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HR Inform -an 'auto renew' agreement - what are your thoughts?

Sinead

Hello fellow professionals,

I'd welcome your views on auto-renew contracts and the fact that HR Inform is sold via an auto-renew contract.

I subscribed in 2019 and paid upfront for the year.  In 2020 I received an invoice and again paid upfront for the year.  This year I received the usual invoice but decided not to renew as I no longer need the service (to be honest I haven't used it very much) and I have recently been made redundant.  I continued to receive demands and eventually discovered that in fact the agreement I signed in 2019 was an auto-renew agreement and as I didn't give 30 days notice of termination, I am now liable for the full 2021 cost, even though I haven't used the service at all this year.

This seems harsh and although may be contractually correct, I don't like the approach (I'm receiving continuous reminders and demands from Croner Groups payments team).  I explained my situation and asked them to forgive the oversight of not realising it was an auto renew contract but my pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears and the demands are escalating.

I've been a member of the CIPD for nearly 25 years and have paid my memberships every month without question for all that time.  Am I being unreasonable in asking them to waive the payment this year?

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

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  • Having the same problem. The way I read it was that after the initial 3 year Contract the auto-renew was one-year. Not so. Having a fight now that I may not win. However, I'm surprised that CIPD would want to put their name to such underhand practices.
  • in reply to Andrea

    A quick update is that how I read it is not how it works. The Renewal Period is the same as the Initial Contract Period and is automatic without a reminder. Croneri have been given 35 months notice of cancellation and acknowledged that this will terminate. A very expensive lesson learned and it's my own fault. My advice to anyone wishing to sign up to HR Inform is to read the Contract very carefully, especially the 'renewal' information. Buyer beware!

  • in reply to Andrea
    Recall that Rank Xerox at one time had pretty restrictive 'small print' in their copier rental contacts whereby they automatically renewed unless the renter cancelled them on the exact 12 month anniversary date and if you happened to miss that specific date for any reason, then caveat emptor and tough and all that..... This became notorious though as 'sharp practice' at the time, and the company's good reputation plummeted as a result and they must have lost a massive amount of lucrative business - I recall once getting very angry indeed with one of their salesmen about it all.

    I think Rank Xerox subsequently fortunately 'reformed' and reverted to less-sneaky contracts but seems that others may not have fully learned that lesson and if CIPD is indeed in effect condoning all this via close commercial association then should they be??

    Perhaps someone from CIPD might care to explain etc?
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  • in reply to Andrea
    Recall that Rank Xerox at one time had pretty restrictive 'small print' in their copier rental contacts whereby they automatically renewed unless the renter cancelled them on the exact 12 month anniversary date and if you happened to miss that specific date for any reason, then caveat emptor and tough and all that..... This became notorious though as 'sharp practice' at the time, and the company's good reputation plummeted as a result and they must have lost a massive amount of lucrative business - I recall once getting very angry indeed with one of their salesmen about it all.

    I think Rank Xerox subsequently fortunately 'reformed' and reverted to less-sneaky contracts but seems that others may not have fully learned that lesson and if CIPD is indeed in effect condoning all this via close commercial association then should they be??

    Perhaps someone from CIPD might care to explain etc?
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