PLEASE HELP! phone scam, but not sure who.

mrssilly

Looks like they are scamming again from another address yet again in Wales. Info in pack and address you are given to cancel are both different. Non of the phone numbers they give you accept calls. The email info will also not accept emails. Fortunately I paid my £1 by credit card. I have since been advised to contact my credit card company to report this as a potential fraud. Thankfully at this point they haven't taken more (not that there will be enough to take) Martin advises well regarding claiming back from credit card companies!
Please be advised. If it sounds too good to be true it is. I'm living up to my name. Mrs Silly!

fluffnutter

Seriously, peeps. There's so much info out there about this sort of thing. If someone cold calls you asking for money, it will NEVER EVER end well.

peter_the_piper

Unfortunately, unless you are on forums like this people less wary will continue to be caught out, as will those hoping to get something for nothing(or little)

ariba10

I learned a long time ago that No One ever comes to your door (or calls you) to "Give" you anything!

fluffnutter

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Unfortunately, unless you are on forums like this people less wary will continue to be caught out, as will those hoping to get something for nothing(or little)

I agree. We're not born with this sort of knowledge but it's not just consumer rights forums that carry warnings about this sort of thing. Newspapers, magazines, telly programmes, specific campaigns about scams, I've even seen posters outside supermarkets - there are lots and lots of ways this sort of information does the rounds.

It's quite interesting looking into why some people are endlessly scammed. I digress a little and I'm not for the moment saying that's what's happened to the posters who've fallen for this particular scam but I recall a fascinating radio programme about this old boy who'd given hundreds of thousands of pounds to scammers. He was warned up the ying yang. It wasn't going on without his family's knowledge; they did all they could to protect him but he just didn't want to hear it. He refused to see that he was being taken for a ride. The programme really went into the psychology of it. Your last point is key - 'people want to get something for nothing'.

peter_the_piper

My answer, to phone scams or not, is to say sorry I don't buy from anyone who phones me or sends me mail.

Arthog

A couple of years ago, after a caller to our local radio mentioned it, we bought a True-Call gadget for our landline phone. Best thing we ever bought. We haven't had a single cold call since that day.


If any cold caller does get through, we press the hash key and that person will never again get through. Automated calls can not get through so no more of those worrying silent calls either. It saves a lot of hassle, and potentially a lot of cash if vulnerable people are taken in by scams!

andyjoiner

i too got involved with these scammers. they took out 79.99 in October 2014 then took another 79.99 out of my account in dec 2014. having got nowhere with them after numerous calls I decided on another tack . i set up a facebook page with photos lifted from their own website, got all info I could find on the internet about the director, Wayne Phillips. stuck it all on the facebook page. emailed them the link and threatened to let the page go viral. I got an email back from the customer services which came with a name. I looked her up on facebook and found her. having found her, I then went through all her friends, who rather fortunately put on the employment details so I had a list of employees. I then posted these on the facebook page and then invited them to have a look. upshot was, I got 2 payments for 79.99 back into my bank account. I also threatened to report them to the FCA which I would encourage you all to do. I did that anyway when I got the money back.

Pollyanna68

I had contact from this company in 2013. I agreed the £1 postage fee for their trial magazine but told them i did not want to receive anymore. I didnt receive any last year so thought nothing more of it. Today i looked at my bank and they have taken £79.99, i phoned them and they said it was to renew a subscription that i hadnt signed up to as no money was taken last year. Very rude telling me i could not have a refund so spoke to my bank who stopped any future payments and referred me to trading standards. They are taking up the case as i had no contact from them before this payment today so they have breached their contract.

casualjobber

I had the phone call last week and stupidly got completely sucked in.....it was a knock on call as a result of a subscription offer from The Times so I thought it would be OK. The 'welcome' pack arrived today and I went online to try and find out a bit more about the dining card.That's when I saw all the posts about the company being scammers. I'm taking no chances.....immediately sent an e-mail to cancel my trial membership. Like one of the previous forumites, luckily I paid my £1 by credit card and have just come off the phone to my credit card company...they've cancelled my card straight away. Seems like this is the way to go to (hopefully) avoid any further hassle from them. I'll be contacting The Times about it tomorrow....watch this space!