If you have cancelled a service subscription in the UAE but the provider continues charging your bank card, can you recover the deducted amounts? What does UAE law say?

Question: I cancelled a service subscription, but the company continues charging my bank card. How long is the company legally allowed to deduct money from my account, and can I request a refund for charges made after cancellation?

Answer: Under the UAE Civil Transactions Law, when a consumer cancels a subscription in accordance with the agreed terms and procedures, the subscription must end on the effective cancellation date.

However, termination may be subject to a notice period, minimum commitment period or other contractual terms agreed between the consumer and the service provider.

If the subscription was properly cancelled and the consumer did not agree to automatic renewal or continued payments, they may dispute any amounts charged after the cancellation date, as the contractual basis for those charges no longer exists.

Under Article 237 of Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 concerning the Civil Transactions Law, when a contract is rescinded or terminated, the parties must be restored to the position they were in before the contract was concluded. If this is not possible, compensation must be paid.

Therefore, if a consumer validly cancelled a subscription and the company continued charging them without a contractual basis, they may request a chargeback and a refund of any amounts collected after the effective cancellation date.

How can you get your money back?

The consumer should first raise the matter with the service provider and submit evidence of the cancellation, including the cancellation confirmation, related correspondence and payment records.

If the amount was charged to a credit or debit card, the consumer may file a transaction dispute in accordance with the rules of the bank or financial institution that issued the card.

How long can the company continue charging you?

The regulations do not specify a set period during which a company may continue charging a consumer after a subscription is cancelled. This depends on the terms agreed in the contract.

The key considerations are whether the subscription was validly cancelled and whether the contract contains a provision allowing charges to continue after cancellation.

If there is no contractual basis for additional charges, the consumer may request a chargeback and a refund of amounts deducted after the subscription’s effective cancellation date.

This guidance was provided by Ashish Mehta, founder and managing partner of Ashish Mehta & Associates. He is qualified to practise law in Dubai, the United Kingdom and India.

Note: This information is intended as general guidance and is not a substitute for specialist legal advice. Formal legal advice is recommended to assess the circumstances of each case.