Product support ag ?

drewstain

Just had the same thing happen to me, luckily the cost p!ssed up the wall for nothing is only £21. Bought a laptop in PC World in July been paying £3.60 each month since then. Like a lot of people I have many standing orders and didn't notice until I moved to the other side of the world and no longer use that account that often.

I called them up on skype I was asked for a "policy number" I said I didn't even know I had a policy until about half an hour ago, didn't even bother trying to get a refund (bad of me I know but I was so annoyed with them I couldn't bare to be on the phone to them any longer than necessary) I emailed BBC Watchdog about it. Something needs to be done about this is disgusting. I feel sorry for older people who will by laptops and things from PC World not really knowing what they are doing but trusting them just to be ripped off.

olivia_essien

I've just noticed this on mine. Have you resolved yours?

olivia_essien

Wow... I have been so stung since 2012!!!!
just realised.

Chris1515

I was concerned to see payments to "Product Support AG" on my bank statement. I eventually discovered that they were payments to Currys/PC World for a product support plan for a computer that I had bought. I thought that I had bought a free one month support plan, but it seems that I had agreed to continuing support plan. I contacted Knowhow Customer Services and they cancelled the plan.

Knowhow stated in their letter "The store can not set up the agreement without taking the monthly payment so they discount the cost of that off the cost of the product." This explains why the amount I paid in the store was the cost of the product and I did not notice the extra line on the till receipt.

Following a second letter to Knowhow, requesting an answer to a point made in my first letter. I was informed that "The letters AG on your statement are an abbreviation of the word agreement." It is not clear why the letters AG are in capitals, and it is clear that other contributors to this thread got the impression that AG was the name of a company.

I understand that the descriptions of payments on statements may need to be abbreviated, but I believe that the payee, in this case Currys or PC World, would be more useful. A description on my bank statement such as "PC World prod sup" would have the same number of characters and be more informative

Angermanaged

Product Support AG debiting cards on a internal Fraud Hoax for Service Contracts.


Case Scenario: I was unknowingly charged for a Service Warranty , after the salesman added it on without my knowledge, or authority . 7 months later, I disovered my card was hit monthly for a contract on a Ipaid mini (199 pounds). PC world said the contract was 30 days free, and did not disclose charging after that.


Solution: Call your bank. Stop the charges from reoccurring by reporting it as a fraud.
Don't whine , stay focused. Then call PC World's FREE number to lodge a demand for ALL back payments taken without your authority and knowledge.
That free number is 0800 665 833. You need your postcode and the last digits of your card that they hit. Remain calm, don't rant. Demand that the entire amount be refunded. PC world/Currys/Etc will issue a check and close the agreement if you have no knowledge of it, did not agree to it and you did not sign a contract. Stay on those clear points: Didn't know, Didn't approve , did not authorize any debt for this service.


This is the case of MOST of this fraud games that are played by salesman to boost profits using this Rogue Practice. Rant in blogs, on the phone be calm and direct sticking with ''I did not order or authorize such a debt or agreement, and I want ALL my money refunded''.
I was refunded all 7 months instantly, no troubles. Entire process took 48 minutes. Have ALL your information ready. Summary: It's a terrible process to screw customers with such a scam. It goes to the integrity of the company and the management. It's just wrong. Once you get your refund, don't deal there again. Remember DONT rant. Don't make it personal.

Angermanaged

You can call free using Skype also. Writing them is a waste of time. My issues were resolved with a refund ( by mail and by Check). No wiggle room for them on this. You should check your receipt. The bank said to me, when you use your card for a purchase it could open the door to a hidden service agreement. The bank ( Natwest) said they deal with this and PC world's application of this trick ALL day long. Also- CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS. It's a new world now, and FRAUD is part a management discision for many greedy companies. In my Opinion PC World and CURRY should cancel this procedure, and offer the service UP front on the purchase. That's the clean way. The trick is how many people can you scam that don't ask for the money back. That's PC Worlds game, and its all numbers.

robatwork

Whatever the methods of this charge getting onto people's accounts, it's underhand at best to call it product support AG. AG is Aktiengesellschaft and is the German equivalent of a limited company.

Naughty knowhow.

patrickadom

I've had this same thing.
I only discovered that the direct debits were happening when I cancelled my credit card direct debit payments and got a message that I had missed a payment.
The credit card company told me who the payment was to and confirmed that it has been going on for sometime, I Googled product support ag and found this forum.

I rang 0344 561 4000, at first they couldn't locate my account and was put through to three different teams. Eventually they were able to locate my account and agreed to cancel further payments. I asked for a refund and was told no and that the payments had been happening for awhile and I should have know sooner. I asked to escalate my issue and to speak to the line manager, after a minute or so the same guy came back and said that they had agreed to a full refund of all charges from the beginning of the agreement.

