If you have subscriptions where renewals lock the customer in for a period longer than one additional month, you should be required to warn the customer of the renewal at least a week before it goes into effect >_>
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@erincandescent isn't this part of the mastercard rules or code of practice or something
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@eta You might win the chargeback but DB will send you to the debt collectors and ruin your Schufa score.
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@eta (Though let me see what happens if I send them a cancellation email quoting the Amex merchant regulations…)
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@erincandescent I've intimidated a merchant this way before and had them refund me — they charged me for a year after a free trial expired, but their email before this happened didn't mention this at all; it just said the trial was ending with no further details
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@erincandescent This was the exact reminder I needed today, because tomorrow my BahnCard would probably have renewed again without me realizing…
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@jana If you’ve passed the 6 week notice period, but you took advantage of one of their offers last year and you paid by card, they may have fallen afoul of the regulations of the applicable card network that required them to send you notice with sufficient time to cancel before any recurring charge
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@eta i’ve decided to try this route
whats the worst that can happen? if they send me nasty emails i’ll just complain to amex. or pay them. or find a lawyer (in increasing order of expense)
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@eta @erincandescent Nah, there's no requirement here.
You have to display restrictive terms at the checkout though, and the merchant must cease billing when the customer cancels (not refuse to acknowledge their emails etc.)I don't remember what the view on the likelihood of winning at Arbitration was. Generally you'd win these before pre-arbitration.
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@hugh @eta there are number of things in my favour here I think, reading th Amex merchant guide:
- Amex have a specific term around introductory offers, and last year I bought an Aktion BahnCard which is an introductory offer… and there are terms around introductory offers, namely “iv. Send the Cardmember a reminder notification in writing before submitting the first Recurring Billing Charge, that allows the Cardmember a reasonable amount of time to cancel.”
- In general there’s the requirement on merchants that they must “ensure that your process for cancellation of Recurring Billing is simple and expeditious”; this one is vague, admittedly, but 6 weeks does not feel expeditious
- Required evidence for a merchant to dispute a recurring billing chargeback include, “if the disputed Transaction was an annual or semi-annual Merchant-Initiated Transaction, provide details about how the Merchant obtained the Cardmember’s express consent of the upcoming renewal.”
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@erincandescent @eta Amex are much more generous and specific here than Mastercard (used to be, anyway)
(Sorry, didn't realise this was Amex in the first place!)
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@hugh @erincandescent @eta
What about TexMex? -
@mattgrayyes @hugh @eta Delicious, but unlikely to be useful in a dispute with a merchant.
