HELP Have I been SCAMMED while trying for a Freebie???

animalambulanceman

Hi readers,

As a terrible nicotine addict-smoke 30 ciggs a day-I was delighted to be offered a Free Smokers Kit from Clearsmoke on a 15 day trial as long as I paid the £4.95 delivery costs.Well on the 6th Jan I applied on the understanding that it would be "2/3 working days" for delivery.Today is the 18th and still no kit!! Alarm bells are ringing because after reading the "OFFER" conditions I see they are going to whip £59.95 off my card unless I cancel within their 15 day from order date cancellation period.If I hadn't read this condition -which only becomes obvious when you click a link hidden on their order acceptance email -Very Lucky me for spotting it in time-I would have been clobbered for £59.95 with no way of reversing it.I really think that they don't even bother to send the kits out until it's TOO LATE and they can whip the extra money from your card !! Am I wrong ??Has anyone else experience of ClearSmoke UK ,either good or bad? By the way folks they will be barking up the wrong tree trying to extract funds from the card they took the postage from as acting on advice I read on this site "I bought a prepaid card" for internet purchases :jThanks in advance for any advice given -especially from MARTIN himself??

Desperado99

I'm glad you noticed in time.

If you're looking to quit this might be of interest to you - free quit kits from NHS (includes a voucher for a weeks supply of patches)

http://smokefree.nhs.uk/quit-tools/quit-kit/

Of course, they may all have gone by now.

Good Luck

lizzywig

No experience myself but I would suggest that you call them up and cancel, even if it means losing the £4.95. Better than losing the £59.95 too. Chances are it's in the post....although yes they may well wait until after the 15 days has passed. Surely there must be laws about this? I'm guessing though that even if you cancel before 15 days, since you have paid delivery they would either have to refund the £4.95 or send the sample. Then again perhaps not...

Good luck

davester

cancel the card payments via your bank. Cause if they do try to claim the debt of £59 you can point out as contract they didn't provide the initial pack.

animalambulanceman

Hi all,
Thanks for the suggestions that have come in during the 3hours since I opened this "Can of Worms"

As I wrote to ClearSmoke just before I asked the forum for assistance I thought that I should post an update before covering the suggested avenues of action to take.Below are copies of my email to ClearSmoke and their reply-anyone know a good supplier of AirFreshener?As the more I read it the more I get the distinct odour of Bull5hit creeping up my nose!What do you think?

Message:
You accepted my order on the 6th Jan and now on the 18th it has not arrived-where is it?I've just read about the £59.99 charge payable 15 days after free trial and do not agree to paying this unless I have tried the product first.I only placed my order on the understanding that my kit would be delivered in 2/3 working days from date of order placement and certainly will not be paying any more than this until I have had the opportunity to test it out.I feel conned and reckon that you don't even send anything out at all until the 15 days have elaspsed so that you can take another £59.95 from clients cards as they don't have time to cancel before the deadline has expired.I would appreciate your reply in writing as although I could have phoned you I feel the point i've raised needs a written response due to it's nature and also to avoid any confusion before I take any further action if my fears prove to be unfounded.I've read about scams involving taking further payments before trial periods have been completed due to people being unaware of what they have agreed to as a forum member on MoneySavingExpert.com and as my kit has not yet arrived I am naturally very concerned

REPLY from ClearSmoke
Hi Michael,

We are really sorry to hear about our product being still not delivered. This situation is also very uncomfortable to us too.

After checking carefully our system I have found a bug on your order, the system has only processed it our end on 10th January

Unfortunately and on the top of it, Royal Mail is at the moment facing huge delays, so we can only ask you to be patient.

Please contact us on our Freephone 0800 335 7004 and let us know if you have or not received our product by the end of the week.

If you still haven't received it we will end your Trial period and start an investigation.

Regarding the trial period's end, your account has been modified and you won't be billed before the 7th February.

Please let me know if you need any further information and sorry again for any inconvenience.

Regards.
ClearSmoke Team

Matt

So as you all can read there is a sting in the tail of this Freebie-They only give you 15 days to "try it" and really you are going to be paying £59.99 for it-This is about double the cost of buying the same or similar from another well known internet source.Also when I went to school 10+2 or 10+3 made 12 or 13 so as today's the 18th it is a minimum of 5 days-33.3%-of the FREE trial period-LATE:mad:

Now to respond to each suggestion in turn.
Bunting I've tried nicotine patches-Niquitin free from my doc- and Champix tablets within the last 2 months but can't give up as I still crave a ciggy.
Lizzywig, if there isn't a law against it there should be-do you know of one?I'm thinking along the lines of complaining to Trading Standards as they will know the law.
Davester, I can't get a refund to the card as it's a prepaid virtual Mastercard and will only send funds one way-out.Plus I really would rather try the kit as if it really works I will use it to pack up smoking and happily pay them.

