Can a company keep charging me after I cancelled?
No — and the moment it happens, this stops being a customer-service issue and becomes a billing dispute.
No. If you cancelled a subscription and the company keeps charging your card, that charge is unauthorized — full stop. This isn't a matter of the company's internal policy or their word against yours: once you've cancelled, there's no valid agreement left for them to bill against. The practical question isn't whether this is allowed (it isn't), it's how to prove you cancelled and get your money back, since that's where these situations usually get stuck.
Why this keeps happening despite being clearly not allowed
In practice, continued charges after cancellation usually come from one of a few sources, not deliberate fraud in most cases:
- The cancellation didn't actually process — a form submission failed silently, or a phone cancellation was never logged on the company's side
- You cancelled one part of a bundled service but a related add-on kept billing separately
- A billing cycle was already "in motion" when you cancelled, and the company (wrongly) charged for it anyway instead of prorating or stopping the next cycle
- Genuine bad-faith billing — rarer, but it happens, particularly with harder-to-reach or overseas-based subscription services
The recovery path is the same regardless of which of these caused it.
The evidence that actually matters
Whatever you do next depends entirely on being able to show you cancelled before the disputed charge. The strongest forms of proof, roughly in order:
| Type of proof | Strength |
|---|---|
| Cancellation confirmation email from the company | Strongest — dated, company-issued, hard to dispute |
| Screenshot of an in-app "cancelled" status, with a visible date/timestamp | Strong, especially if your device/browser shows the date on-screen |
| A written cancellation request you sent (even without a reply) | Solid — proves you attempted cancellation before the charge, even if the company never confirmed |
| Notes from a phone cancellation call — date, time, representative name if given | Useful but weaker on its own; strongest when the company keeps its own call logs |
If you don't have any of this yet, still cancel again right now, in writing, and keep that record — you want documentation covering the earliest possible date.
How to actually get your money back
- Contact the company directly first, with your proof of cancellation attached, and request a refund of every post-cancellation charge specifically by date.
- Give them a reasonable window to respond (a few business days) before escalating — this strengthens your case if you do need to dispute the charge later.
- If they refuse, don't resolve it, or don't respond: contact your card issuer and dispute the charge(s) as unauthorized or a billing error. For US credit cards, the Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the statement date to do this in writing; debit card protections under Regulation E work similarly but with shorter, more urgent timelines, so act quickly either way.
- Provide your card issuer with the same cancellation proof — this is usually the deciding factor in these disputes.
- If the company is a repeat offender on this, file a complaint with the FTC (ReportFraud.ftc.gov) or your state Attorney General — this doesn't get your specific money back, but it builds the enforcement case against a pattern.
How do I dispute a charge after cancelling a subscription? Contact the company first with proof of cancellation. If they don't refund you, contact your credit or debit card issuer and dispute the charge as unauthorized or a billing error — you generally have 60 days from the statement date to do this under US law for credit cards.
What proof do I need to dispute a subscription charge? A cancellation confirmation email, an in-app cancellation screenshot with a timestamp, or a record of a call (date, time, representative name if given). Any dated record showing you cancelled before the charge date strengthens your dispute significantly.
Related questions
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