Urgent: Doubletake Studios Cancellation Fee

mannaroth

Long story short:

My girlfriend got an unsolicited cold call offering her a free makeover and photoshoot at doubletake studios, her contact number was provided by a friend. They took her card details to pay a £5 booking fee. There was no mention of any other charges.

The appointment is tomorrow, and she has suddenly realised she can't afford the train tickets. However very recently we received a form from them stating all the terms and conditions, one of which includes a £125 cancellation fee for a no show appointment or even leaving an appointment early (its a 5 hour consultation). She was not made aware of these terms and conditions and did not agree to them on the initial call, and has not signed anything. Having read other stories from this company, I know the company have a habit of simply reaching into bank accounts and taking out £100-200 for failing to attend appointments.

Are they within their right to do this? What is the best course of action if they try to? Again I must stress, she was not made aware of these ToCs until the form arrived recently and did not indicate her agreement to these.

Amistoso_2

I'm not 100% sure but unless they read her the terms and conditions over the phone then they would have no right to take any more money from her card. Seeing as they didn't post out any paper work until after she had agreed to the session I doubt they are within their rights to enforce the T&C's

MichH

I'm not 100% sure either, but I work for a company that sells over the phone. Our T&C's stated the customer has 7 days from receipt to accept or decline and request a full refund. Customers are requested by us on their paperwork to read the T&C's to ensure they are happy, if they aren't they can request a full refund (obviously within the 7 days), if the refund isn't requested then they are deemed to have accepted them.

Sorry, I know this doesn't help the OP. Only other option if your OH is concerned about them taking money out of their account is to cancel the card, or maybe speak to the bank about putting a stop on any payments to this company.

isplumm

mannaroth wrote: »

Long story short:

My girlfriend got an unsolicited cold call offering her a free makeover and photoshoot at doubletake studios, her contact number was provided by a friend. They took her card details to pay a £5 booking fee. There was no mention of any other charges.

The appointment is tomorrow, and she has suddenly realised she can't afford the train tickets. However very recently we received a form from them stating all the terms and conditions, one of which includes a £125 cancellation fee for a no show appointment or even leaving an appointment early (its a 5 hour consultation). She was not made aware of these terms and conditions and did not agree to them on the initial call, and has not signed anything. Having read other stories from this company, I know the company have a habit of simply reaching into bank accounts and taking out £100-200 for failing to attend appointments.

Are they within their right to do this? What is the best course of action if they try to? Again I must stress, she was not made aware of these ToCs until the form arrived recently and did not indicate her agreement to these.

Hi,

My attitude is that tell them you are cancelling, if they say that they will take £125, tell them you report them for fraud ... the bank should help .... you haven't agreed for any more money to leave your account. See bank about changing card details ....

Mark

savemoney

The Customer Care Manager you need permission to post as company rep see below

My advice is not to post rep until you have permission as you may be banned and have post removed until they can validate who you are




http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...0&postcount=19

MSE TEAM PERMISSION: CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENTS

Company representatives are actively encouraged to post on the forum to provide good customer service to MoneySavers. They should not be using the opportunity to tout for business. We need to know in order to legitimise it. Where permission has been given for a company/person to specifically post there will be a note from the MSE Team. If someone has posted claiming to have been given permission but this has not been followed by a MSE team note please report it to [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

omen666

savemoney wrote: »

The Customer Care Manager you need permission to post as company rep see below

My advice is not to post rep until you have permission as you may be banned and have post removed until they can validate who you are




http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...0&postcount=19

MSE TEAM PERMISSION: CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENTS

Company representatives are actively encouraged to post on the forum to provide good customer service to MoneySavers. They should not be using the opportunity to tout for business. We need to know in order to legitimise it. Where permission has been given for a company/person to specifically post there will be a note from the MSE Team. If someone has posted claiming to have been given permission but this has not been followed by a MSE team note please report it to [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Only posting savemoney as he knows the bad reviews he is going to get on this site in over the course of the day stating it is a scam and he doesnt want that on google search now

kymbogs

Thank goodness for MSE. I just received a phonecall like the OP's girlfriend, following a 'recommendation' from a friend. I googled the company whilst on the phone and came across this thread and many more like it, not to mention lots of other forums and sites with terrible reviews. I told the person on the phone that I wasn't willing to go ahead having read what I just had and he hung up on me :-D

Freddie_Snowbits

Oh dear, all those nice photographers enticing people with dreams of super stardom.

Oh, and when I photograph models, guess what I pay them. And if I do not pay yopu, FORGET IT.

Freddie_Snowbits

kymbogs wrote: »

Thank goodness for MSE. I just received a phonecall like the OP's girlfriend, following a 'recommendation' from a friend. D

If my friend had done this, she would be going to the beach for a long walk along the pier.

bigpound

I take it you've reported this obvious scam to your credit card company? And how is something free if you're paying a £5 booking fee?

kymbogs

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

If my friend had done this, she would be going to the beach for a long walk along the pier.

I'm taking that up with her...