Unethical subscription renewal on a news site. Support does not address the issue.

Community Forums Legal Advice India Unethical subscription renewal on a news site. Support does not address the issue.

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    • #62903 Reply
      User_06aadf37
      Participant
        U
        User_06aadf37
        PARTICIPANT
        January 31, 2025 at 6:40 am
        Heres the scenario:

        * I have premium subscription to a news site (Indian company) thats expiring sometime in March.
        * News site has an offer for me to renew the subscription at a discount (Republic Day offer). I get the notification on the news app.
        * I decide to renew it since the subscription offers on their site mention that early renewals would start from the date of expiry of the current renewal.
        * During the renewal process I have to enter my email and phone number (cannot proceed to payment without phone number)
        My account is setup using my email only, I strictly use my email to login, no other personal info is shared.
        * They create a new account with my phone number, completely ignoring my email which has the existing subscription.
        * I had lost almost 2 months of subscription because their system is not configured properly.

        On emailiing the support team outlining my issues, they just responded with: “We cannot cancel your subscription or process a refund”

        While all I’m asking them to do is to start the new subscription from the day of expiry of the current subscription, instead of the payment date.

        Is there some way to escalate this issue beyond the support team?

        Could this be a valid reason to go to consumer courts?
        I have no idea on how consumer protections work for this scenario.

        Is it even worth the effort if consumer courts are a massive headache? (assumption on my part, if it’s a smooth process I would gladly take it up)

      • #62904 Reply
        User_08d025a7
        Participant
          U
          User_08d025a7
          PARTICIPANT
          January 31, 2025 at 6:58 am
          If you paid via credit card, try chargeback. Also, most sites would have an escalation matrix. Escalate it till you find someone who listens.

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