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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Rebecca Smithers

Dates of a different kind are now at issue with match.com

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Seeing red, when dating site continued to receive direct debits after cancelling membership. Photograph: Steve Sant/Alamy

I cancelled my account with online dating- agency match.com last September. But, on checking my bank account recently, I discovered it has continued to charge me the monthly fee of £36.98. That is seven months (a total of £258.86) from October until April. I am extremely upset as I have been having a very hard time financially. RB, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

This letter should stand as a warning to all those people who, like you, do not scrutinise credits and debits on their bank account for months on end.

We initially suspected that the problem- arose from a continuous payment authority, not a straightforward standing order or direct debit.

But this was not the case – the subscription was paid by direct debit, and match.com told us it could find no record of a cancellation from last autumn. It did, however, find an instruction- from you dated at the end of April. It says: “We received a cancellation request on 24 April, when we immediately cancelled his subscription. We appreciate the custom of all our members and, as a gesture of goodwill, have refunded the full value of RB’s subscription from October 2014.”

Now make sure you check your account in the future …

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number

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