I recently found that Blockbuster Online having been deducting fees of £14.99 per month since January. I don't have an account with them and declined to become a member of the site after trying a free trial in December 2007.

I stopped all further payments to them and contacted Blockbuster Online to ask for a refund and that they correct their accounts. The first week I was given nothing but fob off replies, and then, I was given the UK Blockbuster site address to contact them about the problem. After two weeks of sending emails asking them to look into this issue, I have still received no reply, not even an acknowledgement of my query. Can anyone advise me how to get these faceless internet people to actually take me seriously and deal with the issue?

The terms of many of these "free" promotions are that you must give your bank details together with authority to charge unless/until you cancel. You should check the exact terms of this deal. If you did cancel at the end of the trial and have still been charged, you should first contact Blockbuster (which you have done and got nowhere) then contact your bank and tell them that the charges have not been auhorised and should be reversed. The bank should then go through their procedure for disputed payments. At some stage you may be asked for details of when and how you cancelled the trial. It's best, if you anticipate problems, to put things in writing.

Have you looked through the full "Unlimited DVD Rental T&Cs" which give extra ways of contacting them? Easy to overlook because the page is headed up with four different T&Cs. I am at a loss to understand how they have managed to charge you without sending you any DVDs - I'm a member of Lovefilm, the largest one, have followed the industry and read the WHICH? report but have never seen this identified as a problem. Could this, from the T&Cs, possibly have something to do with the situation?

"By you: You may tell us that you wish to cancel your Subscription Package at any time by accessing the My Account area of the Site, and by clicking on Cancel Your Subscription Account."

If the worst comes to the worst maybe if you went into or phoned a major store?

Hope this is of some help.

thanks for your replies, folks. I did terminate the free trial properly and have taken all the steps suggested already. Thanks for the T&C information, I hadn't thought of that, an alternate contact address is probably the only way I'm going to get an answer.

Well this issue is closed and with great dissatisfaction. I now heartily recommend that people avoid blockbusters like the plague because their incompetence costs the customer not them. While I did all that I should to cancel my account, Blockbusters did not keep their end up and kept the account open. They now tell me that as I had no proof the account was cancelled they will not refund the money they took from me. I have now in no uncertain terms made sure that this account is dead and that they will not steal further from me. Many thanks to all who tried to help in this issue, especially drumster as it was your information that enabled me to put a stop to this incompetent company and their unscrupulous neglect. May my misfortune serve as a sound warning to others; Blockbusters are like all profiteers, answerable to no-one for anything they do.