Highcreditscore.co.uk & rewardsnow.co.uk [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

wigangal

Hi, i got my bank statement today it had 2 POS(point of sale) it showed up as, of 19.95 from both these sites taken on the same day, when i rang them both i got the same message that there is no register of either my name, address, or postcode on there system so someone else has used my bank details, but they also informed me that because it is a POS i could not cancel until i sent them my bank details to find out who ordered these. Ive left it all in the hands of my bank, they have refunded my money and the fraud department are starting to investigate.

Ilovepurple

This is a copy of my very helpful reply for rewardsnow regarding the previous email i posted above. No mention of the original email that I copied from the post above from Fyffes. What should I put now? I want them to prove how I became a member as I know I didnt check any emails. Help please

Thank you for your email received on 09 February 2011.
I can now confirm that your membership to Rewards Now has been cancelled with immediate effect.

Unfortunately, your request for a refund has been declined as you were clearly advised that you enrolled in a 10 day free trial after which you would incur a monthly membership fee of £19.95 for the service. You were also sent a welcome email informing you of all the relevant details. If you have had any technical issues you have always had the option to contact us at anytime in order to resolve your problem.

If you have any queries now or in the future, please feel free to contact Rewards Now by telephone or email during normal office hours (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) using the contact information provided below.

We are always happy to help and welcome the possibility of you subscribing to Rewards Now in the future.

Yours Sincerely


Abdi Malik
Customer Services
On behalf of Rewards Now
https://www.rewardsnow.co.uk
0845 026 1098
contact@rewardsnow.co.uk

'We are always happy to help and welcome the possibility of you subscribing to Rewards Now in the future.' ARE THEY FOR REAL??????

Fyffes

Yeah I received that exact template letter a few times. Word for word in fact. Seems it's standard practice at Rewards Now to ignore/delete any emails they don't like look of and only answer the ones they consider to be relevant to one of the carefully worded template letters provided by their boss.

Keep hounding them. They refunded my money but only after I'd emailed them more than a dozen times.

I believe that if you ask awkward questions and continue to demand answers each and every time they duck the question, they will eventually refund you because most people at that stage will leave them alone.

I'm convinced that they don't like the request for electronic proof that you enrolled. I'm no computer expert but I think it's actually called an "electronic signature".

If somebody took them to small claims court (for example the earlier poster who lost £300) and their solicitor turned up with "welcome email" and an Asda voucher proclaiming them to be evidence, the judge would laugh his socks off before giving the obvious verdict.

So keep asking awkward questions. Eventually the template gang will realise they're out of their depth and pass it on to one of their more experienced colleagues who only relies 50% on templates and will sometimes be brave enough to add their own little bit at the end actually referring to what you asked,

In the end you'll get an email from someone at the top who will actually write an entire email himself essentially stating "you've had a refund so we're not talking to you anymore".

Everybody needs to write an official complaint to them posted via royal mail recorded delivery. Once you've received their arrogant and dismissive reply you will be able to show the likes of Trading Standards and the OFT that you'd done everything you can to resolve the problem yourself first. If you follow a procedure like this it will be simple to file official complaints because you will have the official stance of Rewards Now in writing to show to the relevant authorities. Make sure that you make it clear to Rewards Now that you wish to receive a response to each and every issue you have raised and their failure to do so will be considered to be an admission of guilt which will be highlighted to the OFT etc. Otherwise they'll just send a template letter.

I'd love to see them try to deal with Tv's Rouge Traders with a template letter when they're pointing their cameras at them.

Ilovepurple

Sent them an email this morning. Wonder what they'll reply back to this?:

To whom it may concern.

I write again to request a refund of £19.95 that your company took from my account without my knowledge or permission.

In regards to the email I received dated 11/02/11 I would like to enquire as to how I "agreed" to a membership with your company. I was never provided with a term and conditions, welcome email or membership ID. Therefore, had I actually "agreed" to a 10 day trial of your service I would've still been unable to cancel if I wished to. This was not because of "technical issues" that your email states, but because I never enrolled onto your service in the first place, therefore didn't receive the email you mentioned with all the relevant details. Had I received said email, I would've cancelled the "so-called" membership instantly as it was a service I neither asked for nor wanted!!

I would also like for you to provide me with PROOF that I was "clearly advised" that I had enrolled. Please provide me with what would be considered an electronic signature. A screen shot of a offer for a free Asda voucher will not be accepted as relevant proof that I agreed to a membership.

I would expect that I receive a response to this complaint within 48 working hours, and request that my matter be dealt with by a supervisor. I do not not want to receive an automatic response to my complaint, such as the last email received from your company.

I am also keeping copies of all communication between myself and your company to send to the Fraud Investigation Team at my bank.

If forced to I will also report your company to Trading Standards and the FSA as I know that you have not followed their guidelines in TCF (treating customers fairly).

