This is my response from Citizens advice UK, they have passed the complaint to Trading Standards:
Dear Mr Harding,
Thank you for your enquiry to the Citizens Advice consumer service dated 10th September. Your reference number for this enquiry is ZC 18019136.
We understand from your email that you had an automatic renewal of an annual subscription for Fitbit premium. £79.99 was taken from your account. You contacted Fitbit only to be advised that the subscription is non-refundable, and all they have done is cancel the renewal that will occur on the 10th of September 2024.
You have not used any of the service, and do not wish to. You believe this is a scam after reading reviews from other customers. There is no escalation process and you were directed to a forum where you found the reviews from others.
Your rights and obligations
The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) regulations 2013 give a consumer a 14 day cooling off period from the day after goods are received. This cancellation period should be provided on a durable medium such as letter, email or text message. If a cancellation period is not provided then the period can extend to anything up to 12 months and 14 days.
When this applies the “Burden of Proof” is on the Trader; meaning that they would need to prove that this cancellation period was given.
The right to cancel only applies to contracts entered into at a distance or off trade premises after June 2014. A distance contract is where a contract is entered into purely by distance means, where no face-to-face negotiations take place prior to entering into a contract with a trader.
If you choose to cancel a contract or return any goods, you should receive a refund within 14 days of cancellation or the trader receiving the goods back.
Your next steps
You could request that they provide your chosen remedy and set them a final deadline to do so via their complaints procedure; you will need to ask for this procedure.
Ensure you keep a copy of any communication you have with them and if this includes sending letters I would suggest you send them using a recorded delivery method, this will allow you to track the letter and have proof that it has been sent and received. An example of a recorded delivery method would be the “Recorded Signed For” service your local post office could provide you with. You can find guidance on what to include in a letter by clicking here.
We would also suggest sending any emails with a read receipt attached.
It would be worthwhile checking to see if trader is a member of a “Certified Alternative Dispute Resolution Scheme” which is a third party who may be able to help you resolve the issue if you cannot do so with the trader after following their complaints process. It would be worth checking the terms of reference of the scheme if they are a part of one, as these would tell you when they would offer you additional assistance.
You could also try to obtain a refund from your debit card issuer. To clarify, you may be able to seek a refund through the card issuer if they have a 'chargeback' scheme. Therefore, it would be advisable to submit a claim in writing to the bank, specifically mentioning the 'chargeback' scheme, and ask that the matter is resolved in a timely manner.
You should be aware that the card issuer would not have any legal obligation to comply with such a request, but some consumers affected by similar events have achieved a successful outcome by approaching their card issuer in the past.
If this fails and you are still unable to resolve the issue please come back to us for further advice.
What we need from you
· If, when you entered into the contract, you were provided with pre-contractual information, including a 14-day cancellation period?
What we will do
We’ll refer this issue to Trading Standards as the trader has failed to observe the cooling off period. Whilst this doesn’t help you resolve your problem, it gives Trading Standards vital intelligence about how the trader operates their business. They may contact you for further information if they need it.
If you would like to discuss this further please call us on *** or reply to this email.
Kind regards
Sheree
Citizens Advice consumer service
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