Mobile Phone Insurance Scam (again) - Be warned

gogo97

:mad: Since my last post I've still not received my cheque. Telephoned E Bell UK today and they told me that it had been sent out and would have been delayed because of the Bank Holiday Weekend - and then tried to tell me it would take 5-10 working days from 26 March for it to reach me! As far as I was aware 2nd class post took 3 working days.

I am so angry that I can't do anything. I've reported them to my Bank who have sent a notice to E Bell advising that they cannot take any more money from my account. Barclays said that if they do then it will then be a dispute between the bank and the company!

Please everyone - don't let this company take you in.

trilon

I was silly enough to fall for this as well. Took out an Iphone 3g contract on Sunday, with insurance from Geek Squad (through Carphone Warehouse). I had a call on Wednesday, offering me a one-off payment of £105 rather than £11.99 a month for 18 months. It seemed legit, especially as I'd only bought the phone three days earlier, and so I was wondering how on earth any potential scammer could have obtained my details. I got suspicious today, when I saw the transaction on my online bank, and saw that they'd taken £99.99 instead of £105, and it was for E Bell rather than Geek Squad. I've reported a dispute with my bank, who are now dealing with it. Normally you have to wait 30 days before you can do this, but because they pretended to be the Geek Squad rather than E Bell, my bank allowed me to dispute the payment straight away. It could take up to 3 months to be refunded (if at all), but hopefully if anything I've learnt an expensive lesson.

P.S. I called E Bell, and got through to the most vile man who was rude and aggressive. Just deal with it through your bank rather than trying to reason with those thieves.

marco67

Hi all ,
New to this site but thought i would let you know that EBELLUK have been raided by the police today in Swansea (thats where they really are !!) . I did manage to talk to a DC who took my details and explained what was going on.
This company has opperated under a different name before and from what i gather got caught last time.
Looks like a lot of people will lose a lot of money because of these people , myself i stand to lose £405 because i did send my phone to them when it went wrong .
Lesson to learn i think is not to take any insurance out over the phone unless you really know them . I feel a fool for letting them con me , but a very hard lesson learnt......

tweetie2

hi all,
just thought i would join in with the ebell issue as this has happened to my son he bought a phone from cpw and got the call from ebell they took 105.00 but took it early causin him to go overdrawn and it was prooved they had broken the contract made when they listened to the recorded call so re embursed the 105.00 and said if we sent the proof of charges they would re emburse this also,well we recieved the cheque for 105.00
which cleared and was fine but as for the charges well a cheque was sent before easter apparently but we never recieved it so i rang and they said they would cancell that cheque and send another recorded delivery never got it so rang them again and was told to be patient as it was only sent last friday and we would defo recieve it on tuesday 20th april,as you can guess no cheque so waited til today to ring and hey ho no answer but i can see why now from post yesterday that they have been raided for obvious reasons and doesnt look like my son will get anything back now.been intouch with bank and they say that as it was not their mistake there is nothing they can do about the charges.does anyone know if thats right or is it a fob off???thanks.

marco67

Hi all ,
just a little update . I cant put a link up as it wont let me , but if you google " mobile phone scam swansea" you will see 4 people have been arrested they have netted between 4-5 million from this scam ! (bet thats vanished somewhere !! )


I would contact the police in Swansea or Cardiff and log with them that you have been scamed by these people , of course you will need proof .

Tweetie2,
It may be worth contacting your sons bank and put the matter towards the disputes part of it , i was miss lead in to believing ebell was something to do with carphonewarehouse and 02 , but i guess if the call was recorded and they hadnt said that to him then there is very little chance of it being able to be disputed im sorry to say , but im no expert and really dont understand these things that well , but you never know may be worth trying .
Hope its some help people

tweetie2

marco67 i have been intouch with my sons bank and finally had some joy so they are looking into it at least.you will laugh at this though as the police rang my son and said nothing had happened no raids or anything so i rang them back and said it is on bbc news and as we cannot get hold of company etc could they explain this the officer was very rude and said someone would contact my son back re this news article and the report we had filed.ok it maybe a different company but is that likely???and was their any need to make me feel like a complete idiot on the phone no wonder nobody calls the police about matters if thats what they are going to do.looks a bit sus to me.

tweetie2.

marco67

Tweetie2,
Glad you are getting somewhere now, not sure how far you will get as like everyone else we gave our bank details to these scum ( grrrrrr) but at least theres some hope..
As for if its the same company, !! well heres all the information i have been able to obtain so far my self.
EBELLUK
3RD Floor,
4 robson house,
regent terrace,
doncaster,
DN1 2EE
08443350424.

ALSO..
Berkely House,
7 Richmond Hill Avenue,
Bristol,
BS8 1BG

I also just traced the IP address to a web hosting firm in Gloucester ( so fairly near Bristol and South wales, not that , that means anything ) ,

Well just hope this information helps some more people out , and i hope this scum go down for a very long time

tweetie2

hi marco67 non of the addresses that have been raided have been given out but they just said swansea and not sure if ebell are in swansea with the addresses you gave but still no joy in trying to contact them so will maybe try and contact them tomorrow.thats if they were indeed scammers and have been scared off and fled??who knows i guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

tweetie2.

marco67

they are defo from swansea , and the police answerd the phone when i called on the 20th and explained everything to me ( i called the number 08443350424.)
The latest news is the four have been released on bail .

nooral

I just wanted to let you know that E Bell have struck again!! I took out insurance after purchasing an iphone from CPW. I paid £80 and everything seemed fine. Got the documents and looked quite ok. I had some water damage to the phone about 2 months ago so rung for a claim form. Again everything seemed ok and i sent off my phone to the given address. I have not heard anything since and the Doncaster number rings out with no reply!!! can anyone give me some advice as to what steps i can take???