MSE News: Shoppers lose millions on 'free beauty trials': How to get your money back

Former_MSE_Paloma

RBS and NatWest customers have lost nearly £3 million in fees to 'free trial' health product sites...

Read the full story:

Shoppers lose millions on 'free beauty trials': How to get your money back




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ljonski

Stable door - horse bolted along with £3 million!

stclair

The RBS news article regarding this can be viewed here:

http://www.rbs.com/news/2015/february/free-trial-scams-catch-thousands-of-our-customers-out.html

foxtrotoscar_2

Who did the maths? £30k/day for more than 6 months is around about double the £2.9 million claimed lost.

fluffnutter

Isn't the title a bit misleading? It suggests that, for some reason, this is something that only affects certain bank customers, when in reality anyone can sign up for this trials.

stclair

fluffnutter wrote: »

Isn't the title a bit misleading? It suggests that, for some reason, this is something that only affects certain bank customers, when in reality anyone can sign up for this trials.

It more the fact RBS are bringing the matter to the appropriate people's attention of what's going on.

daytona0

Weight loss pills! HA. There are two free pills you can take, exercise or healthy diet.

Ironically, I would suspect that the "can't be bothered exercising" attitude may also apply to the reading of terms and conditions for some of these trials.

fluffnutter

stclair wrote: »

It more the fact RBS are bringing the matter to the appropriate people's attention of what's going on.

I know. But that's not evident from the title. If I see something saying 'RBS and Natwest customers have lost £3M...' it implies they're the only people affected. They're not.

Janette011

This problem has been around for a while now and I'm shocked that it is still allowed to go on. The article is right in saying that the terms & conditions are not visible until you've signed up. Some people are 'lucky'in that a credit card company (not RBS) warn about unrecognised payments. Interestingly, the offer site was found through a link on the Moneysaving Expert site which featured on article on ways to earn cash for small jobs in your own home ........

nicemum

Santander Security helped me by recording that my debit card had been stolen and quickly issuing me with a new card and number. This stopped the recurring payment. However I was told that they couldn't cancel a payment in advance, only once it was taken. My advice is to speak to your Bank's security department.

fluffnutter

nicemum wrote: »

Santander Security helped me by recording that my debit card had been stolen and quickly issuing me with a new card and number. This stopped the recurring payment. However I was told that they couldn't cancel a payment in advance, only once it was taken. My advice is to speak to your Bank's security department.

Santander sound like they're talking rubbish. Why have the hassle of a new card when they can simply block the payments? Plus issuing a new card doesn't always work anyway as many CPAs are authorised against any new issues of that card, regardless of a change in number.

It also seems a bit odd that they can't 'cancel a payment in advance, only once it was taken'. Perhaps this might be true of the initial payment but it's certainly not the case with future payments. In fact, cancelling something after it's taken is technically a refund, which is the one thing that banks can't do with regard to CPAs. They can only prevent payments being taken, they can't reimburse you (although technically they can, they just don't see it as their responsibility, understandably so).