High charges for terminating membership of dating site
Are you joining a dating site? Then you have a 14-day cooling-off period within which you can cancel the membership free of charge and without giving a reason. You can meanwhile use the online dating services during this period. Can a dating site charge you for this if you decide to cancel the contract? The European Court of Justice explained.
Lawsuit against dating site Parship
A German consumer took out a premium membership of twelve months with Parship. The consumer paid € 523.95 for this. After four days, the consumer decided to cancel his membership and asked Parship to refund the monies paid. Parship then charged € 392.96 for the four days during which the consumer used the dating platform. The consumer disagreed with this and commenced legal proceedings to claim the full amount. The German judge submitted the case to the European Court of Justice.
Permitted to charge , but...
The Court clarified that when a consumer uses a service during the cooling-off period, the provider may charge for this. This charge must be reasonable and proportionate to the service provided until the point the consumer cancels the membership or subscription. The charges must also be proportionate to the sum the consumer would have paid for the contract in full.
Calculating charges
When calculating the charges, consideration must be given to the duration of the contract and the number of days the consumer used the service. The Court said indirectly that the costs Parship charged were disproportionate to the costs the consumer would have paid for premium membership for twelve months.
Court of Justice case law
Read the full judgement (case C 641/19) on the InfoCuria website.