Driving Licence Replacement Scam!

powerful_Rogue

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Latest reports from the Government is that they believe over a 1000 people a day are using these scam sites. How nice they have not closed them down .

Close them down for what reason? The service the are offering is legal. They have been investigated by the OFT who have expressed no concerns.

The issue is people not reading what they are about to buy.

DVLASCAM

Got scammed by this website dvla-driving-licence.co.ukand currently having a battle of getting my money back.

The spectrum address is to stop victims from finding them. This is the real registered name and address:
TADSERVICES LIMITED
UNIT 2 THE OLD STABLES
WEST TISTED
ALRESFORD
HAMPSHIRE
UNITED KINGDOM
SO24 0HJ

Director of the company was changed from Peter Hall to Claire Hall recently.

I was digging a bit more and guess what, they run other copycat websites as well and I found a few:

hse-ehic.net
estavisas.co.uk/Home.aspx
tad-services.co.uk
driver-theory-test.co.uk
uk-passport.net
rodlicence.net

[Deleted User]

DVLASCAM wrote: »

Got scammed by this website dvla-driving-licence.co.ukand currently having a battle of getting my money back.

The spectrum address is to stop victims from finding them. This is the real registered name and address:
TADSERVICES LIMITED
UNIT 2 THE OLD STABLES
WEST TISTED
ALRESFORD
HAMPSHIRE
UNITED KINGDOM
SO24 0HJ

Director of the company was changed from Peter Hall to Claire Hall recently.

I was digging a bit more and guess what, they run other copycat websites as well and I found a few:

hse-ehic.net
estavisas.co.uk/Home.aspx
tad-services.co.uk
driver-theory-test.co.uk
uk-passport.net
rodlicence.net

That's probably just another mail forwarding/virtual office services address.

They probably actually run these scams out of their own back bedrooms.

hitchboy

sorry I'm not just replying to the thread...


I have messaged this today to make people aware of what I found on the bottom of one of their emails, the print was so small that I wouldn't have bothered reading it but glad I did, looks like they will take more money if you don't unsubscribe, see below:


'Action against fraud:
When you used our service the IP address of your computer was recorded in order to prevent any fraudulent activity. All fraudulent claims or payment contestations will be the subject of a formal complaint, communicated to your bank with a letter supporting the original payment and the services requested. You will also be subjected to a block on both your card and computer for use on our site. As a reminder, this service is free of charge for 48 hours, after which time a debit of 24 GBP every two months will be applied. To cancel your subscribtion: click here or call us on: 02035142392'


I am usually a vigilant person when it comes to online applications but I was fooled by this one, the website name driving-licence-application.co.uk has a very convincing name. Fortunately I only got scammed £1 but I am still concerned that they have my details and after doing some digging they are hong kong based which is even more worrying.

desperate_hwife

These people are being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority as they do not provide the service they advertise ie 24/7 support etc or any form of checking service etc

kelly229

Can anybody help...... I used this site last night the dvla driving liscense, I realised what it was and cancelled my order they have said that they would refund me but still nothing! They took 60 pound of me which I am absolutely fuming about! any one know how I could get my money back? or even some of it ?? also is it possible that they could take anymore money from my account ??? someone help pleaseeeeeeee

LJC-UK

Looks like there are a few different websites operating this deception, I was duped by 'DVLA-DRIVING-LICENCE.CO.UK.
Give them a piece of your mind and demand a full refund from the mail addresses below, quoting any references they may have sent you.
They have to refund to comply with their pretense of supplying a 'legal' service.
Also demand you personal data (NI No., Passport No. Driving License No. address etc.) to be wiped from their records as they must be breaching Data Protection Act too,

I used the following, amongst other vitriol:
[FONT=&quot]
"You are immoral parasites, preying on the trust and innocence of people (including teenagers) attempting to use an official service, you even have the almighty cheek to put an official looking government crown logo on your page. SHAME on you![/FONT] REFUND MY MONEY NOW! and show proof that you have destroyed mine, and my families personal details!"

* Try requesting refund from;
'enquiry@dvla-driving-licence.co.uk' and
'claire@tad-services.co.uk',

Have also heard of small print saying they will take £24 every two weeks for a nonsensical 'security' service. So although it's a 'pain'; cancel & get your card re-issued, to be sure. Also report to 'Citizens Advice', and any watchdog agencies etc. DVLA are aware of their practices and are in 'legal discussions; to close them down, but pity they don't do it sooner or warn people better!).

As for passport, license & NI Numbers being compromised (identity theft?); maybe check with passport office, police etc for advice We only have their word that it's deleted their end and their word is worthless!

Regards,

Lee

SusieDid

I used this site, thinking that I was using the official dvla website. I know, very silly of me not to check that I was using correct .gov.uk site, but what can I say - tired, distracted, rushing. Anyway, as soon as I realised the mistake (the next day) I immediately contacted them via the cancellation form on their terms and conditions page. I received an email confirming that refund would be paid within 48-72 hours. Few sleepless nights later, after having read some of the horror stories, I contacted them again when the money had not yet been credited to my account. I sent a few emails and even completed the refund form again on their terms and conditions page. I didn't hear anything and was beginning to think I would never see the money again. However, I have just received the refund (minus £8 admin fee!) into my account. It took 9 days to get this back, but I did eventually get it back.

