Forgot to Cancel Subscription Service. 3 Years Ago

Optimistic Goat on 27/10/2019 - 16:27
Last edited 27/10/2019 - 17:54

So I graduated HSC in 2016.
My parents let me use their credit card to purchase a subscription to an educational resources site to help me get a better ATAR.
I used their service for a few months, it was great. Then I cancelled my subscription when I finished the HSC. Or so I thought?

My parent's don't check their credit card history at all apparently. I got an email today from the same company, the first correspondence in 3 years saying the payment had bounced for the month. Horrified, I checked my parent's account transaction and sure enough, they have been charged for the past 3 years. Oh my god.

At $82.40 per month for 3 years, I now owe my parents approximately $3,000. Being a broke uni student, this is not amazing news.

I have already reached out to the company to explain the situation, perhaps they will show some mercy?
Is there anything else I can do at this stage?

UPDATE:
Went through all the emails from the company. It looks like I did cancel my subscription 3 years ago.
This changes things quite a bit!

Financial

Comments

  • Choc0 on 27/10/2019 - 16:30
    -2

    Consider this a valuable lesson. Pay the bill and be smarter about it next time.

  • pantsparty on 27/10/2019 - 16:32
    +25

    To be honest this is your parents fault. Who doesn’t look at their credit card statement !

    • Optimistic Goat on 27/10/2019 - 16:34

      No, it's definitely my fault, but I might let them know for future reference to keep an eye on it.

      • [Deactivated] on 27/10/2019 - 16:43
        +4

        Why not ask a refund? Seems reasonable.

        • cpho on 27/10/2019 - 17:02
          +2

          They should expand that "fees for no service" royal enquiry into educational resources

      • iperezgenius on 27/10/2019 - 18:24
        +4

        They might give you a refund for a period of time as they can see that you probably haven't logged in for the last 3 years. Keep going up the chain from manager to manager and dont take no for an answer.

    • FireRunner on 27/10/2019 - 16:39

      Not really their fault, OP should have made sure it did actually cancel. It would have been wise from them to check their credit card statements though.

    • tooblue on 03/11/2019 - 22:10
      +2

      Rich people.

  • Optimistic Goat on 27/10/2019 - 17:07
    +31

    UPDATE:
    Went through all the emails from the company. It looks like I did cancel my subscription 3 years ago.
    This changes things quite a bit!

    • kahn on 27/10/2019 - 17:10
      +5

      You've convinced me to subscribe to this forum thread.

    • Ryanek on 27/10/2019 - 17:22
      +4

      Boom! They should pay you back with interest!

      • 87percent on 27/10/2019 - 17:28
        +3

        They won’t though

    • rambutann on 27/10/2019 - 17:37
      +4

      In that case you'll get your money back. Basically ask nicely, then ask firmer, then send a letter of demand, then take them to VCAT or your state equivalent.

      My partner went through the exact same scenario, VCAT was the resolution in our instance.

    • Nutrino on 27/10/2019 - 19:36
      +1

      Thread is amazing, bouncing around the room now….

  • Simoneee on 27/10/2019 - 17:50
    -1

    Refund + Compensation

    • paraneoplastic on 27/10/2019 - 18:39

      Refund + interest on the payments taken + compensation

  • HardlyCharly on 27/10/2019 - 18:52
    +4

    Considering the update that it was indeed cancelled, it certainly does change things! You absolutely have a right to your money back. What doesn't change is that your parents are obviously so rich that they're out of touch with reality, or just fools, either way serves them right.

    • pegaxs on 27/10/2019 - 19:34
      +1

      Can confirm. Friend has loaded parents that were on a top tier Foxtel plan, something like $100+ per month. Their set top box died and just never bothered to chase it up. I found out recently talking to them about changing to streaming services that they admitted that they didn't watch Foxtel since their iQ box died. I asked them how long ago was that… "Oh, I don't know, maybe a couple of years…" and they never called up to cancel it because it was, quote "more hassle to get the account closed and the box picked up than what it was worth…"

      • Zachary on 28/10/2019 - 18:54
        +1

        aw man wish I was this rich to just not bother with little things….

    • [Deactivated] on 27/10/2019 - 20:38
      +7

      …serves them right.

      WTF?

      The payments have been de-authorized. The ongoing charges are now invalid.

      It's like a customer started taking stuff from a store without paying. Is it the store's fault for not running inventory every few hours to notice the missing items?

      Some people actually have a fairly significant estate to manage. It doesn't "serve them right" to overlook something which has already been properly addressed.

      • Kangal on 27/10/2019 - 20:49

        No, no. This is simply the "Idiot Tax".
        Even I've done stupid things, and paid the price, but never to this level.

  • ihbh on 27/10/2019 - 21:08

    I now owe my parents approximately $3,000

    You owe them nothing. It was nothing to them.

    However, you better cancel all the p*rn subscriptions because they might start checking in the future.

    • cynicalmike on 27/10/2019 - 21:36
      +4

      leave brazzers in there, still pumping out some quality.

  • HeWhoKnows on 28/10/2019 - 07:45
    +5

    So OP did send an email to cancel the subscription but did OP get a confirmation back? Thats the most important part.

    If not you should have followed up.
    The company can claim they never received it.

    Also monthly paymnets of $82 - you should have noticed immediately the next month! So easy to check. Can only blame yourselves.

  • OBEY YOUR MASTERS on 28/10/2019 - 08:33

    Do you have an email confirming the cancellation of the subscription?

    If so your parents credit card provider should be able to get you a refund.

  • OzHunterNSW on 28/10/2019 - 09:22
    -8

    Don't expect to sponge off your parents… they were good enough to lend you the card to better your life. Now look at you, at Uni - thanks to them. You learn in life each step you take. Pay back your parents. Don't expect to spunge off them all your life. I studied eight years in higher education and did it all myself. I bet you are even still living at home, rent and food free.

    • Zachary on 28/10/2019 - 18:57

      dem neg votes…

  • [Deactivated] on 28/10/2019 - 09:33

    I had the same thing happen with SpinTel. Was 100% sure that I had cancelled. It was over the phone so I had no evidence that I had cancelled. Kept getting charged despite never making a call or text or using data. (You'd think after a year of paying but not interacting with their service that they might reach out to their supposed customer?) Guy on the phone was an absolute douchebag about it. Didn't care that people were paying without realising. Said they were a business, not a charity (in other words it's in Spintel's interest not to inform the customer).

  • psdillon on 28/10/2019 - 12:18
    +5

    I switched to NBN 6 months ago and Optus Cable are still mailing me bills and threatening me. I was not on a contract, and I informed them the day after I switched, and another 3 times after that. Each time they said they would sort it out and I would not have to do anything. Thank goodness I did not set up automatic payment.

    Whenever I can I use Paypal for automatic subscriptions. Paypal have a "cancel automatic payment" button which informs the provider and stops further charges. Works well except for Adobe who called me 2 months after cancelling demanding payment for another 2 months. I told them they're dreaming and have not heard anything since.

    • Hirolol on 28/10/2019 - 14:10
      +1

      I’ve had similar problem with OPTUS.
      They are so useless.

      • ribbonsofnight on 04/11/2019 - 19:12

        They certainly are, their competitors are probably mostly useless too though.

        • Hirolol on 05/11/2019 - 21:32

          Honestly, Telstra have been pretty good lately.
          Staying quite competitive with their offers and have been able to fix my problems.

    • pantsparty on 09/11/2019 - 11:01

      Optus customer service is the absolute worst. I would never use their services again as a result of many poor interactions I had. All telcos have bad service but Optus was horrible.

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