If anybody know if there is a law being broken please let me know as I find it really sneaky,if not underhand, that I wasn't aware of the £59.99 charge until I luckily clicked on the link to the terms and conditions on their acceptance of order email and was made aware of it for the very first time.

I hope that anyone else who is thinking of stopping smoking using ClearSmoke reads this posting and sees through the smoke screen before getting unexpectedly stung to the tune of £59.99 due to them not being aware of it and believing that a "Freebie" was really as described.Please tell your smoker friends before they fall into the same trap and do use small value prepaid cards for internet purchases-Like Martin says If things go wrong You can only lose the value of the credit on the card and not your Boots'N'Laces :money:

davester

contact consumer direct and make an official complaint, you have made payments and recieved nothing, The postal backlog is BS I am getting post I ordered in 3 days coming from the other end of the UK and international in 5 days All via royal mail.

Silk

DSR's cover this which means you have 7 working days following the day of delivery in which to cancel and ask for full refund.

7roland8

Just had a browse on their site and this was quite visible - I think you clicked on the 'terms and conditions' on bottom of home page - but this was on the page where you sign in:

Our guarantee: By placing your order for the Trial Offer today you will be shipped a ClearSmoke™ Electronic Cigarette Kit, and your credit card will be billed only GBP 7.95 for P&P. We give you a 15 day trial period from the date you accept this exclusive online offer to evaluate our products.If you feel ClearSmoke™ is not for you, cancel within 15 days from today to avoid the one time purchase fee of £59.95.There are no other charges. Remember you can cancel this exclusive offer at any time by simply calling our Customer Services on 0800 335 7004 UK free phone.

custardy

davester wrote: »

contact consumer direct and make an official complaint, you have made payments and recieved nothing, The postal backlog is BS I am getting post I ordered in 3 days coming from the other end of the UK and international in 5 days All via royal mail.

thats quite a statement to make. Are you speaking for all delivery offices across the UK?

lorweld

MOVING THREADS FOR BETTER RESPONSES


Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email abuse@moneysavingexpert.com.

animalambulanceman

Hi,
I accept that you have relocated it to where it's meant to be-It can go anywhere you like lorweld but please give Newbies like me a clue as to where to find it again?
Also 7roland8 the link you showed is not the one I followed to get in contact with ClearSmoke-I know mine was through another site where the p&p charge was £4.95 not £7.95,an extra £3.00,although I maybe wrong I'm almost 100% sure that nothing about £59.99 showed up because due to my personal financial position I only ever buy a virtual mastercard with a maximum value of £50.00. I would have known that I couldn't have completed the payment without buying another prepaid virtual card and certainly would not have proceeded with the transaction at all knowing this level of cost was involved from the outset.
Just to illustrate this point as I get the impression that there is some doubt please see below where I've pasted the acceptance email from ClearSmoke definitely dated 06th January not the 10th.


06/01/2011

modified to not show link as per forum rules but came from clearsmoke


If you need further information or wish to reach ClearSmoke Customer Support, simply contact us on:
UK Freephone: 0800 335 7004 (7 days a week - 8am to 8pm GMT)

--

Dear MICHAEL,

Thank you for joining the thousands of other UK ClearSmokers which like you have decided to take a new path in their smoking habits. Our community is growing every day and although changing your smoking habits won?t be an easy task, ClearSmoke will be there to help you during every step of it. During this entire process you should keep in mind that every cigarette of the day which you will replace with a ClearSmoke will already be considered as a step forward.

Please find below some important information regarding your order:

Your ClearSmoke E-Cigarette Kit will be shipped within 2-3 business days to the following address:

MICHAEL XXXTX
X8 XXXXXNG GARDENS
CRICKLEWOOD
LONDON
NW2 XXB

*******Address/details modified by me to protect my privacy or comply with posting rules about not showing links as a Newbie************
Your Credit card for the Postage and Packing of your order has been billed today GBP 4.95.
The charge will appear on your bank statement as:

"08002343053HEALTHYCIG"

We are confident that you will be pleased with your order. After all here are just some of the benefits of ClearSmoke:

- No Tar, Ash or Smell
- No Carbon Monoxide
- No Yellow Teeth or Bad Breath
- Much cheaper than traditional tobacco cigarettes.
- None of the 4000 chemicals which can be found in the traditional cigarettes.

Additionally please find below useful information regarding ClearSmoke:

Customer Support: 0800 335 7004 (UK Freephone, 7 days a week, 8am to 8pm GMT)
Terms and Conditions:****(for the terms of your offer)
Privacy Policy:**** (rest assured your information will NEVER be shared)


Finally do not forget to join our fan page on Facebook to benefit from special nicotine discounts and other exclusive offers. You can also visit our website clearsm**** to purchase accessories, nicotine cartridges and other tobacco free related products.

We look forward to servicing you and to helping you reach a completely tobacco free smoking life.

Congratulations again for your order!

Your ClearSmoke Team