Auto-renewal

Two years ago, I became a Fellowship member of the Goodwood Road Racing Club (GRRC) primarily to get early access to tickets for last year’s Festival of Speed. The Festival of Speed was a highlight of my European driving holiday last year, and the extra cost of the Fellowship was worth it to ensure I got tickets for the event. However, despite thinking I had cancelled my Fellowship membership late last year, I was surprised to see an auto-renewal charge on my bank account, which signed me up for another year of Fellowship membership.

I didn’t mind that the GRRC used an auto-renewal to renew my membership. Still, I was a little annoyed that they didn’t send an email in the weeks leading up to the auto-renewal to notify me of the pending charge and an opportunity to cancel it if required. Nevertheless, I sent a polite email asking them to cancel my membership and refund the total amount of my membership. Jodie from the GRRC sent me a polite response: “The Fellowship is an auto-renewing membership, and the renewal fee is automatically taken using your payment details from the previous year on the anniversary of purchase. We do email all members 2 weeks before their renewal is due, to advise them that this payment is due.” I don’t recall receiving the email regarding my renewal, but I can only take it at face value that they sent it.

Regardless, Jodie also mentioned that I was in the two-week cooling-off period, that she had cancelled my membership, and that I could expect a full refund in my account within the next seven days.