Ezyflix ceases disc rental service - Australian consumer rights to refunds? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 07:35:25 am
content: As of today, Ezyflix ceased its disc rental service where physical media is sent out by post.They offered a number of different subscriptions, one being an upfront yearly fee (which I took advantage of due to the discount and I was quite a heavy user of the service).According to Ezyflix's own terms and conditions:"Except where these rules expressly provide for a refund or credit, or the law requires it, we are never obliged to give a refund or credit in any circumstances."OK, I understand those are the terms I signed up to, however notwithstanding their own self-written terms and conditions, is there protection for such an event under the Australia Consumer Law? i.e.: You pay a certain amount for 12 months worth of service. If the provider ceases to provide the service (as opposed to the customer cancelling their account), is the customer entitled to a refund of the remaining "contract period"?I have also flicked this query off to the NSW Dept. of Fair Trading, but I'd like to know what those on here think. Perhaps you've had a similar experience?

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 10:30:33 am
content: This is their e-mail today:Hi *************Thank you for your call today. We have applied to cancel your account.Please note as per our terms and conditions:• For customers on a trial offer: you will be billed the monthly subscription if you do not call us before the end of the trial to cancel and/or we do not receive the discs back at the warehouse within 7 days of cancelling. Billing will continue until these discs have been accounted for;• For customers cancelling their monthly membership you will be billed until all discs we have sent you have been received back at the warehouse or otherwise accounted for.• We recommend you monitor the Current Rentals tab on 'My Account' to check we have received discs back and let us know immediately if they have become lost.• We do not offer refunds of pro-rata subscription fees. Late Return Fees may apply.Firstly, I didn't call them at all. I had to e-mail them asking WTF? They responded with a reference to a previous e-mail I had missed the day before saying they were canning their services. It was all very sudden.Since we're T-minus3 weeks, 6 days, 3 hours and 17 minutesuntil the new financial year, perhaps this was all planned to be written off as a loss against the business before the next financial year?? In any case, I've e-mailed them requesting a pro-rata refund and await their response. (E-mail in Australia is considered just as good as snail mail.)

author: Tandy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 10:56:08 am
content: Assuming you paid them using a card, if they refuse a pro-rata refund contact your card issuer and ask them to perform a chargeback for the pro-rata amount as the company has failed to supply the full service that you paid for.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 11:58:18 am
content: If the company has ceased trading, then no. If they are still solvent and have not provided the service you paid for, you are entitled to and have grounds take legal action.Once someone has your money however, the onus is essentially on you to force it back out of them, unless they are generous or honest enough to give it back.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 08:22:16 pm
content: Thanks for all the advice guys. Yes, the company is still trading, albeit they only offer their digital streaming service now as opposed the physical disc delivery I was subscribed to. Yeah fair enough if the company went under, I'd cut my losses, but they basically gave customers 24 hours notice before cutting them off whilst still clinging onto their "no refunds" policy -- that didn't sit right with me and felt it a little unfair.I'll see what their response is (if I get one).

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 09:07:26 pm
content: Doesn't their service agreement indicate 7 days notice? Look, it doesn't even matter what the agreement says to some extent. It's understood that when you enter into a contract, both parties are operating in good faith. Among other things, that means that you generally can't hide behind phrasing and contract gibberish. They can say "Terms subject to change at any time" all they want, but the understanding is always that the service they are providing doesn't change in any material way that harms you, or if it does you need to be made whole. For example, they may change terms to "Moving forward, some new releases will only be part of a higher priced service", or something like that, and that would probably be reasonable. Simply saying that they will no longer provide the service would likely not fly anywhere. What if they said, "We've changed out terms...we no longer rent movies. From now on, we give out daily horoscopes." Do you think that would fly just because they said their terms are subject to change at any time? Did your original agreement include actual discontinuation of service at their discretion? I doubt it.There's always a presumption of good faith, or at least there is in the US. I'm assuming you probably have stronger consumer protections in Australia. I predict if you fight for your refund, you'll get it.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 04:36:42 am
content: Well it seems they will refund, if you just ask. I guess they hope that some/most people won't. This is their response today:I'm happy to refund your unused membership amount once the three discs have been returned. Can you please confirm when they have been sent and I'll refund the balance of your subscription. Thanks

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 17, 2015, 02:18:26 am
content: Further to this, I got a call from the NSW Dept. of Fair Trading and they have confirmed that under Australian consumer law, anyone would be entitled to a refund of the unused portion of the contract in these circumstances, regardless of their terms and conditions or what the contract says. Where consumers are not entitled to a refund is where there is a change-of-mind by the customer.