Sick of cancellation fees

[IanHar]

I am sick of being charged additional monies by companies for services that I do not use.

It should be obvious that if I have not chosen to renew my contract then the contract should be marked as cancelled. I should not be charged extra for failing to complete their complex cancellation process.

I just had to get that off my chest...

[monaghan]

If the fees are in the T&C's when you signup, then why shouldn't the company charge them. Fees added that are not clear when taking up the service are an issue.

[IanHar]

Good point, but I'm not saying that people shouldn't pay it, that would be breech of contract. I'm saying that these shorts of condition should not be there in the first place.

The worst case i've heard of was a gym that after a year membership had expired, they still wanted to to charge 3 CALENDAR months to leave (£480.00). Not even phone companies do that.

Now i don't know about you, but I would not be able to remember every single term of every contract after a year, in enough detail to remember that I would have to let them know 3 months before cancelling membership.

[Brian Turner]

I know what you mean, and I think it's annoying from a user point of view and works against their interests.

However, I can see why they do it - by guaranteeing income into the next accounting quarter, such businesses make themselves more attractive and viable for investment from banks and other third parties, and additionally adds more potential value to the company worth for resale.

I've got to admit, I was recently advised to put a 3 month cancellation process in place for the same reasons, but having spoken to my bank since, was told that without non-internet assets they really wouldn't take much interest in lending anyway.

So no need for me to use it...

What I find amazing is when I encounter 12 month or higher cancellation processes. Recently was told of a 3 year contract a company insisted new clients on signing...

[IanHar]

3 years!!! That's outrageous. I assume that was a B2B contract. The only comparable i can think of in consumer market would be mortgages, but even then it's only an early settlement fee. They don't demand that you continue to pay for something you don't use.

Brian, You hit the nail on the head when you said:
"However, I can see why they do it - by guaranteeing income into the next accounting quarter, such businesses make themselves more attractive and viable for investment from banks and other third parties, and additionally adds more potential value to the company worth for resale."

The problem with this is that they are essentially passing this cost on to customers that are not happy with their services (otherwise they would be renewing their contracts). They do this, rather than earn the revenue.

It's just wrong.