Worldwide Marketing Solutions / Worldwideems con? Beware!

mgroves

hampshirebabe wrote: »

I believed what I'd been told, if you pay by credit card and it turns out not to be what it seems then I'd be covered. I certainly never knew anyone I give my card details to can make up a contract and keep taking money whenever they want.
They never told me they weren't actually google, all I knew was Yell coldcall, so do lots of other advertising companies, so why wouldn't they actualy be who they said they were.

Exactly. The whole point of paying by credit card is that we expect the credit card companies to have established the bona fides of the merchant before providing card facilities. Hence the joint and several liability. One would think that if a merchant defaults on their contracts often enough, they would have their card facilities withdrawn.

So to me, the unbelieveable thing is not that so many people agree to take up an attractive offer, it's that the company has been allowed to get away with misrepresenting their offer for so long without the banks getting wise to it! Perhaps the lucrative commissions they take on each card transaction have made them less keen to withdraw any merchant facilities.

mgroves

steve1980 wrote: »

They don't actually have a leg to stand on.

WMS's response to that is that the transaction is business-to-business, not business-to-consumer, and that therefore the DS Regs don't apply. Actually, I think they have a point, since in most cases, advertising applies to businesses. I'm no expert, but I suspect that if you wanted to invoke DSR, you'd have to prove that the advertising was in respect of a hobby, not a business. Even then, maybe not?

GomerPyle

I'm dealing with a similar operation that has had its thread removed from this forum, and I can understand why, and I'll remain uncontroversial (in this forum) as I handle it away from here.

Anyway, card companies tend to side with the merchant as it's the easy option, but you have a very powerful method to make the card company take you seriously - and it's by refusing to drop the complaint and taking it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

You go through the complaints procedure and ensure that you have been handed their complaints procedure guide - they are obliged to do that. If they don't they'll be in trouble at the FOS and they aren't allowed to drag the procedure out for ever. An FOS complaint costs you nothing but costs the card company a fee and much time and trouble. One lady in that thread got all 13 of the payments put back to her card, and the card company would have been happy to let her bear them if she hadn't dug in her heels.

Of course your card company/bank may not be happy and it could affect you if you have debt with them, so the decision is not just down to whether or not you're in the right, but even the threat of going to the FOS forces the card company not to fob you off.

The effect it will have on the company you're making the claim against will be serious beyond just having to hand back your money if they lose, so it's a very effective and powerful avenue to use - probably more effective than even the police. Too many successful reclaims and he'll lose his card facility.

Though I am retired from banking I have no great sympathy for them. They are legally required to know what their customers do, and if they provide a merchant facility in spite of that then it's their risk.

Your card company doesn't have the last word. The cost of enabling a disreputable merchant to have a card facility is borne by the bank providing them with the facility, not the client. They might try to persuade you otherwise, but if they were made to handle more of these complaints through the FOS they'd be a lot more cautious. Even if you lost the case, the cost to the bank would be between £500 and £1,000 and they'd be staring squinty eyed at their customer. If it happened a few times, the customer would be out of business.

Didn't your card company mention recourse to the FOS ? (I wonder why ?)

hampshirebabe

Well thankfuly my credit card company have refunded the last lot of £118.80. Its not all of it, but its better than nothing and should put a stop to them taking anymore. Still waiting to hear from their complaints dept to see if I can get the 1st lot back too.

TM1979

Home Page at the bottom in CLEAR WORDING!

© 2010 Worldwide Marketing Solutions Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Worldwide marketing solutions limited operates independently. We are not employed, endorsed, or agents of facebook or Google™. 'Google™' and ‘Google Adwords™’ is a trademark of Google™, Inc

Worldwide Marketing Solutions Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 06893239.

Enough said!

Google is like Apple, they never have to undercut their products because THEY ARE THE BEST AT WHAT THEY DO!!!!!

mgroves

Yes, their (semi-illiterate) written communications never misrepresent who they are...

mgroves

mgroves wrote: »

<snip>

Anyway, I have now written to Halifax again, asking them to preferably reconsider their position on a chargeback, failing which I am demanding a full refund from Halifax directly under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, as they are jointly and severally liable for any misrepresentation or breach of contract with the supplier. I hope they charge it back, so that WM makes the loss, but if Halifx prefers to take it on the chin themselves, well, whatever...

I will post up whatever result I get.

M...

Update: Halifax have written back to me, saying that my account has been temporarily credited pending the outcome of their chargeback. So it looks promising. I was amused that they didn't even acknowledge their own previous attempt to dismiss my request for a chargeback with "there's nothing more we can do".

I will be interested to see if Halifax ultimately charges it back to WMS, or simply write it off themselves. If they charge it back, then I guess I can expect contact from WMS for non-payment. If so, I will contest it on the basis of fraudulent misrepresentation, and suggest they jump immediately to litigation if that's their ultimate intention.

zoeinoldham

mmmmm well what can i say............. i received a call from a witheld number today asking if i want to advertise on facebook. i had been called a few weeks back and said i would consider it when funds looked better, so today we went into deep conversation saying they could advertise my business for a fraction of the cost of what Facebook charges £99 for the month with unlimited clicks or impressions, sound too good to be true yet?
i asked the guy to give me a website i could look up to see what the company are like, he read out worldwidems.co.uk and i just said ok flashing red warning light as i was in the process of reading complaints on here and saw the same address.
he replied i can assure you we are not a scam and will even put you on facebook free so you can see what we look like and what work we do. i said yes i would be very interested in this offer, he said ok thansk for yuor time and put phone down!!! I GOT OUT OF THAT LUCKY, MAYBE YOU MIGHT NOT BE THE SAME, PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS!!!
the number he called me from initially was 0161 6372246
they must drink an awful lot of horlicks to sleep at night.............

caroliner_2

I should have done my research here before I got taken by world Wide Marketing. I took a free month then a £99 deal for one month in Feburary...aparently this then triggers a rolling contract that cant be stopped!! I was called in Feb and asked if I wanted to continue, I said NO. When you say No to this company they think it means PAUSE...(this is what the person on the phone told me) So.. I had no contact from this firm since Febuary. I have just checked my bank statement and they have taken another payment..21st June. I called to ask them how could they take a card payment without my authority? I was told by the man on the phone 'i did leave a voice mail' one I didn't get.
DON'T GO NEAR THIS COMPANY..I have been in business for a very long time. I have tried to reason with this company but they just repeat the same company line...I'm not sure what type of people would work for them anyway!!

feel_a_fool

I too am a small business and just been scammed by worldwide solution.
they do claim to be google on ther first sales call, promising to get me on first page of google for £99, they took £149 from my bank acount, everything they say is lies, i am so dissappointed as i cant afford to loose any money, they point blank refuse to return my money and became very aggressive.,,i have contacted trading standards and you have every right to get your money back , the fact that they have not complied means they breach the contract.

there sales tactic is first call, second call suppose to be your account manager , but all they try an do is take more money from you.

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THESE PEOPLE , ITS A CON.