WARNING - Using Credit Card at Interflora Online

charlestowle

£8 was deducted from my bank account. Shopcheck said I had become a member after buying from the Cartridge People. They, in turn, said I had joined when I had clicked for a discount on my next purchase. I certainly wasn't aware I'd joined. The speed with which Shopcheck agreed to put the money back in my account suggests they are preying on 'passive' customers who don't realise they are being rip[ped off.

ArchieWW

My wife and I have just noticed 2 deductions of £8 on our December and January credit card statement. We connected it with an Interflora purchase made in October and did a Google search, which led us to this forum. We rang Shopper Discounts & Rewards, who immediately agreed to refund the £16 to our credit card account. The guy we spoke to was American and said his company was US based. Like others who have been caught out by this underhand marketing ploy, we will not use Interflora again. What a way for a company with an international reputation to behave!

ad44downey

Think of how many people don't notice this or don't complain. They must be making a small fortune out of this scam.

jimihen

GunJack wrote: »

Guys, a word of warning on the above subject.

Mrs GunJack ordered flowers from Interflora via the web and paid with credit card. The following month she had a transaction for £8 appear on her statement from shopdisc.co.uk.

We'd never heard of them, let alone bought anything from them. To cut a long story short, it appears that when you buy from Interflora, you are AUTOMATICALLY signing up for this tele-marketing company's subscription services. This was direct from the company's rep on the phone.

We could not see any options on Interflora's site or checkout pages referring to this at the time of the order, but thought we'd warn the MSE community of this (as I see it) scam.

I too was duped into this via VistaPrint (although they claimed ignorance), after getting some "free" stationery. I rang SHOPDISC.CO.UK (as it appeared on my credit card statement) on 0808 234 1539, and am due to have a refund. Needless to say, I cancelled my membership.

I felt such a doughnut, as I am usually so vigilant in checking my monthly statement, but as being caught up with Xmas and changing jobs, it just passed me by. Lesson now learnt.

Slothy

I booked a ticket on Expedia today, and saw an extremely dodgy looking advert for £10 off my next booking. Advert was served up by doubleclick, and the target URL ultimately led me to webloyalty.com.

I informed Expedia even before reading this thread. Googled webloyalty and found various discussions on how they scam people, including for example http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/09/12/suit_says_online_marketer_ran_scam/

Received a reply from Expedia who seem to also think that webloyalty is a legitimate business, and apologised for the technical error in processing my £10 cash back (they obviously hadn't understood my email outlining a concern with regards to fraudulent use of customer details). Because I didn't click the link, I have no idea if the monthly charge of £8 would be disclosed at any point (and no, I'm not going to try it out!)

Also shall be contacting Watchdog! People need to be warned about this.

iancv

Why use interflora and pay their fees when you can easily find a florist online(www.bt.com), phone them up, pay with your credit card the same amount you would spend with Interflora and get a better deal.

geofie

We have also just realised that we've been part of this as well. My wife ordered flowers from Interflora with something about information on shopping discounts and a £10 voucher. For the past 3 months we've had £8 taken from our credit card !!!!

We only discovered it because she asked me what I'd bought from shopdisc - I couldn't remember so I googled it - it brought me here - Thanks

We've now phoned the freephone number and cancelled our 'membership' that we didn't want / know about. He also claims he will refund the monies in the next 3-5 days ..... watch this space

Thanks for the advice etc

GunJack

guys - as the original thread starter, I'm sooo glad word is/has spread about this. Keep up the good work, be vigilant and hopefully this may force this type of questionable practice out from online shopping. Nice one.



p.s. - also noticed that savapoint.com, who I buy stuff from now and again, also have the link with shopperdiscount, but the link and details are pretty visible and easy to NOT subscribe to. HTH

MORPH3US

Can everyone who gets scammed out of this money make sure they report it to Watchdog.... I'm sure if enough people report it, it'll get featured on the programme....

Interflora have been incompetent on this.... despite people telling them this is losing them business they simply don't care as this makes them too much money... i'm sure an appearance on watchdog will wake them up...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/contact_index.shtml

ArchieWW

I have just discovered another 'blue chip' company using 'Shoppers Discounts and Rewards'....Expedia. Having booked a hotel through Expedia, I was then offered a £10 discount on my next booking. When I confirmed that I was interested, up came the dreaded 'Shoppers Discounts and Rewards' screen that seems to be infecting all areas of online business. Be warned!