Legal Question in Consumer Law in Texas

Automatic annual renewing contracts

In the mid 1990's, my husband entered into a written agreement with an alarm monitoring company. In 2002, we decided to change companies and I called to terminate. I was then informed that the contract automatically renews itself annually and we'd have to pay for the next 2 months to finish out the contract. I told them we'd pay the two months and to please terminate the service effective immediately as we had a new monitoring company. She asked that I also send a letter to confirm cancel of service (but didn't give me a time limit on when to send). I sent last two montly payments on time and sent the letter. They are now saying we didn't send letter in appropriate time to keep the contract from automatically renewing. My husband doesn't remember the original contract stating that it renewed annually and doesn't have the contract (I've asked for it via CertMail). They are charging us 268 and have sent it to collections. We told them verbally. Can they do this? We even paid for 2 months of service we didn't want/need to keep this from happening!


Asked on 9/03/03, 12:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Re: Automatic annual renewing contracts

Depends upon the contract as to the terms you agreed upon. While there may be an issue of when you sent in your letter re: cancelling, it should not have been a surprise and there should be some note in the file regarding that communication. You should speak with a local attorney to discuss your options.

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Answered on 9/03/03, 12:29 pm


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