SkyPup Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 Sorry to be the whiner, but I'm seeing a lot of this, and it's more than a little annoying: Got an email last week from Webroot Software, informing me that my one-year anti-virus contract had just run out, but they had thoughtfully renewed it for me, and charged my credit card accordingly. Strange, thinks I, as I gave that PC away months ago and had forgotten all about it and Webroot. It turns out the automatic renewal is buried in the terms of use that I had agreed to, but it's very easy to miss. Norton has a similar system, but they do have the decency to email you a week before renewal in case you want to opt out. And buyers of new computers beware: Some new PCs have various bits of software tied to such contracts, and you won't find it unless you really scour the fine print. I've also run into this sort of thing with magazine subscriptions and most recently a gymnasium membership. The latter was an especially nasty surprise. My three year gym contract was about to expire and I knew it contained an automatic renewal clause. I didn't want to renew, so two weeks before the expiration date, I informed the gym owner, who said "If you look at your contract, it specifies if you don't want to renew, you must inform us in writing one month prior..." I managed to talk my way out of the gym situation, and an hour on the phone with Webroot got me a refund. I'll admit I've been careless about the fine print, and will be more cautious in the future. In this tough economy, companies are using every trick in the book to squeeze another buck out of us. Beware! P Quote
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 20, 2011 2. Administrators Posted March 20, 2011 McAfee got me with this a couple of years back and stung me for £60. I remonstrated at length with them and they finally refunded the money to my bank account two months (!) later. Guess what - Not using McAfee now... Jabo Quote
1. DDz Quorum B16Enk Posted March 20, 2011 1. DDz Quorum Posted March 20, 2011 Our main TS Server got me this way too, PayPal subscription. Hadn't intended on renewing it, because service has been patchy, but it auto renewed. Cancelled the sub now though Quote
BadAim Posted March 21, 2011 Posted March 21, 2011 Many of the big Alarm companies do the same thing in the states, and they make it as hard as possible to get out of it. It's a despicable practice, and as far as I'm concerned, simple thievery. Quote
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 21, 2011 2. Administrators Posted March 21, 2011 lol. I said as much to McAfee at which point they started threatening me with legal action for defamation or libel or something...unsurprisingly, nothing seems to have come of that... Jabo Quote
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