pressplay home shopping

Ramora

I too have fallen victim to this one but took a different approach with alarming results. I only discovered that £99 had been debited from my account in late October 2009 when I received my statement. My credit card company advertises 100% protection against fraudulent transactions and as it was immediately clear that fraudsters were at work I first contacted the credit card company.

I spoke to several people and they all repeated that I would be totally covered and was initially refunded the £99. They said they would send a form that I should complete giving all details. Having received this form I returned it and as I had no other evidence, all I could do was print off the contents of this blog and send that (several pages). After about 6 weeks I finally got a letter stating that the credit card company would honour the transaction from the fraudulent company and £99 was once again debited from my account.

I rang the credit card company immediately and was told nothing further could be done because the Terms and Conditions of the fraudulent company were satisfied. When I insisted that a crime had been committed and that a guarantee is a guarantee I was told there was nothing further I could do. I asked to speak to the department who had processed my complaint and was told that wasn’t possible.

When I put the phone down I thought of the implications of this:
- a fraudulent company seems to be at liberty to put through a transaction on my account, for any amount, at any time and the credit card company will honour it.
- this could happen at any-time to anyone using any card (so long as the company has their Terms and Conditions pinned down to cover them).

I decided that the only way to protect myself was to call the credit card company to cancel the card (not something I can do lightly as I average 30 transactions per month).

When I told the operator the situation about the fraud and that I was left with no other option they put me through to a manager who said they would look into it further.

My theory on this (for what it is worth) is that the fraudulent company have received a database of customer names, addresses and credit and debit card details from another company. I seriously hope that the use of this data is illegal, if not it certainly should be. This database has been used to mail-shot a large number of people and their plan is to make money either because the victim doesn't notice the transaction or doesn't do anything about it, or by charging a premium rate when the victim rings to cancel the membership.

I naively believed the credit company would cover me; the first time this was put to the test they let me down. At the moment I am at a loss to know what to do to fully protect myself, as it’s likely that if I switched to another company for my credit and debit card they too would let me down if a similar scenario was to occur.

The credit card company may still resolve this issue for me (I hope) although they have not provided me with any satisfactory explanation as to why they felt it was better to believe the fraudulent company and upset me, despite the volumes of evidence from this blog (and others) at their disposal. Clearly they don’t feel they are in any way accountable to their customers with such issues.

I suggest that other people affected by this think again as to whether they trust the fraudulent company (or anyone associated with it) with their card details.

I would welcome a response from anyone who followed a similar line and received a positive result from their bank or credit card company.

Malc57

Beware also of shopping on Ideal World Shopping Channel as my wife fell to the same scam. This company which calls themselves Travel Steps also originate from Pressplay Home Shopping Ltd & are connected in someway to Ideal World this is how peoples card details are passed between companies. My wife had £99 taken from her account from this so-called company Travel Steps without her consent. We recieved nothing from this company as to why it was taken. At the moment i have been assured by Ideal World that the money will be payed back to my wifes account. This to me seems some sort of scam which Ideal World need to sort out before they lose a lot of custom. The problem i & my wife have is how your card details can pass from one company to another without your knowledge this as got to be some kind of fraud on both companies.

PLEASE BEWARE WHEN SHOPPING ON IDEAL WORLD SHOPPING CHANNEL !!!!!

AirRanger

Travel Steps, Good Music, Bits & Pieces, Pressplay Home Shopping and whole host of other companies all reside under the same umbrella sharing info, that means YOUR personal details.
My partner received a brochure from Travel Steps today, nearly threw it away but my Son started reading the covering letter and alerted her and we took it from there, it turns out She bought some items from Bits & Pieces.
They later phoned up asking if she was happy with the service and offered to send another catalogue, which she at first declined but the pushy bod on the other end got her to except, so today Travel Steps Brochure arrived and the alarm bells started ringing Thanks to my Son.
I have since been to their establishment at Great Dunmow and cancelled it all( I hope ) and if possible will have no futher dealing with these fly by nights.

Gemini566

CarolR wrote: »

I ordered an item from Winning Deals in response to an advert in a TV listings guide. I had problems placing the order on-line and ended up doing it by phone. Just after the goods arrived I got a phone call to check that I was happy with my order and during the conversation the agent asked if I would be willing to receive a brochure of "travel offers". As I wanted her off the phone I agreed to have a look at it but at no time was money or membership mentioned or I would not have agreed.
I've now received a letter from Travel Steps confirming my "membership" and advising that the "trial" will last for 30 days after which they will charge the credit charge with £99 annual fee. As well as this they are have made a £1 charge to my credit card.
When I called them (on an 0870 number!!!!) they said the £1 was a membership administration fee. The agent agreed that they would cancel the membership and refund the admin charge. I've also sent them a cancellation letter by recorded post (found their postal address via the web - you cant get a signature for recorded mail from a PO Box). I will be checking my cc statement very carefully from now on but I feel that these companies are little more than con merchants!!!! I will be very careful about where I order from in future.

Hi, I received the dreaded and ubiquitous "Travel Steps" rubbish last week.
What are the chances of you sharing the correct postal address you found on the Internet. It would save a lot of people a lot surfing do you not think?
Kindest regards, :rotfl:

Zan21

Please can everyone be aware that spacebag.co.uk is connected to Pressplay. I ordered some bags from them, which were delayed, however when I emailed them my suspicions were aroused otherwise I would probably be none the wiser.

When they bill you it shows as Home Shopping Ltd and a phone number, and when my goods finally arrived they were actually despatched from Pressplay, which of course led me here.

I have alerted my credit card company who stated that rather than cancel the card they will put a note on the file as they would rather try to prosecute people for carrying out fraudulent transactions.

There are many articles and bits all over the internet about them, but not related to Spacebag except one on "Complaints Board", search for "space bag home shopping scam" so I am guessing its a fairly new enterprise for them.

In retrospect I should have investigated a bit further before using them, especially as they have such scant company and contact details on their website. Its no excuse but the website seems very genuine at first look!Its a lesson learned as I will certainly be wary companies using PO box number as an address. By searching the postcode I have now found links to Winning Deals amongst others.

It is worth noticing that the magazine name has now apparently been changed to Breaks4Free.

I will be watching my credit card etc like a hawk and be extra vigilant about any phonecalls I recieve. On the despatch note it states that to stop them passing info to other companies you have to phone or write to the PO Box address, however there is also the address of:
Pressplay LTD, Unit 7 Zone A, Chelmsford Road Industrial Estate, Great Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1HD

and their registered office is,
Pressplay Ltd, the Old Court House 26A, Church Street, Bishops stortford, Herts, CM23 2LY

Hope this helps, does anyone know whether there is anyway of finding out all the companies Pressplay is linked to?