N26 Black Account cancellation

dubdev

Hi there

I signed up for an N26 account last month via their app. The app strongly directs you to sign up for their pay-monthly "Black" account which I did by accident, but then cancelled on the same day using their app. I got a confirmation email from N26 stating I cancelled my black account that started like this

"We’re sending this message to let you know that you have canceled your N26 Black membership. Your insurance coverage will also end on the 2019-01-31."

Now having checked my balance, I am still being charged for the monthly fees of the Black account even though my account has been downgraded to their free account.

I have queried this with them and sent them a screenshot of my cancellation confirmation email on Twitter and their response has been that "I am sorry to say that, but the email clearly points out that the Black membership will end in 2019. At no point is there any indication that you requested or that we processed a revocation. I cannot see that anything went "wrong" here.

For some reason they make a contractual distinction between revocation and cancellation which I think is misleading and ambiguous. They define a revocation as:

"Right of Revocation
You may revoke your declaration of agreement within 14 days, without specifying the reasons, by means of an explicit statement. The above period shall begin following receipt of this instruction via a durable data medium, but not before forming the contract, or fulfilling our reporting requirements in accordance with Article 246b § 2 para.1, in combination with Article 246b § 1 para. 1 EGBGB (Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch) [Introductory Act to the German Civil Code]. In compliance with the revocation period, the timely dispatch of the revocation shall suffice if the statement is made on a durable data medium (e.g. letter, fax or email)."

I cancelled my application using either their app or website, so as far as I am concerned, my liability for fees ended on that day. I am considering taking this up with the European Consumer Centre as I feel that N26's wording is intentionally misleading and that their unwillingness to deal with the issue means I've gone as far as I can with them as I can.

Any opinions most welcome, thanks!

Yggr of Asgard

Black enters you into a full year contract so if you cancel it then you simply stop an automatic renewal after 1 year. You are locked into the contract until the year is over, in your case it seams 31 January 2019. You would need to pay the full year.

The only way out of not being stuck for a year would you send them a revocation request (or what is really called a Right of withdrawal) for the contract as outlined by yourself within the 14 days.

There is, unfortunately, a difference between a cancelation and a withdraw from the contract under the 14-day rule.

Unless you made an explicit statement that you withdraw from the contract rather than a simple cancelation you might get stuck with this.

But if you simply clicked on "cancel" in the app then you canceled and did not withdraw.

You could attempt to argue that you did not see the difference and miss-understood but as your cancelation confirmation even calls the date out, it's very clear that you canceled and not withdrawn.

You could log a complaint with them and once they shoot you down, you could try an alternative dispute resolution process but it clearly looks like you mixed cancel and withdraw.

If they would be interested in customers they would understand the error you have done and be customer-centric and help you but it's N26 so don't get your hopes up.

dubdev

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Black enters you into a full year contract so if you cancel it then you simply stop an automatic renewal after 1 year. You are locked into the contract until the year is over, in your case it seams 31 January 2019. You would need to pay the full year.

The only way out of not being stuck for a year would you send them a revocation request (or what is really called a Right of withdrawal) for the contract as outlined by yourself within the 14 days.

There is, unfortunately, a difference between a cancelation and a withdraw from the contract under the 14-day rule.

Unless you made an explicit statement that you withdraw from the contract rather than a simple cancelation you might get stuck with this.

But if you simply clicked on "cancel" in the app then you canceled and did not withdraw.

You could attempt to argue that you did not see the difference and miss-understood but as your cancelation confirmation even calls the date out, it's very clear that you canceled and not withdrawn.

You could log a complaint with them and once they shoot you down, you could try an alternative dispute resolution process but it clearly looks like you mixed cancel and withdraw.

If they would be interested in customers they would understand the error you have done and be customer-centric and help you but it's N26 so don't get your hopes up.

Thanks for your reply. I have sent a complaint to their support as I feel that they are misleading customers when they click "cancel". It may be a subtle issue of semantics but it's an important one nonetheless.

The date in the email I received refers to insurance coverage, not my membership. I don't consider the presence of the adverb "also" relevant to the cancellaton of the membership per se. I have asked them nicely as a gesture of goodwill to remove the fees, (all €14 of them) and complete the downgrade of my account to a basic one.

If they don't agree to that, I'll refer the issue to whatever financial services ombudsman exists in Germany.

Yggr of Asgard

You can actually complain to the Irish Central bank or the Irish Financial Ombudsman because:

Notice for our Irish Customers: N26 Bank GmbH, trading as N26 Bank, is licensed by the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht in Germany and the European Central Bank and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules.

dubdev

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

You can actually complain to the Irish Central bank or the Irish Financial Ombudsman because:

Notice for our Irish Customers: N26 Bank GmbH, trading as N26 Bank, is licensed by the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht in Germany and the European Central Bank and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules.

Wow great! Where did you find that text ?

Yggr of Asgard

dubdev wrote: »

Wow great! Where did you find that text ?

It is all over their webpages on the bottom