Being Ripped Off Again….. Terms and Conditions

We have a problem with the auto renewal of software we don't use (because it's not very good), and I think there is something deviously deliberate about the renewal process...

On receiving our suppliers renewal invoice (30 days prior to the renewal date) we told them we didn't want to renew, only to be informed that their 'terms' required a cancellation in writing at least 45 days prior to the renewal date.

So we then asked to cancel in 45 days time.
But no that's not possible apparently...
Our supplier says we're too late to cancel so will now have to pay for another full year and then cancel the agreement in writing before next year's renewal. 

Now I realise that technically we missed this weird deadline but I can't help thinking this 45 day clause is deliberately included to trap the unwary, such as us this time. 

45 days cancellation in itself isn't the problem, it's the automatic tie in for another full 12 months that is ridiculous. Surely it would be fairer to send out a renewal notice earlier (before the 45 day cancellation cut off) , reminding customers of the cancellation terms, so giving us a timely choice.

Anyhow we now face a year of subscribing to a product we neither want or need. Interestingly we've bought many other products from this supplier (CCH Wolters Kluwer - there you go) over the years and would have expected to do so in the future. Except now we won't be.

There are probably half a dozen competitor suppliers we could use instead. All are competitive on price. So we will be on the move to a new supplier, not only to replace our unwanted software with something better (albeit in a years time) , but also for all the many other books and subscriptions we need for our business.

Sadly CCH evidently sees no value in the long term business they have just thrown away, which would have been of much greater monetary value than the unwanted software subscription they are intent on imposing on us.