Chess.com overcharging in UK

I signed up recently in the UK as  Platinum member for the agreed cost of £4.00 GBP per month, but was in fact charged £4.53 GBP on my debit card.

My Chess.com invoice was for £4.00 GBP per month, with some vague statement about "Actual amount may be different to the amount shown due to bank exchange rates".

If they said it was US$ 7.00 per month, that would be no problem - I would expect the actual £ figure to vary slightly each month dependent on exchange rates. However, they sell it in £, then charge me 13% higher.

Don't get me wrong - I think the site is still great value for money - I just get very nervous with a company when I agree to pay amount x and they help themselves to 13% more if they feel like it.

i think you're better off just paying the £60+ for the year, instead of this monthly carry on, just looked at the platinum deal. £31 for the whole year, at the rate they are charging you, your saving yourself about £30 a year, it doesnt sound right at allthat

Hi Chregg - Thanks for your reply.

I think you are absolutely right about paying annually ... I started monthly to see what it was like, and am already discovering that the top level at £63 per annum has all the goodies in it, including all the videos and Chess Mentor.

(PS:  I see you are from Perth.. I'm from Dundee originally myself.)

your a dundee boy aye, where abouts in dundee you from

£0.53 is quite a big bump on £4 though. That would mean the exchange rate has swung roughly 12% in between buying the service and being billed.

http://www.x-rates.com/graph/?from=USD&to=GBP&amount=1  UK per USA

http://www.x-rates.com/graph/?from=GBP&to=USD&amount=1   USA per UK

I don't understand. The OP states " for the agreed cost of £4.00 GBP per month". I don't see that anywhere, perhaps the OP (or another) can point me at it. I only see a dollar price, which of course will cost a variable number of pounds, with time.

p.s. Oh, I see it now. It's rather remiss of Chess.com to allow it to appear that it will cost £4 a month when the actual price is $7 a month. I suppose they thought they were being helpful with a currency converter but some people have taken this for gospel.

In the UK? Call it the Staunton surcharge.

Doggy_Style:  See invoice above, stated in £ (GBP).  If they said it was US$ 7.00 per month, that would be no problem - I would expect the actual £ figure to vary slightly each month dependent on exchange rates.  However, they sell it in £, then charge me 13% higher.

@loudonv:

Have you sent a ticket in, asking for an explanation?

http://support.chess.com/Tickets/Submit

Doggy_Style - Yes, I have sent in a ticket and am awaiting a response.

I agree with Chregg....better paying  anually but then again I can see why you wanted to see if you like to play here or not.....hope you resolve your problem.....take care

Seems to me that if chess.com invoice in sterling then they should bear the exchange rate fluctuation risk. If they want to pass on the risk then they should bill in US dollars. Clearer all round that way!

We did only charge you the amount showing on your billing. The extra you see added is coming from your bank over charging you.

2 days on from when I put in a ticket complaining about this matter, I still have received no reply from Chess.com to my ticket.

I just talked to my bank and they say that Chess.com charged my debit card with 7 US Dollars, which equated to £4.53.

Chess.com therefore advertises in Pounds Sterling, invoices in Pounds Sterling, then bills in US Dollars, expecting the user to pick up any exchange rate variations.

This is not acceptable, in fact not legal.

I authorised a debit of £4.00 in Pounds Sterling - not a penny more.

£4.00 is the figure advertised, and the figure shown on the accompanying invoice. 

I look forward to (a) an apology from Chess.com; (b) a refund of the overcharging; and (c) a guarantee that Chess.com will not again overcharge me in the future.

I think what Kohai is saying, is that your bank/card issuer has charged you an International Transaction Fee (or some similar nonsense).

UK Chess.com users beware!

No, Doggy_Style - the bank charged me exactly what Chess.com put through on my debit card, ie 7 US Dollars, not the correct figure of 4 Pounds Sterling.

This is clearly an error by Chess.com, which they are now trying to blame on my bank - although I still have no official Chess.com response to my ticket of Friday.

Chess.com's behaviour and their reaction to my complaint make me very nervous about them having my debit card details, since they clearly cannot be trusted to abide by our commercial agreement.

If you purchase a UK Chess.com subscription for £63 (in Pounds Sterling), will Chess.com now charge you £71.35, instead - £8.35 (13.25%) too much?!?  Or perhaps even more if the exchange rates go against you.

If you sell in Pounds, you should charge in Pounds, that's the simple rule.

If Chess.com wants to sell worldwide in US Dollars, that's not a problem either - just advertise it as such and the user can make up his own mind if he wants to take the exchange rate hit.

I would actually be quite happy to pay 7 US Dollars instead, which is still a good deal as I see it - just bill what you advertise and invoice, that's all.

This silly issue is probably just a case of someone at Chess.com hitting the wrong button to bill in USD instead of GBP - if so, just admit it and sort it out.  Don't turn around and blame it on my bank!

I think loudonv has a valid point because when you look at this site's payment plans page in the U.K. ( http://www.chess.com/membership?c=account ), then this is what you see ....

I took out Gold membership in May of last year & the advertised price at that time was 18.00 pounds-sterling (per annum) which is all I expected to pay but I've just checked back & I was billed for 18.55 pounds. That's because the actual price was 29.00 USD which was then converted - this just isn't being made clear enough !

I'd have taken the paid membership anyway because I still think it's good value but charging should be completely transparent.

Thanks, Stephen for copying in the UK charging rates.

I have now heard back to my Chess.com ticket, as follows:

______________________

Hello loudonv. You were charged $7.00 USD according to our records which is the correct price for a monthly Platinum membership. Thank you for your support of Chess.com!

______________________

Herewith a copy of my reply, for the record:

Your reply to my ticket says that 7 USD per month is the correct charge for monthly Platinum membership in the UK.

This is WRONG.

The Chess.com monthly charge for UK members is £4.00 per month, that is UK Pounds Sterling otherwise known as Great British Pounds (GBP).

This is the amount I authorised you to charge to my Visa debit card, not 7 USD.

The £4.00 figure is the sum shown in your online advertising, and in your invoice to me.

If you let me know how I can email you, I will send you softcopies of your UK advertising and my invoice as evidence; I have meanwhile copied these into the thread I have started on the Premium Members forum.

If you fail to resolve this ticket satisfactorily, I shall complain direct to Visa. 

I have already complained directly to the UK Trading Standards Office - the UK government organisation responsible for policing the commercial operations of companies operating in the UK.

I await my apology and refund from Chess.com.

Can you now please reply correctly to this ticket?