Nutrascience - Free trial which isn't and don't know what to do

sharleenb

Hi there, I have been really silly. A few weeks ago I followed a link on Facebook for this great slimming aid Nutrascience. It said it was a free trial and you only paid postage and packaging. I gave my card details and got the product, great, or not as it is. If you do not cancel in 14 days you get charged £37.50 for next months supply, not bad if I got results, what I missed was that it is £37.50 per item, I have now been charged £112.50 for something on looking doesn't work. I don't know what to do, haven't told my husband and feel so foolish. Is there anyway I can get my money back, I authorised the original payment but not for future payments but I suppose because I accepted their terms and conditions on receiving the product I am stuffed. If anyone can offer any advice before I ring them to cancel any future payments and products please let me know.
Do you know what is most annoying I am saving up for something special which is £200 and this is over half towards it.
Thank you.

Azari

You need to be clearer.

Why did you not cancel immediately (was it because you were waiting to see if it worked)?

Why have you been charged for three items (or three months) rather than one?

fluffnutter

Don't wait for our advice (although we can certainly give some). You need to be checking their cancellation policy and doing that straight away to prevent further payments being taken.

You'll have ticked a box (or not ticked one) to authorise a continuous payment authority (the details are sometimes a little 'hidden' shall we say) so you need to cancel asap. If you have difficulty doing this, contact your bank who can cancel from their end.

Like Azari, I'm confused. You only signed up for this trial a few weeks ago so you won't have had subsequent months' payments taken so why have you been charged three times?

Why didn't you cancel within 14 days?

wary

Alas this isn’t the first time that someone’s clicked on a Facebook and has unwittingly had regular payments taken. Some advertisers don’t exactly go out of the way to make that clear, probably in the hope of snaring people who don’t delve deep into the T&C. All rather disingenuous.

As has been said, the first thing is to cancel ASAP if you’ve not already done so.

You could threaten that you’ll file a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority, firstly that it wasn’t made clear other than in the small print that you were signing for a regular purchase scheme, and secondly on the grounds that they’re making efficacy claims that they’re unable to back up with peer reviewed clinical trials. I haven’t seen the advert personally so I don’t know how good a case you’d have, but either way, it would be hassle for them and potentially bad publicity which could result in the withdrawal of the advert. They may decide that it would be a sensible business decision to refund you instead.

Azari

wary wrote: »

Note that a CPA is bad news as you’re at their total mercy to cancel it; unlike a direct debit which you can cancel your end.

This is not true.

Please do not continue to disseminate this false information.

fluffnutter

There's been a fair bit of hoo-haa surrounding CPAs because the banks have been issuing incorrect advice. They can cancel them and in accordance with a directive issued by the Payment Services Regulations in 2009 they should do so on the customer's request.

The protection's not quite as overarching as with a DD, i.e. the bank won't be able to reclaim or reimburse you for payments already taken (unlike the DD guarantee which makes your bank jointly liable if payments have been erroneously taken). They will however be able to prevent future ones.

All this is a bit by-the-by. The first thing that the OP should do is follow the company's cancellation process.

wary

Azari wrote: »

This is not true.

Please do not continue to disseminate this false information.

Thanks for setting me straight. Is it correct that the Op should contact their bank to cancel it rather than solely relying on the retailer to stop taking payments?

Is this a recent change? According to a Moneybox programme a few months ago, there were consumers who were unable to prevent regular payments being taken via a CPA ... or am I getting mixed up with something similar?

fluffnutter

wary wrote: »

Thanks for setting me straight. Is it correct that the Op should contact their bank to cancel it rather than solely relying on the retailer to stop taking payments?

Is this a recent change? According to a Moneybox programme a few months ago, there were consumers who were unable to prevent regular payments being taken via a CPA ... or am I getting mixed up with something similar?

You should follow the company policy first. If they are uncontactable or continue to take payments despite your cancelling, then contact your bank.

Re. your second point, this was on Moneybox a few months ago (and You and Yours). AFAIR the article was about how banks are still giving incorrect advice and Paul Lewis was warning people not to take 'we can't do that' for an answer.

The rules changed in 2009.

wary

fluffnutter wrote: »

You should follow the company policy first. If they are uncontactable or continue to take payments despite your cancelling, then contact your bank.

Even if the company confirm that is has been cancelled and no further payments will be collected, I'd personally still cancel it with my bank for peace of mind, especially if the retailer has already demonstrated what I considered to be a disingenuous side ...

Azari

wary wrote: »

Thanks for setting me straight. Is it correct that the Op should contact their bank to cancel it rather than solely relying on the retailer to stop taking payments?

They should contact both.

Is this a recent change? According to a Moneybox programme a few months ago, there were consumers who were unable to prevent regular payments being taken via a CPA ... or am I getting mixed up with something similar?

I only found out about this recently. Until a couple of months ago I would have said exactly the same as you did.

It seems that this incorrect 'common knowledge' has come about because the banks themselves are not fully up to speed on the rules - or at least, a lot of their employees aren't.

I have seen this incorrect information promulgated by respectable journalists who are, presumably, repeating what they have been told by a bank employee without bothering to check the facts. And because everyone assumes it's true they pass it on.

There is a guide from the Financial Services Authority here: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/consumer_...ghts_guide.pdf

Contains:

Cancelling a regular card payment

When you give your credit or debit card details to a company and authorise them to take regular payments from your account, such as for a gym membership or magazine subscription,
it is known as a ‘recurring transaction’ or ‘continuous payment authority’. These are often confused with direct debits, but do not offer the same guarantee if the amount or date of the payment changes. In most cases, regular payments can be cancelled by telling the company taking the payments. However, you have the right to cancel them directly with your bank or card issuer by telling it that you have stopped permission for
the payments. Your bank or card issuer must then stop them – it has no right to insist that you agree this first with the company taking the payments. Be aware, though, that you will still be
responsible for paying any money that you owe.

fluffnutter

Azari wrote: »

They should contact both.

I do agree with this, but it might be a little pointless. Your bank can only withhold a payment if it's attempted; it won't act preemptively. So if the company's already fulfilled your request and cancelled the payment, the request to your bank will be unnecessary.

However, in the event that the company's ignored you, this would indeed be a useful cover-all (one hopes - my faith in banks is easily shaken ).