Foxtel - Another Account Charge without My Express Authorisation

Related Stores

FOXTEL

• 

  harrywwc on 20/11/2017 - 14:42

  +1

  Hi there,
  if you re-read the terms and conditions, you will probably find that, like many other 'direct debit' purchases (eg Health Insurance) you will have agreed to increases in the charges being automatically applied.
  You choices come down to:
  1 - suck it up and accept the increased charges
  2 - grizzle to them as you have done, and see if they will reverse the increase - but this will become tedious
  3 - terminate the service - which may lead to all sorts of new issues with them continuing to charge and having to resort to #2
  hth,
  .h

  • 

    Almost Banned on 20/11/2017 - 17:37

    +1

    Or, complain to the ACCC that the clause is unconscionable and have it set aside as an unfair contract term.

    • 

      HighAndDry on 21/11/2017 - 10:28

      A clause that results in a few dollars extra per month isn't unconscionable. Don't throw around words that you don't know the meaning of.

    • 

      SirFlibbled on 24/11/2017 - 15:24

      +1

      Not necessarily.

      If you're not on a fixed contract (ie a 2 year term) then the contract effectively rolls month over month.

      This means that they can increase their fees if they give you sufficient notice (about the same period at the contract). So if your contract ends on the 1st of each month and on the 1st of November they email you saying "The price will increase from $65 to $70 as of next month" and you don't cancel, then it can roll over at that higher price.

      What they can't do is just apply a higher charge without informing you.

  • 

    garetz on 20/11/2017 - 18:52

    +2

    That's why you should never agree to direct debit, not only can they stick you with the monthly cost, and get around the contracted payments, but they also get your money from your account and there is nothing you can do about it, unlike with monthly credit card purchases which can be disputed.

• 

  HighAndDry on 20/11/2017 - 14:45

  +1

  I'm sure someone will point out to me that it's in the terms and conditions I've agreed to but it's still very frustrating.

  This is likely the case yes. Having said that however, if there is a direct-debit arrangement, when signing up you should have also signed a direct-debit authority form, and on that form it should (separately) set out how much you're authorizing Foxtel to debit your account for. Whether this was a number, or a clause that says "the amount pursuant to the Agreement", I can't say.

  • 

    pjetson on 20/11/2017 - 14:57

    +1

    how much you're authorizing Foxtel to debit your account for

    As far as your bank is concerned, a direct debit agreement authorises Foxtel to take out any damn amount they ask for, and your bank will pay it.

    You may have an agreement with Foxtel to take out a particular amount, but you've given your bank an authorisation to allow Foxtel to take out anything they want.

    I had an experience where an electricity company took $900 out of my account that they were not entitled to, by direct debit. They said it was "a mistake", but it cost me hours of time to get it (and compensation) back from the thieves.

• 

  thatonethere on 20/11/2017 - 14:50

  +4

  What you do is ring them up and ask to cancel your account - they will pass you onto Retentions where they will make you some offers in order to retain you as a customer. Usually you can get some discount or extra channels.

  • 

    Sheila Dealer on 20/11/2017 - 16:51

    +3

    I cancelled my service last month. It was disconnected instantly and nobody was interested in retaining my custom.

    • 

      thatonethere on 20/11/2017 - 19:20

      Ouch…

    • 

      Unbranded on 20/11/2017 - 22:11

      +2

      Same experience here. They said current Foxtel offers are for new customers only and I would have received a sign up offer originally - that was 15 years ago! I expressly asked sales to call me if they could make me a better offer but the only call I received was a follow up call to make sure I had returned my box.

    • 

      ausbob71 on 04/12/2017 - 11:20

      Same as me they didn't seem to care they were losing a customer.

• 

  pjetson on 20/11/2017 - 14:53

  +1

  Can they suddenly charge their $200 per month by simply sending their customers an email and debiting their account without receiving express authorisation from the customer for this amount?

  Basically, yes. And they don't even really need to send you an email first!

  It might frighten you to know that by authorising Foxtel to take direct debits from your account, you've actually instructed your bank to pay out ANY amount that Foxtel chooses to charge you, and even if that amount overdraws your account!

  You then have to ask Foxtel to give you back any money that they take that you didn't expressly agree to. Your bank will not help you.

• 

  JimmyF on 20/11/2017 - 15:21

  +1

  A few months later they decided to debit my account $61, then upped it to $65 per month

  and what does your BILL say these charges/increases are coming from!?

• 

  Sheila Dealer on 21/11/2017 - 14:56

  I had to ring Foxtel today about my Father’s account which gave me the opportunity to ask about the additional 3 cents which he had also been charged. Apparently it’s an annual fee for 3 particular channels (Chelsea?) that you are automatically subscribed through Sport at 1 cent per channel.

  • 

    ozisaver on 22/11/2017 - 20:52

    thanks for that. a friend just told me the same thing. although it's an insignificant amount of money i think i should be 'opt in' rather than having to manually 'opt out'. What's the point of paying for a sports package when you don't even get all the sports channels included?

• 

  ozisaver on 22/11/2017 - 20:51

  Thanks guys for your feedback. I didn't realise direct debit meant they could technically debit my account for any amount they thought was reasonable and not just what i officially signed up to. I will give the a call and see if they can offer a better deal than what I've currently got. Sadly as with most companies they are only interested in getting new customers and don't really give a damn about their existing customers.

  • 

    SirFlibbled on 24/11/2017 - 15:29

    They can't. They can only debit your account for what they're legally entitled. If they over charge you, you can seek recourse (ie tell them to give it back to you/sue etc).

    They MUST inform you of any increases in price outside of the current contract. As mentioned above, your foxtel contract effectively rolls over month by month once you're outside of the original term.

    • 

      Quantumcat on 27/11/2017 - 14:32

      I think the point is they can physically do it, even if you didn't agree as to the amount.

• 

  ausbob71 on 04/12/2017 - 11:18

  I cancelled Foxtel a couple of weeks ago as I was only using it to watch sport and they increased the monthly price and wouldn't agree to continuing the deal we had previously agreed on. Luckily I wasn't on direct debit and was able to dispute my last bill and have it reduced. I am just waiting for the nbn to be connected so I can stream sports as my current adsl isn't cutting it.