Coverlook Studios

jenny.warnes

Help I've been sammed by Cover look (CovergirlStudio)

Yes I too had won a makeover....
They ask you to leave a deposit and the money will be refunded on arrival at the studio. When you give them your credit card details they ask if anyone else would be interested. Be careful because I mentioned the possibility of two others, and on saying that they had already debited my credit card by three people, £90 in total. I said, ' I didn't authorise you to debit my credit card', but she said, 'its already been debited and there is nothing you can do. I contacted my credit card company who stated it was between me and Cover Girl and there was nothing they could do. I contacted Cover again saying, I didn't think I could get two extra people, with athat she said, you must write in to get your money back reiterating 'there was nothing she could do as it had already gone through to my credit card company. I wrote in explaining I would be unable to travel after having a foot and ey operation and was unable to getter two other people to go. Then I received a voicemail saying, it isnt' there policy to refund but they could change the the date of my make over, which at the moment is booked for this Friday 27th June.
Can anyone help me get my refund of £90.00. I need to sort it out before the 72hr date change deadline. I called them tonight and supposedly it was the cleaner who answered, who said, 'tele sales only open Wednesday to Friday. Does anyone have their email address pleeeze? If not I will try Rick but I'm afraid there will be no answer.

nifi26

I have been contacted by cover-whatever-they-call-themselves last week. Similarly to other people's experience I have been told I have entered a prize draw on myoffers and won, yada yada...

I realised 36 hourse later how stupid I have been and decided that I will go and sit in the studio for a month if needs be - I'm canceling and getting my money back.
I got hold of the lady who booked me and told her that I would like to cancle, that I feel I was pressured in to making the booking (I was!), that she was not truthful in tellimg me I have won a prize draw (she wasn't!) and besides I have personal family issues becasue of which I cannot attend the so called pamper day. When she said 'we don't do cancelations' I mentioned that she neglected to tell me this at the time of booking (she did!). She mumbled something about 'the calls being recorded' and that I have to speak to her manager and will be contacted later.
Needless to say nobody called me and the phones were busy the rest of the day.

I got hold of the infamous Ricky on this number:02076310272
I explaned to him what had happened so far and stressed that I WOULD NEVER HAVE BOOKED HAD i KNOWN THAT THERE WAS A NO-CANCELATION POLICY
He asked me to post back my letter and he will refund me.
Instead of posting the letter I asked to meet him personaly at the studio for my refund and he agreed.

At the moment I have a refund recipt. If I will not get my refund in 30 days my bank will then dispute the matter for me.

To Jenny and all others who have been conned all I can say is don't give up if you think that you should have you money back! If you did not authorise a transaction or were not made aware of all the terms and conditions at time of purchase DEMAND your money back, don't ask for it!

I will post back to let you know whether I got my refund smoothly indeed or had to dispute it with the help of my bank.

I would advise to anybody not to give up and act as much as possible in person. I have no doubt that had I sent my letter+recipt in the post it would have misteriously gotten lost or never delivered.
I'm still preparing myself to make more phonecalls when the refund does not reach my acount by next week, but we wil see. To be fair to Ricky, he was very polite and didn't give me any hustle, he seemed to understand my approach and intention.

Come down at them like a ton of bricks untill you get your money back.

Good luck to all of us idiots who have hopefuly learned a lesson.

nifi26

Just a little bit of good news and perhaps some hope and encouragement to others: I actually got my money back.
So don't give up.

camedia2061

I also got a call yesterday from STUDIO LONDON and paid £60 for me and my girlfriend. I found this website after, and have spent hours trying to get my money back but they said you must attend and complete the appointment to get a refund, so thats what were going to do.

They ALSO said you dont need to bring your debit card with you on the day for the refund as it is automatic. That doesn't sound right as surely they need the debit card to issue the refund (or from what i've now heard from the thread they dont do refunds).

I rang my girlfriend and weve decided that she wont take her credit cards (as shes easily persuaded), but I will take my card, but believe me I will not be buying any photos!!!

What should I do though as apparently they dont do refunds? Could I call the police if they dont do it there and then? I really dont know what to do.

nifi26

Someone has mentioned them either on this thread or another one (there are two more threads in moneysavingexpert about this) so it's probably a studio that makes money in the same way...

You can't call the police. The studios who operate in this way make sure that they are legally covered.
You should be able to get your money back as long as you: have your card with you, have a recipt, authorisation code and/or any other documentation that they have provided and MAKE IT VERY CLEAR THAT YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL YOU GET YOUR MONEY BACK.

When refunded make sure that you have a recipt again, as your bank should be able to dispute the matter for you should you not recieve your refund within 30 days.

Be aware that they will try to use any excuse not to give you your deposit back, so make sure you follow all their instructions (be there on time, have your letter/recipt etc).

Most of all I would say have the right attitude: don't scream and shout but be reasonable, assertive and consistent.
I would also say don't give up and try to cancle it all together if you think that they have been misleading over the phone, but that's up to you.

Good luck!

stellarj

just had a call from the same ppl....9pm on a saturday night. the woman was reading from a script. asked her to call on Monday so I could look it up....glad I did, will be kindly declining their offer!!!

Richard_SW

Is it possible to get the deposit back if you decide to change your mind after reading all this? I changed my mind...and now they are not giving the money back, they didn't even set a date for the photoshoot!?

Am I entitled to my deposit back as per the distance selling regulations and 7 day cooling off period? Are there ANY laws out there that can help?

Little_Belle

Well reading this I am glad I have - saved me being duped -

But my sister a couple of months ago had one of these make overs and got duped into ordering about £900 of photos! paying monthly but she cant afford it - wish there was a way she could get out of it - £50 a month is what she is paying - she can barely make her ends meet as it is

Any ideas??

im_special_hehe

Hi, Thank god I found this website.
The one question I want to know is how do they get your number? I have just had a missed call from this photo shoot place and as I did not know the number i googled it and found this website, but i have NEVER entered any competitions so i cant understand how they got my number?
If anyone knows please write back
Thanks

shesarebel

Thats for the confirmations on this thread - I had a call from them earlier today (so they're at it again!), alarm bells started ringing at the mention of a deposit (although they were already ringing - I'm pretty damn sure I wouldn't have entered a photoshoot comp - I have zero interest in such!) so told her to ring back, giving me time to look into it...