Threatening legal action

vg0x01

I signed up for a trial to test out teamviewer.

After not using teamviewer for a long time, i started receving emails threatening legal action for not paying 500 euro, from creditreform.de. Is this legitimate?



Please clarify how i am being charged this amount for a free trial.

uanwer

I just got the same correpsondance even with a free account currently. except it was in the PDF formal letterhead and everything saying they are a debt collector...wth

 

 

vg0x01

yes i received the same pdf letter

Lerwick

TeamViewer have gone rouge with debt collectors, and their auto renewals - you are not alone.

In Australia "ACCC v JJ Richards and Sons Pty Ltd (2017) FCA 1224" is a precedent for unfair terms in business to consumer and small business contracts.

ACCC ruled that automatic renewal unless the customer cancelled the contract within 30 days before the end of the initial term was ruled an unfair term and unenforceable. This applies to customers who were consumers or small business (less than 20 employees). This ruling is based on the following legislation.

COMPETITION AND CONSUMER ACT 2010 - SCHEDULE 2 section 23

This means that if TeamViewer pursued a claim, against an individual or small business for their automatic renewals, as they do, in Australia they are out of luck as the term would be unenforceable.

However it is a bit more tricky, as the TeamViewer End-User License Agreement. (the thing you click on when ordering) means that the agreement is made in Germany not for instance Australia. That means TV can get a court order quite efficiently (It is Germany after all) and you would then have two weeks to respond and say you will defend the claim.

Given that is unlikely, the will likely get an order for enforcement. However that order has no standing in, for instance, Australia. They would then need to sell the debt to someone in Australia who would then come knocking at your door. At this point the Australian laws kick as the claim would be under local laws, not German laws. So then the new owner of the debt can file a claim in a local court. And that's where the Australian ACL laws kick in and if your an in individual or small business the claim would fail as the ACL laws and case mentioned above would mean the auto renewal clause would be unenforceable (unfair term).

So if your in Australia, TeamViewer​ would still be out of luck, provided you are a small business or individual consumer.

 I notice also that TeamViewer​ actively prevents users from cancelling their subscriptions.

To submit a ticket to us:

just go to https://support.teamviewer.com/Log in with your licensed TeamViewer Account

"Note: If the account is not linked to a valid TeamViewer license, the support portal will instead load the TeamViewer Community."

Teamviewer disables overdue subscriptions even though they are renewed automatically, this means that a support ticket cannot be logged if TV auto renew and then disable the account (TV disables accounts overdue by 7 days).

Anyone interested in a class action against TeamViewer​? I am.

Yuri_T

Hi @Lerwick ,

Thank you for your post and I understand your anger and frustration.
However, please understand that we do not have the ability to assist in such matters in the community, so I have created a support ticket for you.

Could you please reply to the support ticket so that we can follow up on this case in writing?
We further advise that our cancellation policy is governed by the terms in your invoice.  For more information about subscription, please read the following article: https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Subscription-renewal/ta-p/65605

Once we receive your request in writing via the support ticket, I will forward it to the right department who will assist you further.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards,
Yuri

JPAnt

I totally agree with you Lerwick. My account has been disabled, fair enough, but then to pass on my "overdue account" to a debt collector is unconscionable behaviour

I have not used my teamviewer account for several months. I received an email approximately one month prior to "renewal" which I must admit I overlooked as junk mail. My next correspondence was two months later stating that my account had been suspended. I thought that was OK as I don't need it anyway. I actively searched their website but of course there was no where to login and cancel your subscription. Furthermore as my account was suspended it wasn't possible to open a ticket. You shouldn't have to jump through hoops to cancel a subscription.

I will be taking this up with the ACCC in Australia.

Yuri_T

Hi @JPAnt,

Thank you for the detailed explanation. 🙌

We are really sorry to hear about your experience.

Regarding TeamViewer subscriptions, the license does renew unless canceled prior, as stated on the bottom of the original invoice. Please note that to terminate a license, customers need to submit a ticket 28 days prior to the renewal date, as stated in our EULA.

We explain how to proceed in this Knowledge Base article right here: https://community.teamviewer.com/English/kb/articles/65605-subscription-renewal

Also, we explain all possibilities about how to submit a ticket here: https://community.teamviewer.com/English/kb/articles/72027-how-to-submit-a-ticket (for those who have not received any messages from the debt collections.)

Our goal is to provide transparent information and we are constantly working on improving this in our platforms.

If you have received a message from the debt collection agency, I am afraid that we are not able to assist you at this stage, therefore please kindly contact the debt collection agency so they will assist you further.

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Best,

Yuri

Hog

Why do you employ underhanded scam techniques to rip off your customers?

employing debt collectors to collect an auto renewed subscription that wasn’t in use.

scam, scam, scam. Absolute **bleep**.

Hog

I’m in the same boat.

They are clearly trying to scam people. I actually can’t believe they are trying it.

i’ll look up info regrarding UK auto renewal laws and share here.

There is no way they are getting a penny out of me.

Hog

This seems to be saying the unreasonable auto renew policy would be deemed unfair in the UK

(cant post links just google

auto subscription renewal legal uk

And check out the result from gov.uk)

i’ve sent it to the debt collectors and asked if they’ve ever successfully pursued one of these in the UK courts.

I’m guessing they just mass send out the emails and hope a few people panic and pay up

PDPTech

i am in total agreement and i suggest we open a class action. i do IT support and my **Do Not Post Email Addresses** was using teamviewer during the covid for remote access. we did NOT want to renew and all the teamviewer emails were going to a junk folder so we were NOT aware that were were being billed beyond the 1 year and now it in collection. can someone please help here! i feel this is very unfair business practice.

Unknown

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bartoc

I have been fighting with Teamviewer over auto renewal, no communication and abusive credit tactics and fees for a year now.

They have no interest in resolving these issues. They just want to get away with these tactics and get the money.

I'm taking legal advice and contacting the consumer protection service in my country. I suggest that you do the same.

Perhaps enough people and enough countries will raise awareness to Teamviewer leadership that these tactics can't go on without severe consequences.

Hopefully **Third Party Product** and other apps will prove to Teamviewer that it's way past the time to change behavior.

bartoc

By the way, you can put all sorts of unlawful garbage in an EULA, that doesn't make binding or legal. 200 pages of EULA are a very weak defense in the court of all and have been dismissed as a justification for shameful commercial tactics. I bet anything that this moderator hasn't read half the EULAs that he has agreed to. You cannot open a ticket without access to the commercial support. You cannot access the commercial support if you haven't paid first. Catch 22.

I deleted my account after I got cheated by Teamviewer to a commercial license without warning or remedy while trying to remotely help my parents. I found out that I cannot technically cancel an auto renewal license that I never agreed to, not informed clearly by, the same company that abusively charged me in the first place. When these things happen repeatedly and there is no remedy and no willingness to correct it, it's a scam not a mistake.