Bought a 12 mo unlmtd dance studio subscription...they closed 2 mo later

August 7, 2017 11:16 PM

So I bought a 12 month unlimited subscription to a dance studio, not knowing that they were about to go under a couple months later. Now what? Can I dispute this on my credit card? What options do I have to recover my money?
posted by sirion to Work & Money (5 answers total)

This happened to a friend of mine with a membership to a yoga studio. She got nowhere when she tried to contact the owners. She was able to get a refund via the credit card company, though, so it's definitely worth a try.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:23 PM on August 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

This is what credit card disputes are for. This is why you use a credit card for transactions like this. YES.
posted by jbenben at 12:14 AM on August 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

Your timing may be off. You must send a dispute letter to the address for billing inquiries within 60 days of the first statement that contained the disputed item. Based on what you say, this time might have already passed. If not, do it IMMEDIATELY. If you get it in on time, you'll probably get your refund.
posted by ubiquity at 6:54 AM on August 8, 2017

Your credit card company may be reluctant to refund the charge (it wasn't a fraudulent or mistaken charge). Either you or they are going to end up an unsecured creditor of the studio in its bankruptcy, and they probably don't want it to be them. But it's certainly worth a try.

It's also worth filing a complaint with your local state attorney general.

However, you should be prepared for the possibility that you are SOL. In theory, you along with all the other unsecured creditors of the company will be a class in the bankruptcy proceeding, with some claim on the remaining assets. In fact, there probably won't be much in the way of assets to go around, and taxes, wages, and secured creditors get paid first.
posted by praemunire at 9:53 AM on August 8, 2017

The fine print is important here. If the service was not expected to be delivered immediately, you have 60 days from the date it was expected to dispute the charge. I think you'd be fine disputing because you were expecting service until the end of the year.
posted by wnissen at 11:32 AM on August 8, 2017 [2 favorites]