Steps to take if you have been ripped-off by a copy-cat government website

peachyprice

hpuse wrote: »

So mileading + unfair = cases for Shutting down, just as what happened to London2012 dodgy ticket selling.

I'll just correct that for you: misleading + unfair + illegal = cases for Shutting down just as what happened to London2012 dodgy ticket selling.

You can't just pick and choose which facts surrounding 2012 Olympic ticket selling fraud you want to acknowledge to support your own tripe.

Valli

Valli wrote: »

Instead of 'advising' people on how to get their money back why not divert your efforts into advising people how to use the internet safely?

hpuse wrote: »

Please do not 'advise' me what to do here.

I wasn't 'advising' you at all - I was asking a question.

Hence the question mark.

thus - ?

Yampybird

Hi I'd just like to say I got conned by PassportDirect, I didn't land on their homepage I went straight to their renew passort page, none of the warnings, disclosures etc are on that page (small print a whole page scroll after the NEXT button). I agree having checked back that the home page does have a disclaimer or three on it, which is great if you got there in the first place. When I went through it I was amazed by the amount of information they seemed to require (far more than the HMPO site asks for) but because its been 20 years since I last applied for a passport, and they now have all the extra whizzbangs and gadgets included, it did not dawn on me that it was not kosher. When I got to the paying part, there was nothing to say how much the amount to pay was, I foolishly assumed there was going to be a 'confirm your details page and this is how much you are going to have to pay', type statement, which I have seen countless times before. As soon as this didn't happen and the email pinged into my mailbox immediately, I knew I'd been had. I immediately went to cancel the transaction through their contact us page - it really gives the option to cancel, its a false promise, you need the email to get the reference number, as soon as you have made the payment they consider that you have waived your rights the the 7 working days cooling off period (please remember this was done at 10pm on a sunday night, so when I realised I thought I stood a fighting chance) but no the reply is that I've waived my rights, and some little person is already typing the information into the HMPO's website! Strangely, it takes them 7 days to reply to an email, but they can take your money immediately. Hey ho lesson learned, they have taken £69 off me. I'm cross with myself, I was misled, there is even a tab HMPO, which just made it seem even more legit. I'm not a mug, I'm not usually taken in by these type of people, it just looked so slick. And I didn't go in through the home page, so they made it very difficult for me to see their disclaimers. I should have realised that the HMPO site would be clunky and old fashioned. lol This is the page I opened on, not a disclaimer to be seen easily, it is a whole screen roll away, at the bottom of the page, I was engrossed in the process, and felt I was on the right page, it even says directgov in the quote above - I didn't read it just saw it, again felt like I was in safe hands. Lesson learned but please dont assume people have landed on the home page because they may well not have done - see my link below:-
wont let me add url as I'm new to site, if you google Renew Passport, it will appear as the 2nd link down, if you look at the 'sub-links' below the main link it offers, renewals, new passports etc, I clicked on one of those. (my first mistake - wont do that again on a site I dont know)

I also hold Google to blame a little, they get paid by these companies to advertise and be put at the top of the page, ABOVE the official sites. I think that bears some scrutiny too.

Happy holidays glad I'm going all inclusive coz I just lost my beer money to Passport Direct.

You will be glad to learn that I used the correct site for the other two passports I had to order, I would have lost over £200 if I'd continued.

Pollycat

Yampybird wrote: »

I'm cross with myself, I was misled, there is even a tab HMPO, which just made it seem even more legit.

If you feel the website was misleading, report it:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/contactus#.UvNppilFBjp

bod1467

This one? https://www.passports-uk.co.uk/ It was 4th down in my list (the first 3 links being gov.uk sites), but then I have set Adblock Plus to block those adverts at the top of Google search results.

If you went into an inside page rather than the home page then this is as much a fault of Google as the website in question.

hpuse

peachyprice wrote: »

I'll just correct that for you: misleading + unfair + illegal = cases for Shutting down just as what happened to London2012 dodgy ticket selling.

You can't just pick and choose which facts surrounding 2012 Olympic ticket selling fraud you want to acknowledge to support your own tripe.

I will also point you to this:

Broadly speaking, if consumers are treated fairly, then
traders are likely to be complying with the CPRs. This means
that fair-dealing businesses should not have to make major
changes to their practices. However, if a trader
misleads, behaves aggressively, or otherwise acts unfairly towards consumers, then the trader is likely to be in breach of the CPRs and may face action by enforcement authorities.
Details of potential enforcement action (both civil and
criminal enforcement is possible under the CPRs) can be found in Part 3 of the Guidance

Do you want to know where this came from, peachyprice?

Pollycat

hpuse wrote: »

Do you want to know where this came from, peachyprice?

Why are you asking such a silly question, Hpuse?

Why on earth don't you just post the link to the quote so that other posters can see where it came from.

Without knowing the source, it could just as easily have come from your own imagination.

shaun_from_Africa

Irrespective of where it came from, (it's the wording from the guidance to The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations) it still doesn't explain why the majority of the websites in question are still trading freely and have not been prosecuted or shut down if they are guilty of breaking the regulations.

Maybe no action has been taken for the simple reason that unlike hpuse, neither the OFT nor trading Standards think that the reg's have actually been breeched.

Pollycat

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Maybe no action has been taken for the simple reason that unlike hpuse, neither the OFT nor trading Standards think that the reg's have actually been breeched.

I agree with this.

I read a post on another thread and the poster said:

I've also contacted Action Fraud and trading Standards, none of whom seem particularly interested.

Why would that be, hpuse?

peachyprice

hpuse wrote: »

I will also point you to this:



Do you want to know where this came from, peachyprice?

What are you going on about?