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

Fyffes

dreamer10000 wrote: »

I think I am certain that the people who talked about these two linked companies are RIGHT,I am the latest victim and only spotted this thread by accident.
IT was not at all CLEAR despite the shady fact one was dealing with TWO LINKED COMPANIES,to me I was just interested in the 10day FREE trial and I knew I hadnt cancelled in that time so I expected a charge initially.
I didnt find it unusual that they requested card details because even the well known credit reference agencies require this to verify you,and also they hope that you will stay with them after that free period so require details of where they can take the money from.
I do not have a lot of money only money paid in fortnightly to keep me surviving, I was shocked when I noticed two months later that £40 was taken out of what I have paid in I contacted the bank to stop it but they couldnt as it was a debit and couldnt tell me who was taking it beforehand as I didnt realise who it was they can only give details afterwards which didnt help.
I suffer with health problems and memory and checked e mails to see if they would identify or say thanks for payment or whatever but nothing .
Two months later I had money paid in of £100 on a saturday evening and was waiting for it to appear in my account when I went to take the £100 out it only allowed me £60 again they took on a Saturday night without no request from me or to my e mail beforehand like most companies do that they were going to do so, nor because I didnt cancel did they ever make any contact to the fact that I owed them for a period etc then obiously I would have cancelled and they were aware of that,EVERY MOVE THEY MADE WAS UNDERHAND DESPITE WITHIN THE MARGINS OF LEGAL,THEY HAD THEIR SYSTEM SET THAT THEY TOOK MONEY EVEN OUT OF NORMAL TIMES AND THE MINUTE IT HIT ONES ACCOUNT.
I have no option now but to close the account from what I have just read I am unable to leave money in the account for others because it could be taken,I sent an e mail to them when I finally got it and requested a refund for a service I have never used I was not aware of signing to REWARDSNOW FOR £19.95 A MONTH a pile of rubbish of no use to me this stemmed from a 10day trial.
Anyway the reply spoke volumes it was nasty reding no refund will be issued you signed for this and were aware of that it was like they were use to sending this sort of reply and it was very gangster style,I am wary alwways have been but NO THEY CERTAINLY DID NOT HAVE MY INTERESTS AT HEART AND DID NOT ACT PROPER IT WAS VERY SNEAKY AND NOT ONE EMAIL WAS SENT TO SAY THEY WOULD BE TAKING THE MONEY ETC AND THAT REPLY SAID IT ALL,WHO WOULD WANT TO PAY SOMEONE £19.95 A MONTH FOR SUPPOSEDLY DISCOUNTS ON JUNK WHEN THEY HAVENT EVEN GOT MONEY TO LIVE ON.
AVOID THEM TWO SITES THE SAME THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DONE AND SO DO i.

It's very important that you challenge them to supply you with proof that you enrolled with their companies. That seems to prompt a refund from them in most cases because they don't appear to be able to provide any proof. Have a look further back in this thread. There's a lot of examples of emails for you to use to fit your circumstances.

Do not take their word for it when they refuse to refund your first contact. They say that to everyone because they hope you'll believe them and go away without asking any awkward questions.

LUCY_3-2

This is really unfortunate but like some of the others that have posted here I think you may have not read or understood the smallprint. I had a look at some of these sites recently because I wanted to check my credit rating prior to a mortgage application. All the sites I visited offered free trials that require you to sign up for a 'membership' or similar (by inputting your card details) which then must be cancelled or payments will be taken!

Even trusted credit checkers like Experian do this 'membership' scheme but they specifically are quite open about it whereas the lesser known sites can be a bit devious and I've heard they hide things in the T&C's, relying on the fact that few people will read them and realise they have authorised all sorts of payments down the line. I agree with Fyffes that you should challenge them and check on the proof of this though.

Not wanting to be sucked into a 'membership' I might forget to cancel I went into my bank and asked their FREE opinion based on my long standing account history and the credit which they would, in theory, be willing to offer me. I got a positive response This is not the same as an Experian credit check but it must have been reliatively accurate because we were approved for a mortgage a few weeks later.

I hope you get this sorted and suceed in getting further payments stopped your details deleted from their systems and those of anyone else whom they might have 'shared' them with!

Fyffes

LUCY wrote: »

This is really unfortunate but like some of the others that have posted here I think you may have not read or understood the smallprint.

Many people have posted this type of response on this thread and others. I find it a bit disrespectful to be honest. Unfortunately it's not as simple as just reading the small print with this particular company.

