ATG Theatre Card Cancelled After Paying In Advance For 12 Months **resolved **

[Heckler]

My pensioner mum likes the theatre... For years she's been the full time carer for my dad who recently passed away and couldn't go very often.

 

So to treat herself, we encouraged her to go more often. She decided to apply for one of the ATG theatre cards to get discounts on some of the tickets she was planning on booking over the next few months.

 

http://www.atgtickets.com/theatrecard/

 

This card was taken out on the 15th Sept and the £35 yearly fee paid upfront. They set up a Direct Debit to automatically take the following years payment in Sept 2017 and was informed by the staff that if she didn't want to renew, she should just cancel the direct debit.

 

After working out what she could save, and realising that most of the shows they wanted had restrictions on when and where you could use the discount card (crap seating or only midweek/matinee shows)... she didn't think she'd renew it next Sept and so instead of forgetting about it in 11 months time... She cancelled the direct debit in Oct.

 

She then went to get some tickets for another show and they wouldn't accept her ATG card at the theatre, said wasn't being accepted. So she had to pay full price, and contacted ATG directly this morning to find out why.

 

She was told point blank that her ATG card had been cancelled because she cancelled the direct debit... despite the fact that she had already paid in advance for a full 12 months.

 

They were very unhelpful, made all sorts of excuses... customer drone said he'd speak to his manager and came back saying nothing he could do... My mum asked to speak to his manager, was told 'sorry he's in a meeting'... 30 seconds after he has allegedly spoken to him... So it's clear that he's not spoken to a manager and is just lying about it, or lying that they're in a meeting.

 

So my mum asked what would happen if she set up the direct debit again... and was told they would charge her £35 for the year again...

 

Now they've accepted £35 for 12 months use of the card, so a contract exists between them... for them to cancel less than a month later because she stopped the Sept 2017 debit from being taken... means that they have effectively 'stolen' that money and denied her the use of the card over the period of the contract.

 

She is currently waiting for a return call from ATG (if the drone actually gets his manager to call... but I'm very doubtful as they seem utterly useless)

 

I know she can call her bank and get a chargeback on the card payment she used to make the original... and should be able to get that £35 back.

 

But where does she stand on the issue... they've taken £35 and then cancelled her contract without notice or justifiable reason... which to me is fraudulent.

 

If they haven't contacted her today, on Monday we will be calling the bank and will also be calling the consumer show on 3 Counties radio as we are both very angry about what they have done... and I'm wondering how many other people have been screwed in this manner.

[BankFodder]

Apart from the fact that these people are clearly in breach of the contract anyway, even their own terms and conditions make it clear that if you cancel your direct debit, that you will only be liable for any unpaid fees. It doesn't say anything about cancelling your existing card.

 

7. CANCELLING YOUR ATG THEATRE CARD

7.1 Subject to the following, ATG Theatre Card membership is non-refundable. You have the right to cancel Your ATG Theatre Card membership within 14 days of Acceptance. If You do choose to cancel within this 14 day “cooling off” period, You will receive a full refund of the Initial Fee upon receipt of Your returned ATG Theatre Card, provided that ATG may charge You for any Benefits which You have received since Acceptance by virtue of Your membership, including any discounts, promotions, fee savings and priority booking. Memberships will run for the Validity Period and cannot be cancelled outside of the stated “cooling off” period.

7.2 If You do wish to cancel Your ATG Theatre Card and You are eligible to do so, You should call Our Customer Care team on 020 8544 7469. Alternatively an ATG Theatre Card Cancellation form can be found on Our website: http://resources2.atgtickets.com/static/custom/docs/atg-theatre-card-cancellation-form-may16.docx. Your cancelled ATG Theatre Card should be returned to us at the following address: ATG Customer Care, Victoria Hall, Bagnall Street, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST1 3AD.