I wait to hear back from PC World to confirm an actual refund.

To anyone that has the same issue, call and complain and demand a full refund.

This is really terrible and PC world should be hammered for this.

Johnny887

Hi all,

First of all, for transparency sake, I do work for DixonsCarphone and I am aware of the basics of the whole operation, which includes repairs and returns. But I am just a simple entry level employee, so I do not have any intent in lying to you.

This might have been mentioned here before, but here is what's happening in this case:

Upon purchasing something from a DixonsCarphone store, you might get offered a monthly coverage for that specific product, which includes any future repairs. This is good from a consumer perspective of course, that you will not have to pay for the full repair/transportation costs if something breaks, usually for white goods (fridges, stoves and washing machines) we do, most of times anyway, a home repair. For other electronics we ship them to the Newark Repair center, alongside more problematic big electronics, if the on field repair team cannot resolve. From a business perspective, monthly payments and coverage fees (which are different from any manufacturer warranties - so you get protected both ways) are the bread and butter for our business. For example, most of our big box items are operated by in large to a loss up to the point it finds a home with a customer. Let's give a random example, and these figures are placeholders only:

Because we buy in bulk from the manufacturer/distributor we might pay something like $50 for a medium size fridge. Including transportation, storing, money lost with it on store floors, upon purchasing this item for the $150 retail price, we might lose 20-100$ along the way. The only reason we make money on these is due to the monthly fee people pay to cover any future repairs. In simple terms, a smartphone occupies a fraction of the space a big fridge does, yet costs 10 times more - these are the biggest profit makers.
Yes, the manufacturer might cover any manufacturer faults, but if you need something replaced, we can do it in a day or two (nowadays we try to push for the same day repair timeframe) rather than waiting weeks or even months for your machine to get exchanged/repair through the manufacturer warranty - and all the bureaucracy this entails.

This is less true for computers and flat panels (TVs), however at least you have the option of repairing it way after the manufacturer warranty expired. If you cancel this, and sometimes in the future you decide to sent it for repair with us, in our system you will appear as having a policy that expired when you cancelled it, so any work done on it, including repair costs and parts, will have to be paid from your own pocket, otherwise will return unrepaired.

So, when purchasing something pay attention to what you agree to, though you should technically be told about these possible fees, people working in stores are humans just like you, and they might forget to mention this, due to various reason, they need to hit certain targets, they omit to mention it, and are only just started and make more mistakes than usual. Or if you are cynical like me, and you think that more than 50% of the people you work with are complete mouth breathing idiots, you shouldn't expect other companies to operate on better flocks!

Hope this clears things up a bit. Those fees should be present on your purchase paperwork, and you can cancel them anytime you choose to, just keep in mind that this cancels any free repairs you were enrolled to up to that point.

Have a nice day.

Ernold

Hi,

Just wanted to share my experience and vent some frustration.

In around January last year I bought a computer as a present for my parents and I made the mistake of going to PC world. When I was in the store I was asked by the sales person if I wanted the tech insurance. I specifically said no as I work in IT and am capable of sorting things out if they break.

I checked my bank account a month ago and saw a payment to !!!8220;Product Support AG!!!8221;. I had no idea what the transaction was for so I googled it which led me to this forum. I then realised that these payments had been made monthly for the last year without my knowledge.

I phoned their support number on 26th Feb and the agreed to stop the payments and give me a full refund. Although annoyed I was happy that I would get the money back (around £58).

I checked my bank account regularly and no refund was ever made. On 6th of March they billed me again. After this I phoned them again questioning why I had been billed. I was told that I cancelled too late for the payment to be stopped for March and I would get a full refund shortly.

I kept checking my bank account and to my horror they debited my account of about £63 on 8th March. After seeing this I was getting pretty angry and frustrated. I called them again and they told me that is how refunds work- they debit the account and then credit it. I was told I should wait 5 business days.

I waited and eventually I was refunded both amounts on around 18th March.

It might just be me but I have never heard of a payment system that requires a debit before a credit. I had money in my account but I can!!!8217;t help but wonder how that would have worked if I had been overdrawn.

The whole thing is a scam and they must know this considering they offered the refund with no questions asked. I am pretty sure they would have put up more resistance to my refund request if it was sold in a more genuine way. Coupled to this is the fact that they don!!!8217;t make the bank transactions obvious- I am sure if it was more legitimate they would use their brand name for the transactions rather than !!!8220;Product support AG!!!8221;.

Their business model of selling computer obviously doesn!!!8217;t work and they have reverted to miss-selling insurance. I feel sorry for all the vulnerable people- especially older people- that have been paying for the service without their consent.

I also wonder if there is anyone I can complain to about this practice? Is there some kind of insurance or retail watchdog?

Lessons learnt:

• check bank account regularly. I will now check pretty much daily.
• Never buy anything from Currys / PC world.