Gozit

I purchased an item from best buy (cell phone) in June 2019 and was told if I sign up for 3 months of the Geek Squad protection plan at $15 each I would get a free case and screen protector. $45 was cheaper then the cost of both of those so I went for it. 3 months later called to cancel and was told it was cancelled and given a confirmation number. Next month, still getting charged, so I called again, asked to speak to a supervisor and was refused, but told my subscription was cancelled and provided another confirmation number via email.

Charges keep coming in so I have begun to dispute them with my credit card company. I win the disputes but am having to dispute the monthly charges each month. They will just not stop charging my card.

Is there any way to stop this? Would calling the bank and saying my card is lost/stolen so I get a new card number and the old one is invalidated cause any issues with my credit when the subscription goes to charge me and the charge bounces?

Not really sure what to do here.

Oink

Call your local TV news station. They’re lazy so they love these types of stories when the fall in their lap.

Siouxie

Have you cancelled it in writing - or verbally by phone / online only? I would suggest you write to Best Buy at their corporate headquarters stating it is your intention to make a case against them under the Consumer Protection Act of Ontario. https://www.ontario.ca/page/your-rig...lling-contract I no longer trust any verbal communication after suffering fools from Freedom for 7 weeks - only since telling their social team to tag me as a "Legal Risk" have their executive team got involved.

Their corporate address is: 8800 Glenlyon Pkwy, Burnaby, BC V5J 5K3 - and you can find a name to address it to from their exec list. https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/about/o...9ce26837073911 You could also try emailing them directly - something like m.povse @bestbuy.ca perhaps Mat Povse is Senior Vice President, Retail & Geek Squad Services - so the ideal one to make a complaint to.

Cancelling your credit card and making a complaint to the Better Business Bureau is another option. Going public on their Twitter / FB pages won't bring you any joy - their social team will only direct to go to PM/DM and give you platitutdes and assurances that mean nothing - as will their accounts team (phone). (or do what Oink suggested )
https://www.bbb.org/ca/bc/burnaby/pr...td-0037-100279

scrubbedexpat091

Tell the bank to cancel your card, issue a new card stops the charges from happening and then you can see if they contact you to resolve payment and chew them a new one...ha ha

Jingsamichty

Report the charges as fraudulent to the bank, and tell the bank to stop allowing these fraudulent charges to be made to your account. Give the bank copies of the emails you've had from Best Buy.

If that doesn't work, hire a muck-spreader and spray their head office with 5,000 gallons of pig slurry. Best Buy or the bank, doesn't matter which.

dbd33

That's what I do, I keep a card specifically for dealing with dodgy companies, Bell in particular, so I have some control over what they can take. Cancelling that card doesn't disrupt anything else.

BristolUK

Tempting though it is that could store up problems for the future.

I'm actually surprised the bank didn't do this straight away. Maybe they didn't because it's a reputable company.

Years ago - but in the UK - I cancelled a subscription and it stopped. Some months later I noticed a couple of those charges again, but it was completely random, presumably so I'd be less likely to notice (or report) than if it was regular. Luckily I caught it, reported, got fully refunded and the bank cancelled the card, issuing a new one.

On separate occasions since, mystery charges have appeared on the Canadian accounts - likely as a result of someone hacking Amazon or something similar - and the bank has cancelled/replaced the cards automatically.

Jingsamichty

I'm a bit confused... do you actually cancel the card just because someone has incorrectly charged to it? That seems a bit extreme.

Just call the bank and them that you do not authorise charges from XXX and give them copies of the correspondence, then it's the bank's problem.

BristolUK

Gozit says they are repeatedly charging to it even though they say (twice) it's cancelled.
Now that you put it like that, I think that's what my bank did when I called about the cancelled subscription randomly charging. (the replacement card was for when someone intercepted my renewal card).

But that was a UK bank just denying that named charge. Canadian banks - as we know - may not be so efficient.

dbd33

I go a bit beyond that. I have quite a few subscriptions paid by credit card and they get disrupted when the card in cancelled. Similarly, lots of websites have the card number and I don’t want to have to rekey it when the card is cancelled. I keep a card, with a low limit, for dealing with organisations I expect to make improper charges. Obviously I try not to deal with such companies but if the choice is Bell/Bell Mobility or Rogers there’s not a lot one can do.

Getting the bank to deal with an improper charge means going through hell with the menus and call centers and then dealing with someone with whom I do not have a language in common. Card cancellation is all digital so I’d rather go that way.

scrubbedexpat091

I tried what you suggested once, Capital One cancelled the card and issued a new one anyhow. lol

Granted a better card issuer like Amex may be more willing to deal with the issue and correct it, but Capital One not so much, they do things the simple way, cancel card, send new one. lol

Jingsamichty

I'm genuinely astonished. If a Third Party makes an erroneous charge to your account why on earth should you pay?

dave_j

Excellent advice. Whenever I had issues like this I'd find an equivalent to Director Customer Relations and send a letter with a large black underlined heading COMPLAINT and detail the problem. I'd then CC this to the CEO and whoever else I could find at director level and I'd make it clear in the original that it was being copied to all. Generally worked and it made me feel better.
I've even sunk to sending one letter and copying a different version to others to maximise embarrassment. This worked but I did get found out when they compared notes.

Gozit

Thanks all

Issue is hopefully resolved - I called the bank, they did a dispute on the last 2 months of charges as well as cancelled and reissued my card with a new card number. (the representative's suggestion, not mine.)

I then called best buy once more to cancel the subscription bc I was worried about them continuing to charge a cancelled card and affecting my credit. I was told a supervisor forced the cancellation and issued me a $70 odd refund for the charges, so we'll see how this plays out now. (I did not mention the disputed transaction to the best buy rep - i simply wanted the subscription cancelled on their side.)