I hope that others are as lucky as me. I was beginning to get very worried about it. I guess the £8 admin is a small price to pay for my own stupidity in not checking out the details in the first place.

Fingers crossed to everybody else out there.

Nipped

So as per usual I was in a hurry (perils of modern day living) and made the mistake of applying through this online company thinking I was making the right choice. During the following days of doing this there was something niggling in the back of my head and I made the decision to look over what I had done. I immediately cancelled the order as per the company’s terms and conditions regarding the so called ‘7 day cooling off’ and received confirmation that it was cancelled and one would have assumed that my money would have been refunded within 24-72 hrs, again as stated in the terms and conditions. It was not to be.

They mentioned that I would have to pay the £8.00 admin fee and processing charges. I retorted that I would stand the admin charge but not the processing fee. They gave no indication what this ‘processing fee’ would cost, but that did not concern me too much as I was not going to pay it anyway. After all I had not received anything from them other than an email.

Now, essentially what I was doing was exercising my rights to change my mind and claim my money back, I was not complaining about their service. I was in no position to complain about their product because as so many have stated before, you entered into the service they provide by ticking the appropriate box for their terms and conditions. Hence, why I was prepared to take the £8.00 hit. A small price to pay for not paying attention.

I took the time to peruse the MSE site and others and read of people in very similar situations to mine. There were some comments made that did not make me feel any better about myself, but I have to agree, these negative comments were sort of correct, but they also spurred me on to make sure I got back what was mine. Turning negatives into a positive sort of scenario.

Now DVLA-Drivinglicence.co.uk are doing exactly what they say they will do. I am sure they actually do the job in hand well in most cases, as long as you want them to make sure that what you send off to DVLA is correct. There are possibly some that want to use this kind of service and they cannot be berated for this. However, in reality it’s the company’s Customer Services that really deserve to be bought to bear. There is no direct postal address to send recorded written correspondence on their site and the premium telephone number has already been discussed so we will leave it there.

This company appear to want to hang onto your cash for as long as possible, is this because it can earn some interest from it? Who knows? I took on board what was being discussed on here and other similar forums and embarked on the mission of getting my refund. Essentially I took the polite but firm approach as I considered if this debacle was going to the legal proceedings scenario then all correspondence from me should at least be seen to be acceptable, even if their replies were un helpful to say the least. As per, they pretty much ignored most of my emails, with just the odd reply over the two weeks amounting to they were processing my refund. Like many of you I was not prepared to accept this and I was more than ready to send my final correspondence before legal proceedings. This did prompt a slightly longer reply from them, of about two more words than the previous ones, stating they were refunding the money. But needed my bank account details…….again! (You provide these when you initially cancel their service) My refund was made the following day, as per the agreement of less the £8.00 admin fee. Well outside the specified time limit quoted by them in their terms and conditions.

It would appear that if you are trying to get a refund then make sure you keep up the momentum of emails outlining exactly what you require and that you are taking advice from Trading Standards/Online Protection etc (They are very informative) and keep hold of those interactions because you are going to need them if you have to apply through the legal processes. You are protected by the law, although the law is slow when applying it, please use it.

It would appear that this company is prepared to let you endure misery/upset. Their care of the customer is pretty much non-existent and those of you who are still embroiled in the refund process with them, have my utmost sympathy. I am now going to do what I should have done in the first place and apply through the services of the correct DVLA website and try to not dwell too much on what was my total ineptitude when purchasing online.

There is some useful help on this forum and I thank you all for sharing it, it really did give me the impetus to keep going. It did not cost me anything more than the £8.00 I lost, other than the time I could have spent doing the garden. But the weather was lousy anyway……….and we cannot do anything about that!

Good Luck All

Loadmaster

I too have just found out that I have fallen for this Scam.

Yes, I realise that there are some superior beings out there that always read the small print and would never fall for such an 'obvious' con trick, but I'm not one of them.

I just wanted to warn people about my experience. Like many people i used Google to search for 'dvla' and saw that the first site that came up offered a link to 'renew licence'. I don't know if my set up is unusual, but the Google adds are only a very slightly different shade than the rest of the results. As i wanted to renew my licence after 10 years i just clicked on that link and was taken straight to a page that started the renewal process, NOT the Home page that warns you that they are not the official site.

I went through the whole process, and it was not alerted at any time as to my mistake.

However, the next day i got an email from them telling me that because i needed a photo to renew they would refund my money in full. I just had to give them my bank details, which i did immediately.

That was on Monday and this afternoon i phoned the DVLA to ask when i would get my refund only to be told by the lady that the site was not affiliated with the DVLA. She had obviously a lot of experience in dealing with similar calls.

I have just emailed them to find out when i will get my refund, but after reading lots of messages on several different sites I'm not expecting to get it without a fight.

I understand that these sites are not illegal, but they sure as hell are designed to extract as much money as they can from people who are in a hurry or less savvy than some and it's about time that the government made sure that something was done about it.