how to cancel NCS payment?

This morning I just made an appointment with Cambridge NCS for 12 April.
Now somebody told me that the naturalization fee will increased on 6 April. I decide to cancel the NCS appointment and apply myself. However it's too late. The NCS already deduct £100 when I made appointment and they refuse to make refund. I called my bank but it also refuse to cancel the transaction. What can I do now?

NCS charges for the service at the time of booking the appointment. I think all council websites offering NCS services make that very clear.

NCS Cambridgeshire wrote:Payment by debit or credit card is due at the time of booking.

The website even has the proposed fees document uploaded on their website ... on the NCS page.

The fact that you booked for the service voluntarily, even if you were ignorant of the increase in fees from 06-Apr, IMHO, there may be no reason for NCS to refund you the money (in line with their refund policy). Ignorance is an error at your end, not NCS's.

You can cancel the appointment, but be prepared to lose the fees.

You dont have to loose your fees always, if you cancel your appointment within 48 hours you might be able to get refund, well that is what it says on my NCS appointment letter from Newham NCS.

ferrarilondon wrote:You dont have to loose your fees always, if you cancel your appointment within 48 hours you might be able to get refund, well that is what it says on my NCS appointment letter from Newham NCS.

thats correct, i have seen this in my local county web page as well.

why £100? where i live is about £60, could councils charge different fees as they wish?

dz_nostalgia wrote:why £100? where i live is about £60, could councils charge different fees as they wish?

yes, and therefore it is worth to shop around as you can use any NCS you wish

ferrarilondon wrote:You dont have to loose your fees always, if you cancel your appointment within 48 hours you might be able to get refund, well that is what it says on my NCS appointment letter from Newham NCS.

on my council website (and on neighbouring councils websites) it is a message:
"This fee is paid at the time of booking and is not refundable."
There is a posibility of changing appoinment time/day but not cancelling it.

>>on my council website (and on neighbouring councils websites) it is a
>>message:
>>"This fee is paid at the time of booking and is not refundable."
>>There is a posibility of changing appoinment time/day but not cancelling it.

The OP has a statutory right for a refund for services that have not yet been delivered. In certain circumstances, this can be a partial refund. I am aware a lot of businesses put up text like the one above. Only certain industries are subject to special regulations (one example is airlines), where you may lose such right. The Office of Fair Trading is clear: putting a text like that does not absolve the council--it has NO legal impact, as for that you'd need to sign a legally binding contract at the time of purchasing the service. But even then you might have a right to a partial refund.

I used NCS Cambridge too but it was a while back. They did make it clear to me on the phone when I made the booking that the fee is non-refundable. But you are allowed to reschedule.

Sorry you cannot get your £100 back, why not just use the service? IMHO, they were very professional, and at least you get to keep your passport and important documents (they just send HO photocopies).

I called Cambridgeshire council again but this time the staff is very nice and agreed to make refund. It seemed that different staffs have different working styles.