Setanta Cancellation Problem

Jofspring

I hope someone may be able to enlighten me.

I have had Setanta since 2006. I have always been automatically renewed on a yearly basis which kind of annoyed me all the time but i put up with it because i have held on to the channels anyway. Since 2006 i have only every recieved correspondence once a year to tell me that the money has been taken from my account and it is usually well after the money has been taken. I have never been informed of price changes or anything like that or informed that my renewal date was coming up. To charge me more than what i originally signed up for after a few years without asking if i'd like to continue with the services at the increased price must surely be wrong or illegal. I recieved a credit card statement notifing me i had been charged this year for setanta. I rang setanta to cancel and they told me i could not cancel now as the money has been taken and that i should have remembered that the renewal was coming up and i should have rang 30days before to let them know. I asked them was there not a discretionary period of, lets say 30 days, where i could get my money back if i do not want the service. I was told there is no such thing as having a period where you could decide to cancel and get your money back.

Basically in the end i was told there is nothing i can do and that they will not be giving me my money back and that its up to me to remember to contact them 30days before August 1st next year. I would think i am entitled to my money back because a) the price has been changed without asking me if I agree to it and b) i have never been notified of a renewal date coming up. To be honest i can't even remember getting any statements or correspondence in the last 4 years and i certainly can't remember exactly what was in the welcome note i got which supposedly clearly stated i would automatically be charged. I also tried to cancel my auto renewal for next year and was told i can't until July next year.

Basically what i want to know is do i have a leg to stand on and do i have a right to get my money back? Surely i should have a certain amount of days to go back on it. They are making out though that the original agreement from 4 years ago still stands so they will continue to take money without correspondence.

Note to all people getting Setanta: DON'T!!

Minstrel27

Gansgsters.

Tarabuses

Join the club! How much are you paying at the moment?

Kristopherus

Last January I emailed them to cancel. I gave them a months notice. A few days before the month was up, I got a call from them and they offered me 3 months for €5 per month.I accepted as it would bring me up to the end of the footie. I would have to ring them a month in advance to cancel, which I duly did and got another 3 months @ €5 per month. In the meantime I changed to UPC, who's Family Sports package included Sky Sports, Setanta Ireland & ESPN + multiroom at a price that was €30 cheaper the equivalent from Sky. I rang Setanta & gave them a month's notice again. Got 3 calls from them subsequently, offering me all kinds of goodies to remain with them. I declined as I then had UPC. I asked the CS agent to write down what I was about to say& pass it on to Senior Management. I then told her politely, butfirmly, what I thought of Setanta, their product, and their rip-off prices. Having got that off my chest, we agreed a cancellation date and this duly happened. By the way, your Setanta paydate is the same as your Sky paydate.

OP, you are entitled to cancel at any time by giving them a month's notice. If I were in your shoes, I'd forget about getting a refund and just cancel a month from now.What they told you about next August is bulls**t. They have no right to impose those kind of conditions, so you should be very firm with them. You seem to be paying by credit card, same as I was, which is a bitch, as the card minions will not cancel a payment on your request - you have to go through the service provider (Setanta).

Just my 2 cents. Best of luck. Ring 0818203040 in the morning.:)

Jofspring

€203 for the year. Was €185 when we original got it 4 years ago. They told us we signed up to renew automatically 4 years ago. We also only signed up to pay €185 4 years ago and they where well able to change that part of the deal without asking us. Also it was €185 for about 6 or 7 channels and now it's down to 3 or 4 yet the price has increased.

I think the main thing they have over me is that i'm signed up for a year automatically so they are saying even if i was to cancel for next month they would still return no monies. I asked them if i was to get rid of Sky digital next month how would they go about providing me with Setanta without a Sky box, the girl was baffled for about 30 seconds and came back saying it would be my own fault that i'd lose out on the last 11 months because i have got rid of Sky. So basically they have caught me both ways.

Kristopherus

As Minstrel27 said above, they are gangsters in the way thet treat their customers. As I said , ring them in the morning. You might even get talking to Ahmed - he with a Scottish accent:D. Just note that if you have Sky, and you pay for Setanta monthly, your paydate will be the same as the Sky paydate. Setanta will then tell you that your cancellation date will be 1 month AFTER your next paydate !!!!!. Now if you make just 1 annual payment, that should not mitigate your rights to cancel.

