Difficulty cancelling motoring mag subs.

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sun 9 Nov 2003 14:45
Difficulty cancelling motoring mag subs. - David L
Hi All,

Ok, I appreciate this is something of a tenuous motoring link, so apologies to the mods in advance, but I\'m looking to see if any BRers have had trouble cancelling a subscription to a certain motoring magazine.

I\'m not going to name the magazine, so as not to land the site in any hot water, -- Sorry, nothing that may identify the publication -- ND

They have given me the run-around for the last few months, and have now settled on the argument that they changed publishers, and along with it, their refund policy (i.e. now subscriptions are non-refundable).
My view it that is wrong to try and apply this new policy to existing subscribers.

I am simply looking to recoup the balance of my subscription.

If anyone is experiencing / has experienced similar difficulties, please email me (the address should be in my profile)

I understand that the moderators may find that post is not generally acceptable motoring discussion material, and if this is the case, could I ask that the post is left up read only for a short while? I think this is possibly the best place on the \'net to find ex-readers in a similar situation

Thanks in advance
-David.
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Sun 9 Nov 2003 15:21
Difficulty cancelling motoring mag subs. - Raymondo
I would have thought under the \'fair comment\' rules - providing what you described was true, -- And there\'s the rub. We can\'t establish that it is true -- ND then the mods wouldn\'t have a problem. The real problem is if they will automatically renew and bill to a credit card for the following year despite your request to cease.

If they choose not to be honorouble, mitigate your loss, sell the balance of your subscription on Ebay, and the winner gets your sunscription amended to use his address...?
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Sun 9 Nov 2003 16:11
Difficulty cancelling motoring mag subs. - DavidHM
Legally, it\'s difficult to say without looking at the terms on which you subscribed.

Basically, there\'s no implied term in the contract that the magazine will remain anything other than a magazine devoted to cars, and although the fitness for purpose and reasonable quality provisions of the Sale of Goods Act do apply, as long as the magazine contains actual journalism (however widely defined) and some content you might reasonably expect from its name.

However, if your contract specifically says that you are entitled to cancel after x months, then you still are legally entitled to that cancellation. Even if the benefit of the contract has been transferred to a third party to the orginial contract, the new publisher, the burden (any rights you have, mainly the right to receive the magazine) will also transfer.

However, a \'policy\' - i.e., a preference by the original publisher for refunding money rather than continuing the subscription, rather than a contractual right in your favour, won\'t count, any more than the new publisher is obliged to print the same articles as before.

As for the mods of this site regarding naming and shaming - the issue is not whether or not it\'s true but whether or not they risk being sued as a publisher of anything defamatory. Just because they might legally be in the right doesn\'t mean that they want to have to go to the trouble of proving it.

Bingo! Thanks DavidHM. ND
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