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Pressurised by LRC the debt collection agency
I signed up to a dating website 12 months ago called Adult Friend Finder to have a 12 month membership for £119. The website puts on an automatic renewal of membership, that I turned off. I deleted my account before the 12 months had elapsed and cancelled the Direct Debit with my bank. Today I received a call from a Debt Collection Agency telling me I had to pay another £159, £40 late payment charge, and that I could only cancel if the request was sent by email. I promptly visited the website to find this email and could not find it. The company is listed as being within the USA, at an address in Sacremento. The thing that scares me is that I will have to chase this company to get written recognition of my cancellation and will be chased by a Debt Collection Agency. What are my rights in this situation, as many others have stated, I feel incredibly intimidated by this Debt Collection Agency?
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EMPLOYEE
I’m
on the case
Hello Jason,
thanks for your question. Sorry to hear of your direct debit travails at this late hour.
One of the ClearDebt advisors will be onto this first thing in the morning and will update you here.Comment -
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Thanks. Just nice to even get a response this late.
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EMPLOYEE
1Hi Jason
Having looked into the terms and conditions of this company, unfortunately its not good news. The terms do state that termination is to be in writing, signed and dated by yourself explaining you wish to cancel your contract with them. However personally I don’t see why email confirmation shouldn’t be accepted and your termination granted. The only way to question this would be to contact the company directly and raise your complaint with them. Make your complaint in writing, clearly explaining what action you had taken and why you believed your membership had been cancelled. Request they withdraw your account from LRC whilst they investigate your complaint and ask for a copy of their complaints procedure. You should also send a copy of this letter to the LRC and also request they place your account on hold whilst your complaint with Friend Finder is resolved.
If Friend Finder reject your complaint and stand by their terms and conditions, you will unfortunately have to pay these fees back. Please also bear in mind that this debt will have an impact on your credit file should you prolong paying off this balance. You can often organise a payment plan with the debt collector or alternatively you can try and organise a short settlement, this is a lump sum to the collector paying off the balance but at a discounted rate. I understand that not everyone has this kind of money to hand, but if you explain the circumstances they may be more lenient with paying the debt back and having personal experience with LRC, they are a reasonable company to work with. -
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Thank you for your help, really appreciated. I received this email after having to telephone call the USA!!!!!! today because I felt delivery by post seemed completely unfeasible and unreasonable.
Would this qualify as written confirmation?
Dear Member,
Thank you for contacting us.
Per your request, we have already deleted your account dated November 1, 2011. On that note, you will not be billed anymore for this website.
If you have any further billing related questions, feel free to contact the Billing Department directly at:
Telephone: 1-408-702-1033 or (888) 575-8383
Email: Billing@adultfriendfinder.com
Thank you,
Nicelyn G.
Customer Service
I have a whole raft of other emails that I managed to send off to them asking various questions they were not able to answer. Many of them have suggested just turning off the auto-renew would be sufficient to prevent having payments being taken. The rubbish thing about it is it is my word against theirs regarding switching off the auto-renew.
Secondly, it has been only 34 days from payment due to beign transferred to a Debt Collection Agency. There was no written contact or telephone message made from AFF regarding any obligations to pay (I received two or three USA phonecalls but thought nothing of them). I read that I was to be informed by post what was occurring. Does this affect my case at all? -
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EMPLOYEE
1Hi Jason
As you have this in writing I would consider that to be confirmation your account is now closed, however it doesn’t state if in fact your debt with them is clear, I would write back and clarify that, the last thing you want is them to continue chasing you.
Unfortunately it is your word against theirs in regards to the auto renew but if you feel this is a concern, you can escalate your complaint in writing and they will have to look into that in detail. The calls you received were more than likely one of their team attempting to contact you, if they are unsuccessful they will then pass the debt on for collection, which they did in this case.
Your case does appear more positive but I would confirm if the debt is no longer outstanding, they have provided contact details for their billing department, I would try them first. -