Jofspring

Kristopherus wrote: »

Now if you make just 1 annual payment, that should not mitigate your rights to cancel.

That is what i was thinking. Something very wrong with the way they carry out their business. No wonder they are losing so many customers all the time.

Minstrel27

Is it published anywhere how many satellite subscribers they have in Ireland? It can't be that many surely.

cgarvey

Was it a higher charge this year than last year's payment?

The T&C you've agreed to are likely to cover the annual payment (and the notice period). However, you're entitled to be notified of any change in amount to be charged (in CC terms, there's no Direct Debit type scheme where you can authorise a variable amount.. each amount has to be authorised). So, I'm sure your CC company would consider a chargeback if the amount was higher.

If the amount was the same as last year, then it gets hairer (and a lot depends on the T&C you agreed to). For instance, it could be considered that you have been notified of the amount (it's the same as last year), and you know when it is due (1 year from the start of the contract). Maybe try a call to the CC company anyway, and see.

Kristopherus

Nothing in the terms & conditions should affect his statuary rights. Under EU consumer law, as long as the customer gives fair & reasonable notice, he/she cannot be forced to continue in a contract. In almost all cases a month is considered ample notice.

Tarabuses

cgarvey wrote: »

Was it a higher charge this year than last year's payment?

The T&C you've agreed to are likely to cover the annual payment (and the notice period). However, you're entitled to be notified of any change in amount to be charged (in CC terms, there's no Direct Debit type scheme where you can authorise a variable amount.. each amount has to be authorised). So, I'm sure your CC company would consider a chargeback if the amount was higher.

If the amount was the same as last year, then it gets hairer (and a lot depends on the T&C you agreed to). For instance, it could be considered that you have been notified of the amount (it's the same as last year), and you know when it is due (1 year from the start of the contract). Maybe try a call to the CC company anyway, and see.

In my experience a credit card company will allow variable amounts on an authorisation - it happened to me and with Setanta. I do agree that a customer is entitled to prior notice but, again, Setanta don't follow the rules.

cgarvey

Kristopherus wrote: »

as long as the customer gives fair & reasonable notice, he/she cannot be forced to continue in a contract.

But he/she wasn't forced in to a new contract. He/she didn't provide minimum notice before the contract was automatically renewed as set out in the contract. I've only seen the T&C from the days before Setanta moved to monthly contracts, but that was set out clearly that the renewal would happen automatically, and would be a rolling 12 month contract (not monthly contract after the initial 12 month term like other service providers).

I don't think there's any question that part of it is anything other than morally dodgy. The only hope is that if he/she wasn't notified of a change in the amount, then the CC company will kick in. Any merchant account T&C I've seen is pretty clear that the user must be informed of the amount to be taken, in advance (aside from common sense).

Tarabuses wrote: »

In my experience a credit card company will allow variable amounts on an authorisation - it happened to me and with Setanta. I do agree that a customer is entitled to prior notice but, again, Setanta don't follow the rules.

They "allow" it because they assume Setanta (who presumably have similar merchant T&C to other businesses) have had the authorisation from the customer. I'm pretty sure they'd be interested in hearing if that wasn't the case.

I know a similar case I had with a software subscription increasing by 20% without any noticed was handled swiftly by my CC company on the grounds that I didn't authorise that amount (I had authorised a fixed amount for the few years prior).

Anyway, without confirmation from the OP, I'd just suggest he/she contact the CC company and see what they say.

Kristopherus

What I meant in my last post was that the OP can now cancel by giving 30 days notice at any stage. That it is his right. There are no T & Cs currently on Setanta.com that partain to subscriptions.The only info I can find is in the FAQs. If I were in the OPs situation, I would certainly play hardball with Setanta if they treated me the same as him.

cgarvey

Kristopherus wrote: »

What I meant in my last post was that the OP can now cancel by giving 30 days notice at any stage. That it is his right.

The old T&C (for the time when Setanta was an annual contract) said it was a rolling annual contract. So, once year 1 was up, your contract was renewed for another year (not 30 days). It's been years since I've seen those T&C (I read over them with a fine-tooth comb at the time as I was considering it, and decided against it for this reason, solely). So I may be wrong, but that's certainly my memory of it.

Is there some law that overrules that rolling annual contract to give him is right to 30 days notice?