Variety of Leisure Membership - Scam?
ForeverRenting
Posts: 3 Newbie
Hey!!
I was offered a trail membership of the Variety of Leisure discount card after completing a telephone survey. My two week trail membership started on 25th January, however I noticed that the £72.88 annual fee was taken from my account of 5th February, which is 3 days before my two week trial was supposed to end.
I called your customer service number and I spoke to a member of staff who said that he could see that the fee was taken from my account prematurely and he requested a refund. I called back later that day to confirm that I would like to cancel my membership and was told that they could see that the refund had been requested as a priority and the funds should be with me the week after and my membership had been cancelled.
I called a week later because the funds still hadn’t reached my account, and i was told that they could see the refund on the screen and that the funds would be back in my account on February 24th.
I called the Variety of Leisure customer services again today (25th February) and I was told that “the managers had decided not to issue” my refund. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that no one would speak to me as "managers are not client facing"
I am very disappointed with the way I have been treated by Variety of Leisure, and of course I would like my money back, but more importantly I was hoping you Money Saving Expert guys can look into this company further, as I imagine a lot of people have been suckered into the same scam I have.
Thanks in advance!
I was offered a trail membership of the Variety of Leisure discount card after completing a telephone survey. My two week trail membership started on 25th January, however I noticed that the £72.88 annual fee was taken from my account of 5th February, which is 3 days before my two week trial was supposed to end.
I called your customer service number and I spoke to a member of staff who said that he could see that the fee was taken from my account prematurely and he requested a refund. I called back later that day to confirm that I would like to cancel my membership and was told that they could see that the refund had been requested as a priority and the funds should be with me the week after and my membership had been cancelled.
I called a week later because the funds still hadn’t reached my account, and i was told that they could see the refund on the screen and that the funds would be back in my account on February 24th.
I called the Variety of Leisure customer services again today (25th February) and I was told that “the managers had decided not to issue” my refund. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that no one would speak to me as "managers are not client facing"
I am very disappointed with the way I have been treated by Variety of Leisure, and of course I would like my money back, but more importantly I was hoping you Money Saving Expert guys can look into this company further, as I imagine a lot of people have been suckered into the same scam I have.
Thanks in advance!
0
Comments
-
I have experienced something very similar.
They lied to me initially about the reason for taking my card details (to cover postage) and told me they couldn't take money out of my bank for the subscription and I was under no obligation to subscribe.
I was advised if it wasn't something I was interested in then after the 14 days I didn't need to do anything but if I wanted to join then I just had to contact them after the 14 day trail.
I wasn't interested in the subscription but had been promised a free £10 fuel voucher for completing a survey which I wanted and agreed to pay the postage of £2.80??? Which also included an 'information pack' (a letter). The £2.80 for a start is a complete joke. Plus the fuel voucher which was not what they had made out.
Anyway when I received the letter it became clear unless I cancelled within 14 days I would essentially be a member of variety of leisure so I immediately called them to cancel this and ensure I didn't get charged.
Today I have had £78.22 taken from my bank. I am going to call them to request a refund but have not got much faith this will happen due to all the other lies I have been told buy this company.
I am wondering what rights I have with regards to this?
Cheers
Emma0 -
Yep, exactly the same as me. Let me know how you get on, if you manage to get your money back PLEASE let me know how!!
Good Luck
Ren!e0 -
Bank's Direct Debit guarantee?0
-
Hey everyone.
Update to my previous post.
I have contacted variety of leisure twice to request a refund. Initially they said they would refund me and three weeks later still no sign of a refund. I rang again and they said it should have been processed but for some reason it wasn't so put it in as a priority. Again no sign of the money.
I checked my bank statement today and 3 other payments have been taken from my bank from different companies, none of which I signed up for:
AS LTD Caterham £23.75
Upay Ltd ROADC £10.61
MSFX Cardiff £160.68
And the original fee for variety of leisure for £78.22
I can only assume vol have given my card details to other companies or they are part of the same thing. In total they have taken almost £300 from me.
I would advise you check your banks to see if any of the same payments have come out.
Today I rang my bank HSBC. They have cancelled my card and are issuing a new one and the lady I spoke to seemed to be confident I would get the money back this week. They are also investigating the matter with the companies.
Please check your bank statements and change your card details so these thieves cannot steal anything else.
Hope people manage to get their money back.0 -
Oh wow, ok I'll check my bank statements too. This is the first time I've ever contributed to a forum and I'm so glad that I did!
Hopefully these guys will be stopped soon0 -
Yeah same here. I cannot believe they can get away with things like this. I can't imagine how much more money they might have tried to take if I hadn't looked at my bank statement. Check for anything weird you don't recognise! This is clearly illegal. I'm hoping this will be passed to a fraud team by my bank and these people will be stopped!
Hope it gets resolved for you!!0 -
I too signed up for a trial and actually phoned them to cancel a week into it so well under my 14days. later that day i received a text from my banks fraud team asking to contact them urgently. it appeared my card was on a list of copied/cloned cards. They went through a list of recent transactions to which i agreed too until they read out one for £78.22 Dining leisure direct. I was straight on that phone again too Variety of leisure, who clearly had it down that i cancelled that morning and i was well within my trial date, they said a refund would be processed yet 3 weeks later i'm still waiting. I have phoned them each week to chase this up as being a single mother on a tight budget it has caused stress having to juggle money to cover other bills. I called them this morning and they said it is down to be processed today, so we shall see. Its just disgusting this has happened and i clearly see im not the only one
0 -
ForeverRenting wrote: »Yep, exactly the same as me. Let me know how you get on, if you manage to get your money back PLEASE let me know how!!
Good Luck
Ren!e
I have called them today, 3rd week now and been told its due to be processed today.0 -
I am undergoing the same problems with this company. I have written to them and been promised a refund several times but no luck so far. If anyone else is suffering the same please keep this thread informed of any progress.0
-
Copy of letter sent today. Dont know if it will work but I will be back onto my bank in the morning to see if they can do any more.
On the 25th of February this year I signed up for your discount card for a postage only fee of £2.78 on the understanding that I had 14 days grace before you charged the full membership fee. Despite this 8 days later on the 3rd of March you took £78.22. I have written to you on the 5th of March returning the membership card requesting a refund and spoken to your representatives several times who assured me that this refund would be processed soon. This has not happened and I now see you have taken another £1.00 from my account on 26th of April. I have spoken to my bank who will not authorise any more payments. Return the monies taken immediately and remove my details from your database as per item 12 of your terms and conditions. If you were to also return the cost of my various calls and letters I may not feel the need to pass your business practices on to our Trading Standards Scambusters Team. This email will also be forwarded by post to the Complaints Department.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.1K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.7K Spending & Discounts
- 235.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 607.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173K Life & Family
- 247.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards