Ancestry.co.uk taking money after cancellation.

[seanamarts]

My daughter had signed up for a free 14 day trial with this company, before the trial was up she had cancelled the full subs. However They took out over £150 14 days after she had signed up.

 

They took the money knowing that she had cancelled. She has called them and they have said that they will refund the money but it can take up to 10 days to appear in her bank.

Having just come back from holiday and having only 74p in the bank you can imagine her horror at the prospects of not being able to feed her two children.

 

She has spoken to her bank and they have told her that the money they took should be refunded straight away as it was paid via a debit card and the company have no reason to have this money refunded straight away, but Ancestry have told her its not their problem and basically she will get it when their finance department refund it.

 

Ive had to lend her some money just to tide her over the weekend.

 

I have looked over the net and have found that they have a habit of doing this spanning back to when they had first started out, not just in this country either.

I just cannot understand how this company has been allowed to get away with this after such a long time.

 

She has placed a formal complaint to them but is there anyone else she could complain too other than this company, who are very well known for doing this.

 

I will do a little more research into this, but so far its not looking good.

[renegadeimp]

The bank can chargeback immediately.

[*RainbowTears*]

The bank can chargeback immediately.

 

+1

 

Contact the bank again & make it clear to them that Ancestry are not playing ball by refunding the £150 back straight away.

 

Also as your daughter had cancelled the trial before any monies were due, the Bank can do a charge back there & then!

 

Out of interest what are Ancestry charging £150 for exactly? As that seems quite a large sum to pay every month..

 

Edited to add;

 

support@ancestry.co.uk

 

0800 404 9723

 

As Ancestry.com have the exact same support telephone as Ancestry.co.uk

 

I've found the following for you to try as well;

 

UK Office

Waterfront Building

Hammersmith Embankment

Chancellors Road

London W6 9RU

Ph (0) 208-846-3620

Fx (0) 208-748-3716

[citizenB]

Yes, why have they taken £150.00 ?

 

Their subscription is as shown on the link below..

 

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/cs/offers/subscribe?sub=1

 

£12.95 a month or £107.40 for 12 months - "premiership" subscription

 

although I see there are other packages as well...

 

£10.95 a month or £83.40 for 12 months for their "Essentials" subscription.

 

£18.95 a month or £155.40 for 12 months for their "worldwide" subscription

 

Looks like they might have charged her for the most expensive Worldwide package.

[seanamarts]

The bank can chargeback immediately.

The bank have stated that because they are refunding her they wont do a chargeback, if they had refused to refund her then they would have taken the money back from ancestry.

[seanamarts]

Yes, why have they taken £150.00 ?

 

Their subscription is as shown on the link below..

 

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/cs/offers/subscribe?sub=1

 

£12.95 a month or £107.40 for 12 months - "premiership" subscription

 

although I see there are other packages as well...

 

£10.95 a month or £83.40 for 12 months for their "Essentials" subscription.

 

£18.95 a month or £155.40 for 12 months for their "worldwide" subscription

 

Looks like they might have charged her for the most expensive Worldwide package.

They have charged her for a year world wide package, it seems automatic when you sign up for a free trial. Ive managed to find the email of the ceo so she is going to write to him and see what he has to say. Ive also looked around the net and have seen this sort of thing happening quite a lot with ancestry. Whats even worse is that they didnt even send an email to say that monies were being taken from her bank, not a receipt or a reminder etc.

Its diabolical that these companies can even be allowed to get away with this sort of thing. Im just wondering if watch dog would be interested in this sort of thing.

 

It really put a downer on our holiday:(

[citizenB]

It is bad practice, especially when someone cancels well within the time stated. I think there should be some kind of prompt -

 

"you are nearing the end of your free trial - do you wish to continue with a monthly subscription or take advantage of the discounted yearly sub"

[seanamarts]

It is bad practice, especially when someone cancels well within the time stated. I think there should be some kind of prompt -

 

"you are nearing the end of your free trial - do you wish to continue with a monthly subscription or take advantage of the discounted yearly sub"

 

You would think so, seeing its such a large company thats worth a lot of money, however its probably how they got rich in the first place. I honestly believe that they rely on people forgetting to cancel, however, that being said it dosnt look like cancelling the subs hasnt helped in this case anyway. I do know from what I have read that there has been some issues with their US based site with refunds etc and losing customers files, perhaps its a worldwide problem they have that needs sorting.

