Refund for cancelling online service

[BryanPalmer]

What is the name of your state? TEXAS

I was charged $153 last week as a subscription fee to a popular online gaming service, for 12 months of subscription to play the game. This was on an account I thought I had cancelled 9 months earlier. I had not played the game in 9 months, and was certainly not expecting any future billings from this company. After contacting their support line, they indicated that the account had not actually been cancelled, and they cancelled it for me over the phone. They informed me that even though the account was now cancelled, I would be able to continue playing the game for another 12 months as that was what this fee had just purchased. I made it very clear that I had no intention of playing the game, and had erased all their software 9 months prior, and could not have authorized this charge as I knew nothing about it, but they are refusing to refund my money saying their policy is that all subscription fees are prepaid and non-refundable.

Does this online gaming company have a legal right to keep my money, or do I have the legal right to refuse the service and demand the charges be refunded?

Thanks!
Bryan

 

[Zigner]

Does this online gaming company have a legal right to keep my money, or do I have the legal right to refuse the service and demand the charges be refunded?

Thanks!
Bryan

What do the terms of service say?
What did the credit card company or bank do when you called to dispute the charges as unauthorized?

 

[BryanPalmer]

This was the company's response, along with the part of their user agreement which refers to their billing practices:
We appreciate your request for a refund, however we will not be able to process your request as all pre-paid fees are non-refundable as explained in Section 5 of the End User License Agreement (copied below) as well as when you register with your billing information.

5. We describe our fees and billing procedures at www.everquest.com, which are incorporated by reference. All fees are stated in U.S. Dollars. All fees are prepaid and non-refundable. Upon your acceptance of these terms, we will automatically charge your credit card the Account fee plus any applicable taxes we are required to collect, and you authorize us to do so. Thereafter, on the applicable anniversary, we will charge your credit card the then-current renewal rate plus any applicable taxes we are required to collect, and you authorize us to do so. If we are unable to process your credit card at a renewal period, your account may be immediately terminated.


Yes, my bank does have procedures for disputing the charges made against the card (it's one of those visa debit cards directly linked to my bank account). I've contacted my bank, and they have sent me the forms to start the process, but I'd prefer to go that route only as a last resort because the minute I turn in the paperwork, my card becomes void and no longer useable, and I use that card for basically everything on a daily basis. It will take about 3 weeks to get a replacement card.

The bottom line is I was charged a fee for a 12 month subscription to a service I'm refusing. I contacted the company immediately after the charge was posted, well within 72 or even 48 hours. I know there are laws in some states and countries that protect against this sort of thing, and allow the consumer to cancel an agreement made online with 72 hours for a full refund. I didn't even know about the agreement as I had considered my account with this company closed over 9 months prior, but as soon as I found out about it, I notified the company and disputed the charge, refused the service. Based on what you see here, am I still legally bound to give them this $153 subscription fee for 12 months of service to an online game whose end user license agreement I have refused by cancelling my account and deleting their software?

Thanks!
Bryan

 

[Zigner]

Yes, you are responsible...because you "thought" you canceled it.
If you HAD canceled it, it would be a different matter entirely.

 

[BryanPalmer]

So essentially what you're saying is there is no law, Texas or Federal, that protects me against an online purchase I didn't explicitly authorize or know about, even if I immediately contact the vendor about the issue and refuse the service they're claiming to have sold me?

Is there not a Consumer's Right To Cancel clause on the books in almost every state? If instead of this being a subscription to an online game it were a complete encyclopedia set translated into ancient swahili, and I didn't know about the charge until it happened, and when the books arrived I refused to accept them and sent them back, would you not think that I would have some protection under the law for refusal of the goods, especially since I did not even know about the charge? Is it merely enough for any vendor to claim that "all fees are pre-paid and non-refundable" and presto, they are immune to any attempts to refuse or deny attempts to reclaim the money taken from a consumer's account?

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[Zigner]

First of all, you DID know about the charge, or should have. It was in the agreement you made with the company.

Second, I never said they were immune from attempts to refuse the charges. When I suggested you do that, your reply was that it was too much of an inconvenience for you.

If you can't be bothered, then where does that leave you?

 

[BryanPalmer]

No, I did not know about the charge until I saw it post to my bank acct. As I said, I thought I had successfully cancelled all my gaming accounts with this company 9 months ago. Either there was a web browser hiccup when I was trying to cancel this particular acct, or else I just plain missed this one. Either way, it was 9 months ago, and I had fully forgotten about all of these accounts as I no longer played the game, had not been getting billed for subscription service fees (all my other accts were month to month, this was the only one I had signed up for the 12-month special promotion subscription). This particular charge is for a 12-month subscription plan. And when I looked closer at my acct history with the company during my research of all this, I've come to realize that what I signed up for last year was a $99 12-month special promotion subscription plan. According to messages posted by company reps on their official messageboards, this was a one-time non-recurring subscription. Of course, other reps on the same boards are claiming that it IS a recurring subscription, but that it is supposed to be at the same $99 rate as before. So not only am I being billed for something I wasn't aware was even active, I'm being billed at a much higher rate than what I've ever agreed to in the past, and have certainly not agreed to a week ago.

As for refusing the service, I have already done that with the company that billed me, in writing, and over the phone with their support rep. What I said I would rather not have to do except as a last result is initiate a disputed charge process with my bank. That is totally separate from refusing the subscription service.

If there is a consumer's rights, right to cancel, protection clause in any kind of law, whether state or federal, that's what I'm trying to find out if it exists here, and whether or not it might be pertinent here.

Thanks!
Bryan