Never received free trial, yet billed £400!!

earlofbarrett

A friend of mine signed up for a free trial of some diet pills on the internet (foolish enough in it’s own right!) but they never arrived and so she thought no more of it. Unfortunately after about a month the company based in Bristol has taken over £400 for an annual subscription from her debit card before she has received any goods and is now refusing to refund her the money!

She has since received 2 packs of pills which I have told her to send back immediately along with a covering letter that not only explains the situation, but that she also has 14 days to send back any goods ordered on-line and get a full refund. If this doesn’t change their mind then I’ve advised her to take them to the small claims court but can anybody advise further on all the consumer rights open to her?

Cheers in advance!!

hollydays

I think she should speak to trading standards urgently.She needs to get rapid ,correct advice.
I suspect the scam is they will say she didn't send them back on time-even if she did.

earlofbarrett

Yes, I'm assuming their scam is to not send the free trial hoping you forget about it, and then try to lock you into a subscription. They have offered a part refund of 2 x $129 which sounds even more dodgy since she paid in sterling.

gnaril

Couple of points. What was the company... Acaiburn? Whitesmile?natureberry? coloncleanse?

I deal with these ALLLLLL the time at work and its getting stupid., your circumstances match up with most people. you signed up for a trial and did not read the merchants terms and conditions.

Hopefully you have paid on credit card so if you have here is what to do.

First of all email/write to them and forward copy of this to your card company, this will ensure if there are any further debits on your account after the cancellation date they can key a chargeback and reimburse you.

From looking at mostof the merchants that deal in this sort, you will have nothing in there that will enable the card issuer to enfore a refund on your behalf, however you mentioned you have not recieved any goods and have got some.

Mark down what goods you havent got from all the transactions listed, again fire off letter/email to merchant advising that you have not recieved goods for these payments and want reimbursed for these amounts.

Send again a covering letter to your bank stating you have been billed for goods you have not recieved detailing everything showing your letter sent to merchant and their response if any.

They can then chargeback these transactions aswell.

Again with you saying billing in $$$$ it will be an american company so again Im assuming you have paid on credit card as generally thats all they will take as its set up as a continuous payment authority.

If you want to post the name of the merchant will make it clearer. Any questions give me a shout.

All the best

gnaril

sorry checked your post again you mentioned debit card so the details regarding not recieving goods should stand providing its a visa debit card.

Cant help you with the rest as dont actually work with debit card chargebacks.

Im sure someone will be along soon to advise

hollydays

:rolleyes:You should have added that all letters should be sent recorded delivery.....