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

flora48

Thank you Soolin for replying to my post. I did ring
Beautemer/ Stemologiga yesterday to close my accounts with them. I spoke to a very polite American called Melissa, who confirmed that these are sister companies. She emailed from each company telling me to return the goods by recorded delivery, which I did yesterday.

I also spoke to my credit card provider M&S bank, the lady there assured me that no more payment could go through as a CPA had not been made on my account and I had been issued with a new card and number.

Today I have had an email from Stemologica but not yet from Beautemer saying I no longer have an account with them.

What a nightmare!!

jrtfan

This has just happened to me, as well. Ironically, I seldom buy anything over the internet but felt like treating myself when I saw an offer for DermaC skin lotion and Lumera under-eye lotion, both supplied by a company called Rejuvius located in Milton Keynes. All that was payable was postage and packing, around £5 for both products, and I paid this with my Visa debit card - but not before reading through all of the information on the websites and researching the actual products themselves online, to see if they were genuine. What I didn't think to do was to check the Terms and Conditions at the very bottom of the websites, next to the Privacy Policy and Contact Us etc because everything appeared to have been explained in the texts of the offers, themselves. What decided it for me, though, was the Verified by Visa logo at the bottom of the order box. But after I had input my card details, instead of a check being performed as I had expected there was just a confirmation that my order had been processed.

I receive text alerts from my bank when my account balance drops below a certain amount and last Sunday, I received one saying I was overdrawn by £109 due to 2 payments having been taken out that day - £89.78 and £87.67 respectively, both payees given as INT'L O. I rang the bank immediately to dispute these payments and they told me they were recurring via a CPA. I visited the branch in person the following day to report the matter to an advisor. They told me to return the goods immediately (I used Royal Mail First Class signed-for, so that I have proof of postage and there'll be a record of the goods having arrived) and I contacted Rejuvius by phone, saying I wished to cancel my order, subscription and automatic billing with immediate effect. They confirmed verbally that everything had been cancelled, but I followed up with an email to the company and then put the same in a letter which I sent to them recorded delivery.

Now I'm waiting for my bank to send me through a claim form so that they can attempt to reclaim the money taken from my account. I've kept copies of my correspondence to give to them and recorded everything I've done in an email which I have sent to them, too. Hopefully there will be a happy ending from my point of view. These companies are horrible, I've been one of the lucky ones in a way because at least I found out what was happening right at the very beginning. It must be awful for other people who have had payments taken from their accounts over 2 or more months. Surely something can be done to put these dodgy people out of action once and for all?

gayleygoo

I was caught out by something like this a few years ago, by VistaPrint. The 500 business cards were free, the p&p was about a fiver. A year and a half later, I discovered the payments of £9.99 going out every month. To be fair, the fact that I was being signed up to a "premium service", free for the first month and payable if not cancelled, was pointed out somewhere before payment, I just didn't read it . If I'd been in the habit of checking my bank statements thoroughly, I might have noticed it sooner.

The bank employee was brilliant though, she was very sympathetic and cancelled it. I didn't get any money back but I did learn a £160 lesson on reading small print

Julieg21

I've been had by Stemologica and. Beautemer but so far they have only got the £3.95 and £1.95 but they have tried to take payments of £97.95. My credit card company stopped the payment and called me and I asked them to block these companies, which they have done. I have been in email contact with Stemologica who are threatening me with customer fraud, saying they have my IP address etc and address where products were sent which matches my IP address. They are saying non payment could result in a consumer fraud investigation on me and could effect my standing with bank/credit card companies etc. I am becoming increasingly concerned about all this and do not know what to do. I have told Stemologica to cancel my account, which they say they have done, but they are still saying I need to pay. I was got my completing a survey for my local supermarket who I had contacted via their website that day. I am a reader of terms and conditions but saw none of what they are claiming I signed up for. Should I just ignore them to be honest I'm thinking they would not go to the trouble of prosecuting me? Please help and offer some good advice, thanks in advance.