Fyffes

Here is the address to which you should send your official complaints to (via recorded delivery):

Rewards Now
Complaint Department
PO Box 587
Edgware
HA8 4DX

Once they've inevitablty replied with yet another template letter side stepping virtually every issue you've raised, you will be able to take the matter to your local Trading Standards and your bank's fraud investigation team if they're interested.

Obtaining Rewards Now's official stance on your complaint in writing allows you to escalate the matter to the relevant authorities. If enough of us do this then the likes of Trading Standards and the OFT will be more inclined to act against this company.

Don't let them buy you off by giving you a refund.

Fyffes

As mentioned previously in this thread, the parent company of Rewardsnow.co.uk is named Adaptive Affinity.

Funnily enough, Highcreditscore.co.uk, Creditratingmatters.co.uk, Quickcreditscore.co.uk, and Creditscorematters.co.uk are all part of the same company at the same address in Edgware. That's FOUR credit score providing companies working out of one building. Remarkable!

The question is, would Adaptive Affinity survive as a company if it was solely reliant upon providing free credit check services which 99.9% of people will cancel during the free trail period?

Who knows? But they have created four retailing companies (Rewards Now, High Street Max, Rewards First and Ticket2Save) for a reason. The fact that these companies stealthily sign up customers who have taken the bait of a "free credit score" speaks volumes.

I believe that the creators of Adaptive Affinity were fully aware that the general public would NEVER hand over their bank details to little known websites such as Rewardsnow. The owners got around this problem by offering the provision of credit scores because they know that the general public will reluctantly accept the fact that they need to provide such details as proof of identification (as stated on their websites).

Anyway, have a look at their website. It's rather comical.

http://www.adaptiveaffinity.com/brands.html

Please enjoy the following quote from their website. Promise not to laugh though:

"We handle all aspects of the membership programmes and services including all communication with members. Our consumer-orientated service is trustworthy and reliable, because your customers deserve nothing less."

I particularly enjoyed their FAQ's where they attempt to justify pretty much every question that's been raised by people like us. This one is a beauty:

Question) I am concerned about negative comments I have seen on other sites about Adaptive Affinity.

Answer) Negative comments usually arise from misunderstandings or from not following instructions i.e. when someone fails to cancel within the Trial Period and is subsequently charged. Only a very small percentage of members post these comments.

Ahem...how many times has this thread been viewed so far? Twenty four thousand times wasn't it? They're clearly not as pure as the driven snow are they?

Fyffes

Well well well. Looks like Adaptive Affinity have already been warned by the Office of Fair Trading in 2009.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2009/75-09

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]
Which is why it's imperative that as many people as possible file a complaint with http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ who collect all complaints against a company and pass them on to the OFT. If this company are on a final warning, hopefully they'll be shut down if the OFT considers that they have once again breached the regulations.

Fyffes

Knowing what I know now, I would deal with Rewards Now right from the start in the following way:

PART 1 -Send this email:

Dear Sir/Madam.

I am contacting you today in order to ascertain the reasons behind money being taken from my bank account by your company without my permission.

I am not aware of the existence of Rewardsnowco.uk and have at no point enrolled with your company. Therefore, I wish to request your evidence of any enrollment which you consider to be legally valid and enforcable at the point of law.

Please be aware that legally valid evidence does not consist of vague template emails or any copies of non specific documentation devoid of the name of the recipient or reference numbers. Your evidence should include electronic proof of my alleged acceptance of the terms and conditions set out by your company and that I received and opened your alleged "welcome email".

I have thoroughly studied my internet browsing history and I can find no record of any visit to your website or evidence of accepting your terms and conditions. Furthermore, I have not at any time received a ''welcome email'' from Rewards Now. I wish to see all documentation referring to this "membership" and reserve the right to issue your company with a Subject Access Request if you fail to do so which will be both time consuming and costly to you.

It is essential that you are aware that I may begin legal proceedings against your company unless you provide legally binding evidence of any alleged enrollment which you believe has given you the right to withdraw money from my bank account without my express permission. I am of the opinion that you are in breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and I am therefore requeusting the provision of "evidence" which you believe indicates that this is not the case.

I also request an immediate full refund of £xx.xx to my bank account as well as confirmation of the cancellation and deletion from your records of any "account" held in my name. Furthermore, I request a full written apology and your assurances that there will be no further withdrawals at any point in the future.

I also wish to request details of your official complaints procedure.

Failure to respond to ALL of the above requests will be recorded and provided to the relevant authorities in due course along with copies of all correspondence between myself and your company.

I believe it is reasonable to expect your response within 48 hours as stated on your website. In the event that this time limit expires without a response from your company, I intend to report you to Consumer Direct who collate complaints against companies such as Rewards Now before forwarding them to the Office of Fair Trading.

I note that your parent company (Adaptive Affinity) was contacted by the OFT in 2009. I believe that the outcome of their intervention was that your company agreed to make changes, including making it clearer that the consumer is entering into an agreement with YOUR COMPANY, rather than the website from whom a purchase has just been made.

