Take extra care when cancelling an ongoing subscription

I decided to end my McAfee subscription and use the new Microsoft Security Essentials software to protect my PC.

I emailed the company on 5 November 2009 asking for my subscription to be cancelled; giving the company more than the required 28 days.

However, I found that the company took £43.69 from my account on 6 December. I can't find any way to make sure my subscription is cancelled and get my money back.

John Baird

Signing up to a subscription-based service online often means you agree to an ongoing subscription unless the company goes under or the customer cancels within the required period.

This is perfectly legal providing the company alerts the customer to this fact when they sign up and gives them a renewal warning in enough time to cancel the service.

McAfee appears to have abided by these rules but it has fallen down by failing to act on the cancellation notice from Mr Baird.

It is possible he did not send his cancellation to the correct address, which must also be made clear when a renewal notice is sent out. We have contacted McAfee asking it to investigate this complaint.