Visa 13.2 · Mastercard 4853

They kept charging you after you cancelled

A charge that lands after you cancelled is one of the most winnable disputes there is, because it usually comes down to a single question: can you show you cancelled before the renewal date? If you can, the card networks have a specific dispute type for exactly this, and your bank can take the money back.

Does this apply to you?

• You cancelled and were billed for the next period anyway
• A free trial converted into a paid plan after you had already cancelled it
• You cancelled but the charges simply carried on, month after month
• The company acknowledged your cancellation and still took the payment
• You were charged again after asking them in writing to stop

How long you have to file

You have 120 days, counted from the day the payment was taken.

That is the card network's outer limit. Your own bank often sets an earlier one, and a missed deadline ends a dispute however good the case is — so treat it as the day to have filed by, not the day to start.

What to gather before you file

• The cancellation confirmation — email, screenshot, or a support ticket number
• The date you cancelled, and the date of the charge that followed it
• The subscription terms showing the renewal date or notice period
• Your card statement showing the charge, and any earlier ones
• Screenshots of the account page showing the subscription as cancelled

What the seller will argue

The company will argue you never actually completed the cancellation — that you closed the browser tab, or emailed support instead of using the button in your account, or cancelled inside a notice period that had already started. Their strongest move is producing terms you agreed to at signup showing a notice period you missed. This is why the timestamped confirmation matters far more than your memory of cancelling.

What to do, in order

1. Find the cancellation confirmation. Without it this dispute gets much harder, so search your inbox thoroughly, including spam.
2. Ask the company for a refund in writing, once, and keep the reply.
3. Note the exact dates: when you cancelled, and when they charged you.
4. File with your bank as a cancelled recurring transaction, not as fraud — it was your card and your subscription, and calling it fraud will get it rejected.
5. Ask your bank to block future payments to that merchant at the same time.

When this will not work

If you cancelled inside a notice period you had agreed to — many annual plans require 30 days — the charge is likely valid and the dispute will fail. Check the terms before filing, however unfair the notice period feels.

Other problems we cover

• Your order never arrived. Here is how to get your money back
• What arrived is not what you paid for
• You paid for the real thing and received a fake
• They promised you a refund and it never arrived