Dialaphone / TMTI Direct Debit Insurance Scam

chris_yo

Hello people, I just got these messages from a friend (I blanked the reference # in case it identifies her). Have advised her to contact her bank and try to get a refund. Any other suggestions?

Helen wrote:

ive been charged a direct debit i have no clue what it is
been trying to google it
reference TMTITECHCOVER DLAR********-003 £20.94
i've been trying to google the reference number and it may be some kind of phone insurance
but i have never signed up for that!
i never signed up for mobile phone insurance!
no
my phone is from dialaphone and they must have signed me up for this gadget helpline thing without asking me if it's ok
dialaphone are total scumbags i hate them
seems like i have already been charged before as they charge 20.94 every 6 month
dialaphone should be shut down
they've stolen more than £100 off me

Tony5101

When you buy from Dialaphone, you are auto-enrolled in TMTI.
You are told this when you make your purchase.
You also receive communication about how to cancel your subscription to this service. It takes a few seconds and a few clicks to do.
Try speaking to TMTI - they might make a refund, but I doubt it.
I truly can't understand people clicking blindly when making a purchase - and not knowing what they're sigining up to, and definately can't understand people not checking their bank statements for 5 months.
Good luck to your friend, but I think this will be an expensive lesson learned.

chris_yo

Tony5101 wrote: »

When you buy from Dialaphone, you are auto-enrolled in TMTI.
You are told this when you make your purchase.
You also receive communication about how to cancel your subscription to this service. It takes a few seconds and a few clicks to do.
Try speaking to TMTI - they might make a refund, but I doubt it.
I truly can't understand people clicking blindly when making a purchase - and not knowing what they're sigining up to, and definately can't understand people not checking their bank statements for 5 months.
Good luck to your friend, but I think this will be an expensive lesson learned.

For busy people it's easy to miss the odd £21 transaction. Some people just don't have time to scrutinise their bank statements to account for every single transaction. She hasn't received any instructions on how to cancel. (How are these instructions supposed to be sent? Postal service? Email?)

It appears that TMTI trick people into adding their service, and make the cost small enough and irregular enough that many people won't notice. If there were a big button that said "Technical Support Helpline £42 every year [YES/NO]" then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Anyway, she just got off the phone to her bank and they refunded the full amount. :T

redux

Some dealers arrange 3 months free insurance, then the direct debit is supposed to start after that, unless cancelled.

If the order is arranged on the phone, maybe that isn't made clear enough.

I got in an argument with one firm a few years ago when I had given notice and cancelled both the policy and the direct debit before the official start of charging, only to discover they'd sneaked the first payment a week and a half earlier. Refund cheque a couple of weeks later.

trimmer

I see that one of the posts suggested that the paperwork should be read through thoroughly when taking out a mobile phone contract as this cover may be included.i have checked with tesco who provide my mobile and the information for the cover did not come from them.it is a real mystery to me why they have started to take money from me now,eight months into my mobile contract.have tried to telephone them but they are not open until tomorrow.will pass on any information that i receive.but i can tell you now that i did not deliberately take out this cover.it would be interesting to find out what i did to incur a cost of £20.94.feel like i have been robbed,but time will tell.

pie691

I bought a phone from them 23 months ago

The 'insurance' thing was unambiguous as I clicked through the sale and easy to cancel

chris_yo

pie691 wrote: »

I bought a phone from them 23 months ago

The 'insurance' thing was unambiguous as I clicked through the sale and easy to cancel

This is not about insurance, this is about the "TMTITECHCOVER" aka "Talk Me Through It" gadget helpline. They scam people by charging irregular amounts on a rare enough basis that most people will not notice the payments. When I first heard about it I assumed it was some kind of insurance payment, but it's even worse - who, in this day and age, would voluntarily pay an annual subscription fee to be able to call a tech support phone line, that isn't even free to call?! It's clearly intended to rip people off.

Like I said before, if this was honest they would say:

Gadget Helper Phone Line - £42 every year for the rest of your life + 5p/min when called [YES/NO]

Nobody would voluntarily sign up if they knew what it was. They are still ripping people off:

• https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1669359
• https://www.facebook.com/mobiles.co.uk/posts/685021534844234
• http://www.hotukdeals.com/misc/gadget-helplines-warned-1274425?page=6#comments

mobilejunkie

It is voluntary for those who bother to read what they are ordering. It is also largely now missing from on-line orders. I know that because I order a lot and actually check what I'm agreeing to.

chris_yo

mobilejunkie wrote: »

It is voluntary for those who bother to read what they are ordering. It is also largely now missing from on-line orders. I know that because I order a lot and actually check what I'm agreeing to.

Burying a financial commitment in the small print is not the same thing as informed financial consent. It is narcissistic to imply that the general public are stupid and lazy because they fall for a scam that a professional in the industry would not fall for.

In a lot of these complaints, the customer has received no email, no "welcome pack", nothing, from TMTI - it's clear TMTI would prefer their customers to be unaware that they have signed up to pay £42 every year for the rest of their lives. People have reported still being billed for "support" for phones they bought in 2007. Unless the customer realises what is happening and cancels, TMTI will carry on billing them forever, for a service that they have never used, for phones that don't exist any more.

mobilejunkie

chris_yo wrote: »

Burying a financial commitment in the small print is not the same thing as informed financial consent. It is narcissistic to imply that the general public are stupid and lazy because they fall for a scam that a professional in the industry would not fall for.

In a lot of these complaints, the customer has received no email, no "welcome pack", nothing, from TMTI - it's clear TMTI would prefer their customers to be unaware that they have signed up to pay £42 every year for the rest of their lives. People have reported still being billed for "support" for phones they bought in 2007. Unless the customer realises what is happening and cancels, TMTI will carry on billing them forever, for a service that they have never used, for phones that don't exist any more.

Well, first of all I am a mere consumer and not a "professional in the industry".

Second, you only pay forever if you choose to never cancel it.

Thirdly, it isn't "small print" and (in fact) there isn't much print at all, so you can only miss it if you're eyes are builging at the phone and you're impatient to grab it

Fourthly, people who don't check their bank statements for 7 YEARS deserve what they get. Otherwise they shouldn't sign anything without at least a basically intelligent adult present.

grumbler

mobilejunkie wrote: »

Well, first of all I am a mere consumer and not a "professional in the industry".

Come on...
You are a professional consumer, not a mere consumer.