moneysupermarket.scam

Flibertigibit

I have just received an email from moneysupermarket.com which says that I recently "showed an interest" on taking out a Barclaycard Platinum credit card. I have no memory of this, but it is possible as I am looking around for a new card. Anyway, it then says that if you do a short questionnaire you will receive £20 of Virgin Wine vouchers. So I answered a few questions and then got to "Redeem your Virgin Wine Vouchers" only to find I had to give a code, which is nowhere to be found! Then it says "If you have problems claiming your voucher please phone this 0870 number" which as we know can cost up to 6p a minute, and heaven knows how long we'd be kept hanging on!! To be fair they do give an email address as an alternative, which I will use to see what happens. But I do think has "scam" written right through it, and best ignored.

DCFC79

Flibertigibit wrote: »

I have just received an email from moneysupermarket.com which says that I recently "showed an interest" on taking out a Barclaycard Platinum credit card. I have no memory of this, but it is possible as I am looking around for a new card. Anyway, it then says that if you do a short questionnaire you will receive £20 of Virgin Wine vouchers. So I answered a few questions and then got to "Redeem your Virgin Wine Vouchers" only to find I had to give a code, which is nowhere to be found! Then it says "If you have problems claiming your voucher please phone this 0870 number" which as we know can cost up to 6p a minute, and heaven knows how long we'd be kept hanging on!! To be fair they do give an email address as an alternative, which I will use to see what happens. But I do think has "scam" written right through it, and best ignored.

isnt the code in an email, use saynoto0870 to find an alternative number

Flibertigibit

I've just scrutinised the email again but no code anywhere, and even worse, when you get to the Virgin site, they want the code and a "code password!!. Anyway, i have emailed them now and await developments, but thanks for the advice.

Flibertigibit

Today I received an email from Virgin saying I should have been given both the code and the code password by supermarket.com, and to take it up with them - of course they "were delighted to help me" and if I needed more help I could phone their 0870 number!!! I know who that would be helping! Anyway, then a miracle appeared to be happening. I did the quiz one last time, and hey ho it worked (I had tried at least 5 times before and got nowhere!) and large as life, I got my code and password code. I moved on swiftly, and entered them on the Virgin voucher page, and guess what? It worked, and I was told "Congratulations, you now have £20 in your personal account" and inviting me to "double my money" by taking out one of their "Discovery Cards" whatever that is! What a rip-off!! Teeth knashing going on here big time. Is this a voucher? Not in my understanding of the word. Have I got a "personal account with Virgin Wines - not that I was aware of. Is this a scam and a con on the part of supermarket.com and Virgin wines? Without a doubt!! No wonder Richard Branson is always seen smiling.

Flibertigibit

And finally.......
I just investigated a bit further by pretending to do their questionnaire again, and lo and behold, once you get to the code page, you are are so excited that you charge on to submit it asap. Does it occurr to you to scroll down? Not if you're like most of us. Is there any indication that there is anything to scroll down to? No. But is there? Yes! And this is what it is
You will need to spend your voucher within a month of receipt. * Please note: this voucher is for first time customers only, can only be used once and cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotional voucher or special case offers. This voucher can only be used against a case of wine (minimum 12 bottles of 75cl each) with a minimum value of £59.88 (excluding delivery of £5.99). You must be 18 to buy alcohol. Virgin Wines deliver anywhere in the UK, excluding Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Oh - the cheeky, conniving scammers - spend £66 to get your £20 off - what a bargain - not. And they are still referring to it as a "voucher". Oh well, I've learnt my lesson and supermarket.com and Virgin wines will never darken my computer again!

SunnySusie

why not let them know and suggested they have a user experience issue? I think there is a big difference between "scam" and poor design. But either way, you should be careful you don't open yourself up to a libel claim!

Hope you get your wine in the end!

RadoJo

It doesn't sound like a scam to me - you were getting something for nothing, so it's not really surprising that they want to impose their own terms on how you spend the voucher. It's similar to money-off vouchers which are only redeemable on a spend of over a certain amount - I wouldn't call Tesco's '5p of a litre of fuel' voucher a scam just because it requires you to spend £50 first. It wouldn't make sense for them to give you a completely restriction-free £20 just for answering a questionnaire - apart from anything, you could have done what you did, and complete it more than once. The reason they offer the voucher is to encourage you to buy something from them, not a not-for-profit act of generosity.

BigDave_Cash_Saver

Oh dear......

Hardly a scam here, A company is worth £1b and yet they are apparently trying to "scam" people in to filling in a short questionnaire?:doh: :doh:

And how dare they have terms and conditions! Maybe they should just send a bottle of Bollinger to everyone who uses the site to avoid confusion! :beer:
_party_ _party_
The only thing this thread should get is an award for the "Most over the top individual award 2009". :wall:

Flibertigibit

So do you all agree that a "voucher" is the same as a "personal account" then? Don't you think that is at least a little misleading? And to the person who commented on the fact that I did the questionnaire more than once - well, the first 5 times were to try and get the "voucher" and the sixth was successful. It says quite clearly that you can only do it once, so I expected that if I had tried it would get picked up, as Virgin were also very clear that it was only for first timers. Speaking of which, I am a new member to this site, and this was my first ever post, so thanks for the award for being OTT Big Dave - maybe one day I'll be as clever as all you lot!

Flibertigibit

Oh yes, and to Virgin Wines and supermarket.com - I completely withdraw my allegation that this was a scam, so please don't sue me for libel.