Location: Croatia
This is my first reddit post so I apologize for bad formatting or any mistakes I make, I'm in a really bad situation and I would appreciate any help.
First of all, I know I'm dumb and in the wrong, but please is there anything I can do.
Today, I bought an online course and payed multiple hundred dollars upfront and signed a digital contract in which it says I will pay the rest of it in a lump sum, or continue paying the multiple hundred dollars each month until I satisfy the price (low 4 figures).
*disclaimer: I am not saying exact values because I'm not sure if it is legal
As I am a student (a broke one at that) I quickly realized that my dream of becoming rich and finally diving in some online business was a mistake, since it's not like I have the money set aside, and could f up my life pretty badly with this.
I know it sounds insane like why I would do that, but the person I was on consolidated me and it just seemed good because I've never tried anything like that and thought this would be my breakthrough decision.
Now, honestly I don't care about the sum I've payed upfront, I can live with that. But the rest of the payment is so large I cannot deal with it and it could really mess my life up.
I didn't download anything, I've just watched one onboarding video on their platform which I was prompted to watch for now (could be their way of making me not able to withdraw) on the platform the community is on.
I've researched the European Union law website, and asked AI quickly (of course it's on my side since it's biased):
You have a right to withdraw, and the contract's "no refund" clause cannot override it.
Under EU law, if you buy a service online or through any distance means, you can cancel the contract within 14 days without providing any justification. For services, this means 14 days after the day the contract was agreed. You signed today, May 8th, so your deadline would be May 22, 2026. European Union
Even if a policy labels something as "final sale" or "non-returnable," the consumer can still rely on their statutory 14-day withdrawal right, and the merchant's internal rules cannot override it. This means section 2.1 of your contract (the "no refund" clause) is unenforceable against this EU right. FLEX.
There's an even bigger issue in your favor. The contract never informed you of your right to withdraw — there's no mention of the 14-day cooling-off period anywhere in the agreement. If consumers are not made aware of their rights, the withdrawal period is extended by 12 months. So you may actually have up to 12 months and 14 days to withdraw, though I'd strongly recommend acting now while it's fresh. EUR-Lex
No, watching that onboarding video does not block your right to withdraw. Here's why — the digital content exception has three strict conditions that must ALL be met, and none of them were met in your case:
For digital content supplied on an intangible medium, it is required that (i) the consumer has provided prior express consent to initiate the performance, (ii) the consumer has acknowledged that they thereby lose the right of withdrawal, and (iii) the trader has provided confirmation.
Am I in the right to withdraw? - I have more informations about the contract if needed I can provide it