It is my opinion that you have not adhered to this promise and I will make my feelings known to Consumer Direct unless I receive an acceptable response within the above mentioned 48 hours.

Yours sincerely

XXXXXXXX

PART 2

As soon as [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] 48 hours expires without a reply, file an official complaint to http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ who are the middle men between us and the OFT.

PART 3

Send Rewards Now an official letter of complaint via recorded delivery making it clear that their failure to answer all aspects of the above email is not acceptable.

Rewards Now
Complaint Department
PO Box 587
Edgware
HA8 4DX

PART 4

Once you have received Rewards Now's [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] response to your complaint, provide it to Trading Standards and Consumer Direct.

Hopefully something will then be done about this company. But it's important that everyone follows through with this right to the end (or at very least files a complaint with Consumer Direct). I don't want to harp on about it but the whole thing is pointless if everyone sends the above email then walks away if they get a refund. It lets companies like this off the hook completely and leaves them free to continue doing what they do.

If enough of us stand up to these companies we could be making the internet a safer place for all of us in the future. Laws and regulations need changing to stop any exploitation but if the authorities aren't aware that there's a problem then nothing will be done.

Ilovepurple

This is an email that I received today from them. Are they seriously thinking that them sending an email constitutes as an agreement??


Dear XXXXXXX,

Thank you for your email received on 15 February 2011.

I have attached the welcome email as proof that you signed up, the email states the exact time and date that we originally sent you the welcome email.

Please feel free to contact our membership services Department, during normal office hours (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm).


Yours Sincerely


Chris Shakur
Customer Services Representative
On behalf of Rewards Now
https://www.Rewardsnow.co.uk
0845 026 1098
contact@rewardsnow.co.uk





--Forwarded Message Attachment--
From: membersavings@a.rewardsnow.co.uk
To: XXXXXXXXX@HOTMAIL.CO.UK
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:47:02 +0000
Subject: Your Rewards Now Membership Information (752736759)

Dear XXXXXXXX,

Welcome to Rewards Now! You're receiving this email because you have accepted a special invitation to try Rewards Now.

Please remember that you are eligible to claim a free reward as a special thank you! Simply log in to Rewards Now, print and fill out the Claims Form and post to Rewards Now PO BOX 587 Edgware Middlesex HA8 4DX.

Start saving right now -- simply click the URL below and enter your membership ID number and post code to login!

https://www.rewardsnow.co.uk

For your reference, your Membership ID number is: 752736759

Rewards Now is bursting with discounts, vouchers and savings for you to take advantage of:

l Tired of your old wardrobe? Perhaps your fashion sense needs a spring clean? Discounts can be found at all of the High Street brands including; Debenhams, Wallis, Barratts, BHS, Blooming Marvellous, Topman and many more!

l A long weekend away or an escape to the sun might be just what the doctor ordered with Warner Leisure Hotels and quickrooms.com.

l Perhaps it is time for your home to receive a little TLC rejuvenation. See what B&Q, Screw fix and Tooled up has to offer. Discounted appliances and TV's are also available from Curry's and Comet.

You can find details on all these benefits, savings and discounts at Rewards Now.

So take advantage of your Rewards Now benefits during your 10 day trial membership period. If within 10 days you don't feel that Rewards Now is for you, simply log in to Rewards Now, click "My Account" and follow the l ink to cancel. Alternatively call us on 0845 026 1098 or email us at membersavings@rewardsnow.co.uk to bring your membership with Rewards Now to an end.

After the 10 day trial, Rewards Now will automatically charge the monthly membership fee of £19.95 to the credit/debit card you joined with so long as you remain a member of Rewards Now. You will be billed on or after 03/02/2011 according to the membership terms agreed upon and there after each month unless you later contact us to end your membership. Of course you will be notified in advance of any membership fee changes.

Important: Please save this email for future reference and bookmark https://www.rewardsnow.co.uk for instant access to your benefits.

To access our terms of business Click here.

Kind Regards,

Karen Heath
Membership Programme Director

Ilovepurple

This is my reply! This is their final chance to refund my money before I take it further. Unfortunately, I am always at work till late, and can never call their office to vent!!


To whom it may concern.

In response to the email sent from your company dated the 15/02/11 I would like to state that this is not the proof that I requested. I asked for proof that I had agreed to the trial. The welcome email you claim to be proof only shows that you sent it. As explained in previous emails, I did not receive this email, and certainly didn't read it. So therefore I was not aware that I was a member. Had I known, I would've cancelled your trial instantly as your company doesn't offer any services that I would need or want.
I would like for your company either to show me proof that I agreed to the trial in the first place and also that I knowingly I provided my bank details to your company and authorised your company to debit my account of £19.95, or for your company to provide a full refund of the £19.95 that was taken from my account without permission or knowledge.

To clarify, I will not accept a "welcome email" (that was probably filtered to junk, if received at all), or a screen shot of a Asda gift voucher as proof!

Please note that all correspondence between myself and your company is being recorded and sent to my banks Fraud Team.

I anticipate your reply.