

Albert Camus

Credit Card Co.

BigBadWolf | Thu, 02/09/2010 - 13:44 | Permalink

I phoned up my credit card provider - and they put a stop to the charges

Thanks

andypartridge | Thu, 02/09/2010 - 14:47 | Permalink

Albert, that sounds like a goer (but the hassle of changing all the pre-set payment details with a multitude of other suppliers, ugh!)

BBW, it seems that the credit card company can't do much about it if you have signed up to a recurring payment. At least that's what they told me. It needs to be cancelled at the supplier end.

-- Kind regards Andy

Probably dumb question but...

Monsoon | Thu, 02/09/2010 - 15:55 | Permalink

... do they have a function for "lost username or password"?!

If it was me... I would keep harassing, oops, I mean contacting customer support about it until they got sufficiently irriatated enough to manually delete my account. Trouble is, that would take a lot more than $4.99 of my time...

I can't believe they don't have a way of retrieving lost login details!!

@Monsoon

andypartridge | Thu, 02/09/2010 - 16:51 | Permalink

You are right. I have moments of motivation for harrassing them but not sufficient to see it through to a conclusion. As you say, it's not a very productive use of time.

Like you, I am sure they can track my account quite easily. It is a large company, and part of a very large company. They have a button if you have your username but lost your password, or have your password and lost your username but not both! You end up in a loop on their website.

If I can not give them either, I suppose the argument is that they are not certain they are dealing with the genuine account holder

-- Kind regards Andy

I just disputed the charge

aiwalters | Thu, 02/09/2010 - 18:57 | Permalink

every month, until the credit card company got fed up and blocked that supplier from billing me.

It is nonsence that the credit card company can't do anything about it - do not pay the charges, tell the credit card that you are disputing the charge. They have to put it on hold, until the supplier can prove it's genuine. Deny any responsibility.

If the supplier contacts you, ask them for the account number/password,

It worked for me, but usually the supplier doesn't bother to contact me.

Credit Card Co

BigBadWolf | Mon, 06/09/2010 - 09:44 | Permalink

@Andy,

I told the credit card company that I had not authorised the recurring charge, and the Credit Card provider were able to block the payments.

I suspect you got some call centre jobsworth who couldn't be bothered to go the the required procedure & just found it easier to fob you off. Insist that they block it!

Cancel the contract

Klandrews | Thu, 16/09/2010 - 18:07 | Permalink

As you have an email address why don't you just contact them in writing cancelling the service? If they continue to bill you, you can legitimately get your credit card company to refund the charges to you and charge back the supplier.

Kate.