Account reactivated without my permission

[Anonymous User]

Hello there,

I don't know if anyone can help me, but yesterday I was billed for a month of Now TV's movie pass, despite having cancelled my subscription last month. When I checked the billing history to see what was going on with my account, I discovered that Now TV had added a free month pass to my account without my consent on March 5th. 

I wasn't alerted to this having happened either, so I wasn't able to cancel the pass before it was renewed yesterday.

While I appreciate the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, it appears that there's no customer service active to request a refund through, which is extremely frustrating. How am I able to request a refund? And how am I able to prevent Now TV from reactivating my account again like this in the future?

[schnapps · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous User 

Anybody else has access to your account or devices such has children, friends or other family members who may have accidentally bought a pass without your knowledge (its easily done without adding a payment pin to your account) ?

If so i would suggest adding a payment pin to your account by going to My Account > Settings & Pins whilst logged in on here.

With regards to a refund and because live chat is closed due to the Coronavirus crisis.

Then if you go to My Account > Passes & Vouchers under FAQ "i think i have been incorrectly charged - what should i do" there should be a request form link to send back to NowTV.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the response @schnapps,

In regards to others having access to my account, nobody else has access to it. I live on my own and the only devices that the account has been used on are my laptop and my Playstation 4. So there is no way that anyone else could have applied a voucher to my account without me knowing. And the pass that was attached to my account on March 5th wasn't purchased, as it's showing up as having a billing total of £0.00. It's definitely a free voucher that has been applied to my account without my consent.

Thanks for guiding me to the refund form, I will see if I have any luck there.

[starman73]

My recommendation to prevent this is to make the payment card a revolut account with a low balance when you stop using the account. That way, Now wouldn't be able to get a payment from you. 

I must admit, I am surprised Now TV are still reviving accounts like this.  There was a bit of an outcry in the past, and subsequently when I got these offers it was stated there would be no automatic extension.

[ukbobboy]

@starman73  @Anonymous User  @schnapps 

You know S-Man

I agree with your solution about using a card with only just enough money on it to pay for want you want to use, otherwise Now TV will continue to use this potential legal loop hole (scam) to start dormant accounts whether you want them to or not. 

And you are right, they did say they weren't going to continue with that practice after the outcry, but I guess it was too lucrative to give up on and so decided to keep it going.

Plus, this is one of those secret policies customers/users know nothing about until it smacks you in the chops and then, if they bother to admit it, give you some half baked "propaganda speak" only a primary school youngster would believe.

As you can see, this is one of their "hidden policies" I intensely dislike and question it's legality because it a tactic/method widely used by mobile phone scammers, i.e. charging you for something you did not want or ordered because they hold or have access to the details of your credit or debit card.

UK Bob 

[starman73]

@ukbobboy  I don’t object to the adding of a free pass as long as the automated renewal is not associated with it.  
I have three accounts I use, Cinema/Ents, Sports[though that is currently cancelled] and Mobile Sports. I have the same revolut card for each of them and if any withdrawal occurs I see it.  However an automated renewal would only occur after the event, so I keep the balance low. Just enough to cover the next expected payment.

[ukbobboy]

@starman73 

Hi S-Man

The first sentence of your post, "I don’t object to the adding of a free pass as long as the automated renewal is not associated with it."  Smacked me in the face and had

me thinking "Surely this guy know's that an automated renewal will always follow that sucker punch freebie."  

However, when I read the rest of your post I realised you had the perfect "anti-hand in my pocket" defence in place, unlike the rest of us that still use ordinary credit and debit cards.

You know S-Man, I'm gonna look into this Revolut card because, at the moment, it looks like the best way to deal with online companies that require your credit or debit card details to provide their service.

Right now I'm gonna make brunch, watch Judge Judy and then the last two episodes of Marvel's Defenders, I watched the first 6, out of 8, episodes last night. 

Later.

UK Bob (aka Rambling Bob)

[starman73]

If you are willing to pay a little extra Revolut have a disposable virtual card. Which won’t make a recurring payment...

Each time you make an online payment with a Disposable Virtual Card, Revolut systems will instantly detect the transaction and then automatically destroy those card details, generating new ones that will appear directly in the app.

Disposable Virtual Cards will not work with subscription services or any other type of recurring payment, since the card details will renew after every payment.

https://blog.revolut.com/introducing-disposable-virtual-cards/