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Trapped – are Regus adopting The Josef Fritzl method of customer retention?
In November 2016 I signed up for a Regus Business Lounge membership for 24 months. The Regus representative said that after the 24 month period, I’d be on a monthly rolling basis and able to cancel at any time, just like a phone contract.
I signed up and it was a great service and good value; allowing you to use some of Regus’ drop in offices across the globe. I used it a lot in the early days to drop in and use a desk to work from prior to client meetings in different cities and to get me out and about (home worker), even before Covid.
Fast forward to August 2023 and I realised I’ve not used it for a while and no longer require it. Also the costs have gone up 74% since taking it out and more recently a jump of 45%. That’s fine I thought, I’d just cancel it and save £102/month.
When the cancellation didn’t work and another invoice materialised, I was informed by Regus that contracts automatically renew for the whole 24 months every 21 months. That meant that my contract doesn’t run monthly, but bi-annually and is now due to expire in November 2024 and not what I was sold initially almost seven years ago. I’m lumped with another year and a bit of paying for a service that I’m not going to use.
I have had no reminders to indicate that the service was renewing for 24 months in 2018, 2020 or 2022; purely invoices arriving every month.
After contacting Regus, they were unwilling to budge, pointing me towards the Ts and Cs. They’re also unable to provide a call transcript from the initial call.
They informed me that the terms that I signed up to (written ones not the inaccurate verbal description of them from their representative) state that it is the initial 24 month term that renews. To compound this, written cancellation three months prior to the end is required to not become trapped for another cycle.
They also said that they provide courtesy emails to state when the renewal is about to happen. I’ve never received such an email and it would have been after the three month window of cancellation anyway, which would have had me tricked and trapped for another 24 months.
Regus comes across as being willing to help small businesses and that they’re ethical, flexible, agile and transparent. From experience now, I conclude that they’re conniving, opaque and sneakily forcing loyal customers (who have been mis-sold services) to remain as hostages against their will – akin to the Josef Fritzl of serviced offices.
So, the bottom line is to warn everyone that you too will need cancel your contract well in advance or be held against your will by their silent and hidden automatic renewal dirty trick.
Desired outcome: I would like my Business Lounge membership cancelled straight away. I was sold a 24 month contract that reverted onto a monthly rolling contract by a Regus representative and this has not been honored.
