I am dealing with a situation where I was charged several years for an HVAC service contract that the prior owner of my home had with a company. There was time left on the contract for the year we bought the house but after speaking with them we decided not to sign up and hired someone else. They were able to charge me without my knowledge because they are "related" to the natural gas company and therefore snuck the charge on my gas bill which we did not realize until recently.
This company's argument is essentially that they provided sufficient notice that the contract (which was between them and the prior homeowner) would auto-renew and that I needed to opt out to cancel it. My argument is that I was never party to the original contract and therefore have no obligation to opt out. I never verbally or otherwise agreed to a contract, nor did I recall ever receiving a copy of the contract and terms.
Can a homeowner "inherit" a service contract simply because a company provides notice and they did not opt out? If so, what legal standing does this company have that allows them to do this?