You can read the terms and conditions of a company all day long but if you are not aware that you have also been signed up to a second company then you won't be inclined to look at the second set of Terms and Conditions.

The majority of people who feel unfairly treated are aware of the Terms and Conditions of the company they signed up to but have also unwittingly been signed up to a second company who at most, will send a welcome email to your spam folder then plead innocence when you say you didn't receive it.

The OFT have had dealings with this company regarding the alleged misleading manner in which it acquires "customers" for the second company. Please read this press release from the OFT for confirmation http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2009/75-09

Unless you've actually been through the process of signing up for one of Adaptive Affinity's brands you will have no idea how calculated and subtle this action of making the "customer" wrongly believe they are still being asked to enter details as part of the original signing up actually is. I'd say the way they do this is probably just about legal but is in no way fair. The fact that somebody somewhere once sat in a boardroom concocting this way of doing business is beyond words.

Basically, repeating the old chestnut "you should've read the small print" isn't relevant to this unique situation or at all helpful. With all due respect, bragging that you always read T&C's and telling everybody what they SHOULD have done isn't going to help anybody who's currently suffering is it? The people who find this thread are looking for a cure, not a prevention. Nobody is going to repeat their mistakes but we really don't need somebody trying to rub our noses in it thanks.

dreamer10000

Here here!! It was a case of the second company and the OFT involved I was certainly caught and they grabbed any money they could get on a saturday night as I said why would I want to pay such money each month to a discount club I get my own bargains thank you very much £20 extra to spend myself

tinkadall

WOW - I am totally amazed! I have had the same problem as many others in this post. Signed up for a credit rating and unbeknown to me apparently accepted a membership to rewardsnow at the same time?

I called them and managed to get through to someone to cancel my 'membership' which I was totally oblivious of. Called my bank and have spoken to the fraud department. Then decided to google the company and came across this forum! When I first started reading the thread I was a bit angry with myself for allowing this to happen, but toward the end of the tread decided to email them requesting proof of my acceptance etc. I have received an out of office reply as follows:

Thank you for contacting Rewards Now, our offices are currently closed. The contact centre is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
We endeavour to respond to all emails within 2 working days.
Thank you for your enquiry.
The Rewards Now Team

This in itself is rubbish as it is within its stated opening hours. WOW - how has this company managed to get this far cheating people out of their hard earned money? I am now going to keep the ball rolling and complain to OFT.

Many thanks to those who gave helpful advice - It is very much appreciated.

redjax

Don't listen to people who say this is not a scam. It is a legal scam if there is such a thing. My son got hit with this and I sent the email below to Rewards Now, on Contact Rewardsnow [EMAIL="Contact@rewardsnow.co.uk"]Contact@rewardsnow.co.uk[/EMAIL] they immediately refunded his £39.90 and cancelled his membership. :beer:
Why would they do that if it was all above board.-

To Whom It May Concern:

I called earlier today with disappointment as I had been charged £19.95 in the last two months for something from Rewards Now. After further investigation I have discovered that many others have also been charged for a service they did not access.

I was told earlier today that by clicking on a voucher for ASDA I had subscribed to Rewards Now (completely unbeknownst to me). I challenge you to provide evidence of me opening/clicking on this voucher. I would appreciate proof that I did click this button so that I can include this information in my complaint to the Office of Fair Trading. If you cannot provide this information I will have no option but to also report this fraudulent activity directly to the police in addition to my official complaint.

I have no idea why you are regularly stealing this amount from my account and I am now demanding a full refund of the £39.90 you have taken and am insisting now that no further payments are taken.

I did not knowingly take up your membership and have no desire to continue with it!

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

34672266

Despite what people have written you can get your money back. I submitted emails to both companies which were comprised from examples on this site. Both companies have replied with full refunds.

jazzsue58

I have PROOF this company (Credit Score Matters/Rewards Now/call it what you will) is fraudulent and barely legal.

Back in April I needed a credit report and foolishly took the "free" trial. It was certainly less than £19.95 a month. I seem to remember it was for 3 months, for a start. Also, I did NOT sign up for Rewards Now. Why would I?

I've had a serious illness since then so things are a little vague, but as I recall as soon as I signed up I could access the site straight away. But when I needed to go back a little later - having realised it was worse than useless and no better than Experion - a Hotmail search revealed nothing. Neither did a search of junk mail. Putting the word "credit" in the mail fetched nothing up either - but ANY mail with that word in the sender name or title would have done.

