Terminate contracts concluded on the Internet? Difficult, but we can help, service providers claim. Why you shouldn't trust them and why dismissals shouldn't be out of your hands.
The streaming subscription, the insurance policy or the mobile phone contract: Consumers have long concluded a large number of their contracts online. And since the summer of 2022, contracts concluded there must also be able to be easily terminated with a mouse click on the website of the respective company, including the following confirmation of receipt, for example by e-mail.
The so-called cancellation buttons should also be used if possible and not fall for dubious offers from cancellation service providers who operate from other EU countries, warns the European Consumer Center Germany (EVZ). These service providers claimed that terminating was complicated and that they paid dearly for their unnecessary and inadequate service.
One problem: Because not all companies have yet implemented cancellation buttons, it can happen that consumers start an internet search for a cancellation option and then end up with such questionable service providers who often give the impression of being in direct contact with the company , which is to be terminated.
But these service providers only bring trouble into the house: They provide no proof that the notice of termination was sent, they either did not send notices at all or sent them to the wrong address and they did not check deadlines, although consumers assumed that an effective and timely notice would be given termination had taken place. Then, in case of doubt, a contract will continue to run for a fee.
But that's not all: According to the EVZ, the service providers often don't just collect a one-off payment for each alleged termination. In some cases, unnoticed and unintentionally by consumers, they set up a customer account that entails monthly costs.
In the event that a company should not yet offer a cancellation button, consumer advocates advise writing the cancellation yourself in the classic way and sending it by e-mail, for example. The address and the notice period can be found in the contract, on an invoice or in the general terms and conditions.
According to the information, the notice should include the name and address, customer number, the date of termination or the wording "as soon as possible". You should also ask for a confirmation of termination with the date of the end of the contract. The EVZ also offers sample letters on its website.