7.3 If Your application for an ATG Theatre Card has been Accepted and You choose to pay by Direct Debit You have the right to cancel Your Direct Debit in accordance with the Direct Debit Guarantee below. If You cancel Your Direct Debit inside the “cooling-off” period your ATG Theatre Card will be cancelled automatically and the terms of Clause 7.1 will apply. If You cancel Your Direct Debit outside of the “cooling off” period You are required to pay to ATG on demand within 7 working days of ATG notifying You in writing (including by email) the full amount of the Initial Fee (or, as the case may be, the relevant Renewal Fee) by another payment method. If You do not pay the Initial Fee You will be in breach of these Conditions and ATG will cancel Your ATG Theatre Card. ATG also reserves the right to require that You pay to ATG on demand (a) the full amount of the Initial Fee (or, as the case may be, the relevant Renewal Fee) or (b) the value of any Benefits received since Acceptance, including any applicable ticket or booking fees that would have applied to the purchase of tickets had You not held a valid ATG Theatre Card, whichever is the lower.

 

http://www.atgtickets.com/theatre-card-terms-and-conditions/#two

 

If ATG Theatre cards wants to say that any of their terms and conditions permit them to cancel the theatre card without refund in the circumstances, then that term or condition would, in my view, be unfair and therefore unenforceable.

 

I can only imagine that this is something that some jobsworth is doing and that if anybody with an ounce of responsibility in the ATG set up new about it, they would immediately restore the card and also give compensation. Better still, as you don't seem to want it any more then it seems to me that this is such a fundamental breach of the contract that they have effectively terminated the contract and that you should get your refund.

 

Frankly I would suggest that you get the refund from the bank and wait for ATG to start being stupid and to start threatening some debt collection action – in which case will be more than pleased to help you.

[dx100uk]

DD guarantee reclaim time me thinks?

[martin2006]

DD guarantee reclaim time me thinks?

 

Would have been paid by card upfront and dd set up for next years annual fee in sept 17 so no dd guarantee payment to claim back as yet but a S75 sounds more possible

[dx100uk]

Sounds like it was a debit card for the upfront payment

if so then its chargeback time?

[Heckler]

OK, I have a little more info now..

. A credit card was used to pay for it, so that's better protected..

 

 

. But when I asked my mum to double check the dates..

. It looks like she cancelled the DD within the cooling off period..

 

 

. Except that at no point when she signed up for it (at Milton Keynes Theatre Box Office) was she informed that there was a cooling off period, or that if cancelled within that period the ATG theatre card would be automatically cancelled.

 

She's over 70 and because she wasn't informed of those terms & conditions..

. but WAS informed she could cancel the DD whenever she wanted to avoid automatic payment coming out in Sept 2017..

 

 

. She had no idea that she should wait a few weeks to cancel.

ecause as she put it, she would have forgotten all about it by then.

 

Also..

. who is liable for the contract as it was taken out at a theatre that's part of the scheme and not through the actual website/company itself that runs it.

 

Either way..

. she's not been able to use it and is entitled to a full refund..

So I've told her to phone her CC company and get it refunded instead of attempting to deal with a company who're only trying to fob her off and make her call a chargeable number to speak to anyone.

[dx100uk]

brilliant

section 75

as you say much better protection..

[Heckler]

I've done some more digging into this over the weekend, as it appears some one from ATG reads these forums and contacted my mum via email... quite how they put the two together I don't know... Perhaps my mum was the only one that had raised this complaint recently.

 

I was down visiting her over the weekend... and so I went through my mums receipts for theatre tickets, as she purchased tickets at the same time as signing up for the discount and she said she'd paid for the ATG card at the same time... Except upon checking the price of the tickets against the payment made... there was no additional payment for the ATG card taken. So because she cancelled the card without ever using it, and during the cooling off period and before they first payment was due... ATG are quite correct in cancelling the card as their T&C state and my mum is owned no money at all.

 

She's got a little confused about what she had paid for and because she was told she could cancel the DD at any point... did so within the 14 days... Not knowing it would cancel the card and that she'd not actually paid for the year already.

 

Let's call it a senior moment and leave it at that.

 

She now has to consider if it's worth signing up for again as she's already purchased the tickets for the xmas panto with her friends, a comedy with me and the ballet with my sister... which was part of the reason she signed up because that lot would have saved her the £35 fee alone.

 

Thanks for the helpful advice given, and thanks to whomever it is at ATG that seems to monitor the forums... They're not to blame at all, it's a senior moment my dear old mum made.