Wire Transfer - what coverage do I have paying by this method

madgadget

WARNING.

I would STRONGLY ADVISE anyone who has given their credit cards to bargin-universe.com to phone their banks/issuers IMMEDIATELY and have them CANCELLED.

This site only appeared less than a month ago. Everything on their site is nearly half the price of anyone else, their phones are not answered, their credit card processing does not work AND they ask you to make bank transfers.

VERY VERY VERY SUSPICIOUS.

Interestingly they even placed adds in the "Friday Ad" online 'paper'.

Avoid with a bargepole... You have been warned...

The_Pedant

Just as a counter point ... there does appear to be a Bargain Universe ltd registered in Manchester since 2010 (according to companies house), with last accounts filed at the start of this year. In addition to that, there is also an Amazon seller of the same name with good feedback based in ..... yup, Manchester.

So it might just be that they're trying to cut out the middle man.

Either way, I would be put off by the new domain, the failure of their card processing & what appears to be a registered address that's just a small office (judging by the other companies with the same address). That would be enough for me to steer clear without additional assurances that they are reputable.

majorregret

Avoid avoid avoid - I dont think there is any comeback on this. I was a fool who made the transfer
Others learn from my mistakes to at least - please
If something is too good to be true - IT USUALLY IS!



BARGAIN-UNIVERSE is a scam

vax2002

canon 1dmk iv body £950 Brand New
Now Hang on.. Canon trade services sell at £ 2,155 + vat
And thats a trade price.
Make no mistake this website is a fraud and if you have just entered your credit card details in that site it is time for some emergency headless chicken action !
PHONE _ BANK - NOW

majorregret

Not because I think it will make any difference to me - but to hopefully stop others from making the same mistake. The bank account is in a Leicester Branch of Barclays and the company trades supposedly out of Manchester .
I want to contact google - as it was there that I found the site in shopping. I know it is easy with hindsight to agree with the above comments but.........
I am on a crusade to make people aware of this.

flowersjohn

Not satisfied with first and second position in the Premiership now they want my money as well. Maybe it's to buy season tickets. I followed a 'Friday-Ads' advert in Tunbridge Wells for a Canon 5dMark 2, much too cheap, I thought it might be the one that was stolen from me three weeks ago. But it wasn't, it was Bargain-Universe LTD where everything is much too cheap and too good to be true or possible. The money transfer bit is the only way they can hope to get and keep the money. Unless we all take the trouble to report this: at actionfraud.org or 0300 1232040, they come under Trading Standards. Please, please take the trouble to report your loss, it could mean that you get some or all of your money back but if it didn't it might get them closed down and other people won't lose theirs.
Never again will I be so greedy and in such a hurry. Now I am down a camera and the money for a new one.

The_Pedant

The bank account is in a Leicester Branch of Barclays and the company trades supposedly out of Manchester

Little unusual there. I think they use that as a central processing point for postal queries (old postal BACS transactions/cheques etc). It's just a central clearing point, rather than the old-school way of sending everything though the local branches.
Doing a sort-code search online for many Barclays sort codes will return the first couple of lines as the local branch name & town but will then finish with 'Leicester, LE87 2BB'

almost_got_me

Hmmmm!

Nothing to specifically unperpin my concerns, but here is my experience.

Ordered 2 iPhones at a "too good to be true" price - just followed the process and it all looked 100% legitimate through checkout which appeared much like any other site.

I received confirmation emails (in duplicate!?), followed by various emails (in duplicate) dealing with payment processing, essentially advising that the payment would be processed in the morning and order status updated once payment was confirmed. Looked a bit manual and I was starting to get a bit concerned.

Next I received an email with a hyperlink to their site which led me to the following message!



So there you have it. Goods that are too cheap to be believable, followed by a plausible communication stream following the order that leads to a payment process which, having already captured key identity data - name, address, fully useable credit card details, phone numbers, etc. offers a very reasonable oportunity for you to send 'cash' (together with bank sort code and account numbers no doubt) before any goods will be sent.

So, the end result could be, worst case, no buyer protection, no goods, no cash, bank and credit card details with the seller in an apprently non secure format. In the wrong hands, who knows what might follow.

I used the reply section to cancel the order. This has been confirmed.

As a precaution I have reported the payment card used stolen to ensure that the data provided, should it fall in to the wrong hands, cannot be used. I have spent hours since changing security on all of my on line services where there was any possibility that a scammer could use the data given to gain access.

Oh, and the 0161 222 9005 contact number on the website rings out to voicemail with the message box full and unable to take further input!

So, I do not know that there is anything wrong with this site or vendor, but was sufficiently concerned to take the above steps. Been buying on line since the late 1990s and have never been scammed or needed to take any similar action.

I might have missed out on 2 cheap iPhones - we will see!

Hope this helps! Good luck!

(Discussed with Actionfraud who were very interested, took many details and, whilst they had no previous knowledge of the site, confirmed that it conformed in every respect to similar scams and that they will be making a report to the police!)

Actionfraud suggested that awareness of this site and the potential fraud should be propogated by Facebook an other social networking sites!

squeaky

Hi,

The posting of personal details is against the forum rules. I'll quote them below for you...

Forum_Team wrote:

I posted a company director's name and address but it's gone, why?

Forum users should not post their or anyone else's personal details (full names, email addresses, home addresses or telephone numbers) on the forum or send them via PM (private message). This includes personal details found on public look-up sites such as Whois.com and Companies House.

Posters should also not harvest, collect or use information about others, including e-mail addresses.

.

BlueScouser

I found this site via a search as I too Bargain Store too suspect for its amazing bargains.
A little more searching and I found the following link, which states that the company was struck off the list at companies house and has been dissolved.

Check out the name of the appointed director.....hahaha!

Damn! this site is difficult to use. I dont think I will come here again either. It took me about 6 goes to register then on my first post I cant post a link!! Very frustrating!
OK, I cant post the link so you will have to Googe yourself folks. Search for review "Bargains Store" chevril.

I aint coming back here. bye bye.