Grandmother basically robbed by lying company

watersrevenge

Hi I was wondering if anyone could give some advice to me

The situation is, my elderly grandmother received a cold call from a company last week offering to save her money on her energy bills and to find ways of further saving money by sending someone out to do a home energy audit. They told her some lies which I couldn't believe, they said she was paying too much and would be owed a rebate from her water bills of £850 and she could be owed a further £350 from her gas and electricity. NOW the company calling has no information about her bills so how on earth would they know this. SO anyway, they told her they'd need her debit card details in order to put the money in to her account. My gran, for some reason not seeing the dodgy-ness in this call - gave all her card details to this company. They told her they'd send someone out the next day to do the home energy audit.

I was obviously concerned after she told me about this phone call so I checked the company and it is a real company (since sep 2014) however the services they offer are basically being the middle man for home energy supplier switching and providing home energy audits. I read some reviews and they basically said the company was aggressive and were trying to get people to hand over their card details. On one review it said they wanted £300 upfront for the "Home Energy Audit" I have previously mentioned. So I asked my grandmother if she knew they were charging for this home energy audit and she said she didn't know they would be charging. I told her to phone and cancel the next day (as it was night when she was telling me) in case they charge her because she handed over her card details. Before she had the chance to cancel, the home energy auditors turned up at 8am. She explained her concerns to them about the charge and they told her they do not to work for the company that phoned my gran but were hired by them and she will be charged for the audit by the company that phoned her.

She checked her bank and they had indeed taken £300 out and of course, as expected, didn't put any of that "rebate" money in.

My gran is elderly and I thought she had more sense not to hand over her card details to a stranger on the phone but she did, apparently the guy who phoned her was pushy and was like "how would you feel if I told you that you had £850 owing to you" etc.

Makes me sick.

I contacted citizens advice about it and they passed the details to the local trading standards, they also suggested we write to the company asking for a refund under the '14 day cooling-off period' quoting legislation from consumer contracts (information, cancellation and additional charges).

However ^ I'm no expert but I really don't think it applies to this situation, I mean we can try and send that letter but I don't think it's suitable to the situation???

I was wondering if anyone out there could advise us on anything else we can try to obtain this money back?

bris

Unfortunately if they claim to have started the service then the cancellation will not apply. What I would so is a chargeback through the bank. Take your gran to the local branch and sit down with some one to get this sorted, a sympathetic bank employee will listen and take action.

Marktheshark

Unless they made it very clear indeed they would be charging her card for £300 then it is an unauthorised transaction.
She should report it as fraudulent to http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud

There is a urban myth here that goes around the forum that once someone has your bank card details they can help themselves.
This is totally incorrect.
They must make it clear how much you are going to be charged and when.
Then seek authorisation.
A crime number from action fraud will help swing the bank in to action.
You do have to be aware banks fob phone callers off and a very firm shouty attitude is required to get off square 1.

unholyangel

If they only called her last week and your grandmother never made an express request to have the work begin before the 14 days was up, then she can still cancel. If she didnt make an express request and they havent given her the necessary information about her right to cancel - they cannot charge her anything (and the burden of proof is on them to prove they have complied with giving that information).

36.—(1) The trader must not begin the supply of a service before the end of the cancellation period provided for in regulation 30(1) unless the consumer—

(a)has made an express request, and
(b)in the case of an off-premises contract, has made the request on a durable medium.
(2) In the case of a service other than supply of water, gas, electricity or district heating, the consumer ceases to have the right to cancel a service contract under regulation 29(1) if the service has been fully performed, and performance of the service began—

(a)after a request by the consumer in accordance with paragraph (1), and
(b)with the acknowledgement that the consumer would lose that right once the contract had been fully performed by the trader.

...

(6) The consumer bears no cost for supply of the service, in full or in part, in the cancellation period, if—

(a)the trader has failed to provide the consumer with the information on the right to cancel required by paragraph (l) of Schedule 2, or the information on payment of that cost required by paragraph (n) of that Schedule, in accordance with Part 2, or
(b)the service is not supplied in response to a request in accordance with paragraph (1).

Spicy_McHaggis

Marktheshark wrote: »

Unless they made it very clear indeed they would be charging her card for £300 then it is an unauthorised transaction.
She should report it as fraudulent to http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud

There is a urban myth here that goes around the forum that once someone has your bank card details they can help themselves.
This is totally incorrect.
They must make it clear how much you are going to be charged and when.
Then seek authorisation.
A crime number from action fraud will help swing the bank in to action.
You do have to be aware banks fob phone callers off and a very firm shouty attitude is required to get off square 1.

They'd be better off reporting it straight to the police of they believe a crime has taken place. If the action fraud doesn't trigger enough points from the computer input, that will be the end of the matter.

ConsumerGuy0016

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

They'd be better off reporting it straight to the police of they believe a crime has taken place. If the action fraud doesn't trigger enough points from the computer input, that will be the end of the matter.

This is poor advice. Calling the police will just illicit a "sorry we can't intervene in civil matters"

Proceeding with a credit/debit card chargeback through your bank should be the first thing you do. Also, put your grievances in writing to the company and email it to them (so you have some proof that you sent them the relevant information within 14 days)

Spicy_McHaggis

ConsumerGuy0016 wrote: »

This is poor advice. Calling the police will just illicit a "sorry we can't intervene in civil matters"

Proceeding with a credit/debit card chargeback through your bank should be the first thing you do. Also, put your grievances in writing to the company and email it to them (so you have some proof that you sent them the relevant information within 14 days)

Where do you think actionfraud send the report if it warrants an investigation?

ConsumerGuy0016

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

Where do you think actionfraud send the report if it warrants an investigation?

So let Action Fraud do their job.

If they've received multiple reports on the same retailer, then they'd have sufficient evidence to provide to the police. The OP's grandmother however, by herself, will not.

Collabora

ActionFraud is the police

ActionFraud is the UK’s national fraud and internet crime reporting centre.

But to the OP, were you present at the time they called your grandmother?

If not how do you know your Grandmother did not agree to these fees.
Its technically not fraud, if she agreed to them, maybe unethical way of doing business

Spicy_McHaggis

ConsumerGuy0016 wrote: »

So let Action Fraud do their job.

If they've received multiple reports on the same retailer, then they'd have sufficient evidence to provide to the police. The OP's grandmother however, by herself, will not.

Do you know what their job is?

Collabora

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

Do you know what their job is?

Simple they are THE INTERNET POLICE

Who is Action Fraud?
Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and internet crime where you should report fraud if you have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber crime.

The service is run by the City of London Police working alongside the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau who are responsible for assessment of the reports and to ensure that your fraud reports reach the right place.