I only just realised, 3 months on, that nearly £40 a month was leaving my account. I just called CSM and was told I'd agreed to a free trial - and agreed to Rewards Now. I said that was rubbish. After my first visit to CSM I was unable to revisit my credit report as Hotmail had no record of their mail, so I had no record of a password which would allow me to access the account.

The reply was that I should have listed the address as "safe" or it would have gone to junk mail and been deleted. But I could only have done that had I received a mail from them in the first place - which I did.

Anyhow, they said they'd cancel my membership and send 2 mails. I didn't receive them. Did I mention that after I rang off from Credit Score Matters and redialled Rewards Now, I got the same operator?! "Hallo, you were just speaking to me ..." THERE'S the proof they're one and the same office for a start.

I called back and asked where my emails were. They agreed to refund 2 months of Rewards Now (refused to refund the other one) and said, again, I should have stopped them being junked. I checked my junk folder - no mails. But THEN, ta-daah, I DID get the 2 mails - in my regular inbox.

Now, these weren't "special" mails, but contact@ ... rewardsnow/creditscorematters mails. In other words, they came from the same location my mythical "welcome" mail did. Hotmail hasn't suddenly decided to "un-junk" these 2 companies, and the companies can't control which part of my mailbox my mails end up in. Proof, if any were needed, that:

a) CSM had NO intention of posting me a "welcome" email
b) Had DELIBERATELY made it IMPOSSIBLE to cancel membership - as they had fraudulently made it impossible for me to access my account
c) Do this on a regular basis to anyone stupid enough to click on the link

I would suggest that anyone on this site sending out "what do you expect/read the T and C" messages hasn't actually dealt with these scammers first hand.

Fyffes

jazzsue58 wrote: »

I called back and asked where my emails were. They agreed to refund 2 months of Rewards Now (refused to refund the other one) and said, again, I should have stopped them being junked.

These people make me want to vomit. If they're that concerned about people not reading their welcome email then why don't they do what most reputable companies do and only activate the account once a link has been clicked on by their "customer" from the welcome email?

The fact is it suits this company down to the ground to operate behind the smokescreen of spam/junk folders. I'm led to believe that Hotmail for example, auto deletes any emails in your junk folder somewhere between 15 and 30 days (unless you change your settings).

The 10 day free trial they offer combined with the 3 working day period before the payment shows up on your bank statement and a few days to notice and identify who the hell took your money plays nicely into their hands.

The whole process takes a couple of weeks which is just enough time for them to claim their welcome email must have been auto deleted from your spam folder (whether they sent it or not).

Rewardsnow seem to be refunding everyone who asks them for evidence of any subscription but I'd imagine that a percentage of people aren't aware that they are entitled to a refund and are instead fobbed off and their money stays in Rewardsnow's bank. Also, they will be earning interest on every penny they obtain regardless of whether or not they eventually pay it back.

We can only guess at how much money they've obtained using these methods but its very much a case of them making money very easily for very little effort and cost to themselves.

It is undeniably a well thought out business model. They have identified a grey area within the law that allows them to walk the tightrope of what's legal and what isn't. I have very little knowledge of the the laws governing matters such as this but I'd like to think that any company who cannot provide any evidence of subscription (electronic signature, provision of welcome email etc) is operating outside the law.

But of course, they'd have us believe that butter wouldn't melt in their mouths and they simply have no idea why people would think they've done anything wrong. This thread has had 35,000+ views hasn't it? No smoke without fire.

Sv03

Ive had £239.40 taken from my account!!! bank is not willing to do anything about this and requested i contact merchant directly i did say ive never heard of them! when i googles rewardsnow! this came up! ive been through some of the template letters and have emailed and sent one recorded delivery! ive had no response!!! i spoke to 3 obnoxious ppl over the phone so dont wish to call and listen to their nonsense again! i told them to explain to me if ive never heard of them how they think i wouldve enrolled with their company - the response was i 'must' have clicked on a £10 voucher and then i wouldve recieved a welcome email from them as i didnt cancel the membership from the email i was charged. my response to that was now tell me what legal proof they have of that happenin! he askin me what i see as legal proof - i said i want evidence of me clicking on a £10 asda voucher ( which he agreed ive never claimed) with the terms and conditions that i would be charged 19.95 a month for it and evidence of how they got my credit card details as well as ip addresses i did mention i didnt recieve the email and its likely it went into junk as thats exactly what it is - his response was we sent it so you got it! ive had no response since friday! to the letter i sent!