Please help-I've been ripped off!

redmandarin

Can you wise and helpful money savers please help me? I (along with many others, I now realise) have been ripped off by Screen Select with their month "Free Trial". My trial began on 14 Jan. On 9 Feb (a Thursday), I cancelled (by email) and sent back the discs. But I didn't receive confrimation of cancellation (by e-mail) until Monday 13th Feb (still within the month free trial period, so I thought it was ok). Subsequently, my bank statement showed that they had debited my account by £12.49! :eek: :mad: I e-mailed them, pointing out their error & requested a refund and received the following reply:

"Thank you for your email regarding your account.
Our records show that your last discs since cancellation came back to us on 13/02/06, which was on your billing date of 13/02/06. As our terms and conditions explain all discs must be returned before the cancellation is completed, otherwise billing will continue as normal.

We would not be able to offer a refund as your discs did not return to us before billing occurred, however we would be happy to activate your account for you so you receive the service you have paid for. Please request this by email so we may action it for you. Please do not activate on-line as this causes an automatic charge to be applied. If you should have any other questions please let us know."

I do not believe that they did they not receive the discs (sent by 1st Class post), the next day (Friday) or the day after (Saturday) - not until the Monday, as (oddly enough!!) during the trial period EVERY time I sent back discs they recieved them the very next day! (I know this because I always received more discs TWO days after I had sent some back!). It's a scam!

Can you please tell me?
1) How can I best deal with S C to try to avoid endless e-mail/letters back and forth and still not end up with a refund?

2) Where do I stand legally? Are they breaking any consumer laws by stating (in the above e-mail) that "We would not be able to offer a refund as your discs did not return to us BEFORE BILLING OCCURRED". Surely, given the fact that Feb 13 receipt is still within the 1 month period, just suggesting that I'm not entitled to a refund because they've chosen a date to bill me (that is within the trial period, anyway) is a nonsense? Unfortunately, nowhere on their website does it say how long a month trial lasts and whilst I have two e-mails from them confirming the start and cancellation dates, noted above, they don't actually state in them that it was a month's trial! Are they allowed legally, to get around any potential legal claim by omitting important info (that might be used in evidence against them) in this way?

3) Can I pursue a claim within the small claims court for a refund?

I am hopping mad! I can't afford to be ripped off by these scammers and I am not going to give up until I get a refund! Any help on how to proceed would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot.

twink

i know its no help to you but my son always warned me off these trial offers because thats exactly what they do

Hebejebe_3

They did exactly the same to me. All of the returned dvds had been received on my account the day after posting. EXCEPT the last one, which took 3 days to get there (!) so they could bill me for the full amount.

They didn't even bother replying to my e-mail.

Avoid these cowboys!!

Kzlnd

Speak with your bank asap and tell them that they were not authorised to take the money out of your account! (You had cancelled and given notice in advance of the trial end, therefore they took money from you without your consent/authorisation).

Your bank will do some sort of charge back and credit your account then recover the money from ScreenSelect on your behalf. (Have had to do this twice with my bank because of the waste of space that is Diamond Car Insurance - One of the very few times my bank has been very good!)

Do contact your bank asap to sort it out.. Gits! Hope it's sorted for you.

Mikeyorks

I assume the debit was Direct Debit? In which case simply invoke the standard DD Guarantee http://www.bacs.co.uk/BPSL/directdebit/generalpublic/yourrights/

- by calling at your Bank and insisting they refund your money, as it was debited in error. They will protest - they always do - but the Guarantee is something they have signed up to and it details your rights quite succinctly - so quietly insist. Suggest you take a copy of the Guarantee with you

redmandarin

My humblest thanks for your sympathy, understanding and excellent advice. Brilliant stuff Kzlnd and Mikeyorks - I'll be straight into the bank tomorrow, armed with your wise words and a print out of the direct debit guarantee. As I said, I refuse to give up on this - it may only be £12.49 (not much to some people, I know) but it's my hard-earned, not theirs and I don't think they should be allowed to do this. Fingers crossed for a good outcome - I'll let you know how I get on - it's the least I can do!
Ps. Hebejebe - why don't you do same as me? Best of luck!

IvanOpinion

Always beware with DD's, the instruction to take funds can be issued a couple of days ahead of schedule to take money on a particular date. If you want to cancel a DD you are best giving the company at least 6 working days notice. Unfortunately you left returning the goods until the very last minute and they obviously were not going to assume you had returned the disks until they got them (maybe they do not handle returns over the weekend?).

It is a good lesson for anybody partaking in a limited trial scheme ... make sure you leave time, measured in WORKING days, to return goods, have them processed and restocked ... then all the relevant paperwork has to be done and enough time to allow an automated request for funds to be cancelled.

Apporach by asking them to refund it as a gesture of goodwill that way nobody is accepting responsibility.

Ivan

redmandarin

Thanks IvanOpinion, good to hear from you. Sorry for the delay, I've been working, whilst trying to fight off a bad cold and trying to search the net for more info.

After my last post, I started to ponder on the DD issue. I couldn't recall completing a DD mandate, so rather than visiting my bank, I rang them. Bad news - it wasn't a DD! :doh: I'd given my debit card details as requested by the company. The bank were sympathetic, but said there was nothing they could do. They said that everyone should be wary of giving bank details in this way, as theoretically any company could then withdraw any amount, any time - FOREVER! Scary! The only way to stop this happening (after the event) would be to cancel the card or close the account.

Unfortunately, I've been unable to find anything relevant on the internet. Trading Standards offer good advice - to write a letter of complaint, quoting the Sale of Goods and Services Act, etc., but issues of satisfactory quality, and so on, only apply to purchases, not rentals. I wondered if the debit card company may help but there's nothing on their website. So, back to square one, I'm afraid!

Maybe I could ring Trading Standards to see if there are any regulations about trial offers or company policies on billing dates and such. Thanks, IvanOpinion, for your "gesture of goodwill" idea, but first I'd like to see if there's any legal support available. I really don't know what to do for the best. Any ideas from anyone would be much appreciated.

savvy

Yep happened to me too!!!

savvy

Hmm I never filled out a DD mandate, never got the option. Used my debit and am considering chargeback!

Mr_Savvy

Hi there

None of this is guaranteed but I don't think the banks can slip out of their responsibility that easily

Basically, I think VISA (a company who processes cashless transactions on your banks behalf) requires certain standards to be offered. Transaction dispute is one of them.

At the end of the day, someone could steal your card number, expiry date etc and empty your account before you knew it was gone and all the bank would have to do is sit back and go "it's not covered!!!" - Not likely

Some links I've found and I'm searching for a policy statement from VISA:

http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/ecommerce/merchant-account/faqs/#faq8

http://greenroom.nochex.com/showthread.php?t=2726

And a statement from another site:

"A chargeback occurs when the bank that issued the debit or credit card to a person who bought goods from your business, reverses the transaction, even though it had previously been cleared."

Give it a try and dont take any prisoners with your bank - and I can't get the underline to turn off