 

I have just heard from my daughter, she says she tried calling them again and they threatened her stating that if she calls them again they will get the police involved to have her arrested for harassment. What a bloody cheek! They are the ones in the wrong not her, all she is trying to do is get her money back. Grr Im so angry. To top it all the bank have just taken out her car insurance that isnt meant to go out until Tuesday, so the money I lent her has now been swallowed up by a transaction that has gone out early.

 

Lucky I have had some savings put by that I could lend her, no thanks to ancestry. These companies shouldnt be able to take money or even ask for bank details when offering free trials.

[citizenB]

Perhaps a written formal complaint would be a good idea, seanamart ?

[seanamarts]

Perhaps a written formal complaint would be a good idea, seanamart ?

One has been prepared but I need to look over it first.

[citizenB]

[seanamarts]

Complaint sent.

 

Dear Mr Tim Sullivan

 

Please except this email as a FORMAL COMPLAINT against Ancestry.co.uk

 

I am on the understanding that you are the CEO of the Ancestry groups and I would like you to possibly look into this complaint for me. If you feel you cannot, please can you send this to the correct company for them to deal with.

 

I am emailing with regards to monies have been taken, without permission from mine and my husbands bank account.*

My husband signed up for a free trial, he wasn’t able to find the information that he required, so cancelled the subscription forthwith. This was well within the 14 day time frame given.*

 

Friday 25th July, we checked our bank and discovered Ancestry had taken the subscription anyway. *Due to being left with 72p in our bank we had to cancel the end of our holiday. This was disappointing for our 2 older children and also for us. This was our first ever family holiday and it had been ruined.*

 

This also left me with the dilemma of how to feed my children,the youngest being only 7 months old and reliant on formula and nappies, of which I had only enough for a day at the most. I didn’t even know if the petrol I had left would get us home.

 

When I contacted your staff they were most unhelpful, but one lady I spoke to advised that I could contact my bank and they could recoup the money straight away. This was an obvious ploy to get me off the phone though, as my bank had never heard of such a thing. My bank also advised that due to it being taken from a debit card, it was classed as a *cash transaction and should be refunded instantly, they had never heard of it taking 7-10 working days.*

 

I contacted your customer service team back to discuss what my bank had advised, and was told it was because my money had gone through Luxembourg and then the USA before it comes back. Why does my money, taken by a .co.uk*company go through Luxembourg??*

 

I then got contacted by a member of your management team, who advised it was a courtesy call to advise they couldn’t do anything. I then asked him if it was*Ancestry.co.uk*stance that they were happy to leave me and my family with no money until the following week, he advised "yes it is, and there is nothing that can be done". I asked some questions with regards to the account and he advised that because it was my husbands he wouldn’t discuss it with me, even though 3 previous members of staff had, as my husband had left permission on the account to talk to me, This Manager refused. All I can tell you about him is that he was Irish and called G****, and was duty manager*on Friday, but he didn’t give his surname.*

 

Due to the manager refusing to discuss with me, my husband rang back. The first time a member of your staff advised they didn’t have to discuss it any further with him and put the phone down on him. Second time he rang back, he was advised that he would be reported to the police for harassment if he continued to call back. Surely your theft of my money is worse then a phone call asking when it will be repaid?*

 

I would like a response to my complaint with in 7 business days. Firstly I would like to know why my money was taken, with no warning, and secondly I would like to know why myself and my husband was treated this way by your staff, and effectively your company.*

 

I put it to you that why is it not a company policy to notify customers that funds will be coming out of their account before money is taken, if this had been done this problem would not have happened.

I would also like to know why a years subscription for the world wide package had been debited from my account when I had not signed up for this package. I can only assume that this is automatically done when signing up for a free trial. This in itself seems to be very bad practice. Or is it a fact that Ancestry hope that people will forget and have a nice tidy sum for doing nothing.

 

If I do not get a satisfactory answer with regards to this complaint, I will be contacting the Financial Ombudsman, who will investigate this further. Also I will be contacting the media about this as I feel that Ancestry has fraudulently taken my money as no valid reason so far has been given as to why monies have been taken from my account after I had cancelled the subscription before the 14 day trial was up. Also there is no valid reason why funds could not have been returned on the day requested as it was a debit card that was used.

 

I will look forward in your response to this matter.

 

Kind regards*