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Anonymous User
Not applicable

What kind of scummy company charges a customer for a non-service?

I tried the NowTV free week trial. They added in a Boost package which wasn't obvious. I cancelled the trial and I'm pretty sure I cancelled all the items.

 

Now I find they are taking £5 a month for a Boost package (The boost is completely useless by itself since it provides HD and up to 3 devices). The name Boost itself is self evident that it cannot and should not exist without a running package.

 

What kind of scummy company takes money from its customers for a service they cannot even get any use from?

 

I suggest if you suffered from this too you should do what I'm doing and contact your credit card company and raise a dispute. I've also begun writing to Trading standards to raise an official complaint. 

15 REPLIES 15
gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User 

Did you take the trial for cinema and entertainment memberships from the offers page? 

If so this clearly states that boost is automatically added as part of the trial. 

 

https://www.nowtv.com/offers

 

ENTERTAINMENT & CINEMA + BOOST

7 day free trials
After that it's £24.98 a month. Cancel anytime.

 

New Cinema, Entertainment and Boost customers. After your 7 day free trials, membership auto-renew monthly at; £9.99 Cinema; £9.99 Entertainment; £5 NOW Boost. Unless cancelled. You can cancel anytime.

 

Feel free to jump onto live chat and see if staff can offer you a refund. Use the method indicated in my signature below.

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Boost is a supplementary service add-on on top of a TV service.

 

It cannot by definition exist without a running service. You cannot "Boost" something you don't have.

 

Boost is automatically added into the initial sales processes quietly. If  you've cancelled the active service they implicitly you cannot be charged for Boost. It's not fit for purpose as it does nothing and offer zero value to the customer alone.

 

I did speak with customer services and they were happy to continue taking my money giving no value in return. I got disconnected three times in their shoddy chat window app.

 

I've initiated a charge back with my credit card company as they refuse to refund it. I'm writing to Trading standards to make a complaint. Too tired of these type of rip-off companies. It's a shame because I was about to signup fully after I had completed a project I was working on.

gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User 

Send an email to customer services to save you dealing with Live chat. Address is in my signature below.

 

The offer clearly states boost £5 unless cancelled after the 7 day trial(s). So even if you cancelled the entertainment and cinema trials it appears that you failed to cancel the Boost. Resulting in the continued payments.

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
Anonymous User
Not applicable

I haven't "failed" to do anything. I joined the service using a single form and went through the cancellation process using a single form.

 

The process of unsubscribing is convoluted and engineered to leave a useless "Boost" running despite the fact the customer has cancelled.

 

By cancelling all TV subscriptions it's implied you wont be requiring any enhancements to those subscriptions.

 

If a customer rented a car and took the optional sat nav, would it be acceptable to continue charging for the sat nav after the car rental had been cancelled? No.

 

If a customer took a gym membership and opted for the fresh towels and then subsequently cancelled their gym membership, would it be acceptable to continue to charge for a towels they can never use? No.

 

Any yet here we are with NowTV charging an ongoing fee for "Boost" (the ability to see HD movie on several devices) when there is no underlying services. Not acceptable. The only reason they get away with it is because they can digitally mug people without any repercussions.

 

 

 

 

 

Just because this is a digital product doesn't mean NowTV should digitally mug their customers when nobody would tolerate their 

gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User 

The terms and conditions are there, you need to cancel boost. You didn't so you kept being billed. 

 

It might be daft to be billed for boost but for no other active TV memberships. 

 

This is a customer to customer forum, you will only find other customers on here posting. To save us going in circles, send an email to customer services to get it sorted out.  

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
Anonymous User
Not applicable

The terms and conditions are irrelevant. I couldn't sell you a ticket for an event that doesn't exist just because I write my own terms and conditions, just as it isn't legal to bill for product you cannot possibly use. It isn't fit for purpose. If terms and conditions were the be all and end all we wouldn't need Trading Standards.

 

I'll send an email, but looking around the Internet I see there reputation is mud and this happens to many people.

 

 

 

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Just found this in my original order receipt. Bold is my own emphasis.

 

"Your membership will roll on each month at the standard price, unless you cancel. NOW Boost will only roll on from month to month if you also have an active monthly membership. Check out the T&Cs below to see what you’ll pay."

 

 

The T&C's

 

HOW DO I CANCEL/STOP GETTING A MONTH MEMBERSHIP SERVICE?
To stop any monthly membership service, follow the instructions set out on the NOW website. If the period it covers hasn't started, you won't be charged for it. Remember, once your access to a monthly membership service stops, you won't be able to watch anything you haven't finished (or started) watching. If you stop a service you can always re-activate it on your account at a later date. NOW Boost will either automatically end after a minimum of 30 days following cancellation of your memberships or where there is no monthly membership service on the account, unless you have purchased it via a third party (such as Apple) where it will continue to renew until cancelled

 

redchiz1
Champion 2

@Anonymous User I too was under the impression that you cannot have a Boost membership without any other active TV memberships as there is, erm, nothing to Boost? In fact from what I recall you need to have a Cinema and/or Sports membership active, you cannot have it with Entertainment alone. Which is a shame for me personally, because when I bin off Sports at the end of the football season I will have to ditch the lot. 

 

Do keep us posted as to how you get on. 

RoyB
Legend

@redchiz1 

 

I certainly do have Boost with just Entertainment, so be of good cheer over this.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.