Cold calling rip offs

Blacksheep1979

It was free, but they wanted money off you and your card details - sorry they don't equate to the same thing. Whats the saying - a fool and their money...

Mrsct_2

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

It was free, but they wanted money off you and your card details - sorry they don't equate to the same thing. Whats the saying - a fool and their money...

I only gave my card details for them to take the refundable deposit, not to pay for anything. I was told only £25 would be taken and refunded when I showed up on the day or cancelled at least 14days before the appointment date. I see that it is free, I know they make all their money on the photos. They just hope you buy some pics, and now after reading up on them they force you to buy them! I was told i dont have to buy any, but I will love the pics so much I wont be able to resist! They also make money on the ppl that buy the make over and photoshoot as a gift experience, so they tell you its worth £100 and your getting all that free.

I always put the phone down to cold callers, but this time i didnt- they get u hooked cos they mention your friends name straight away and they dont appear to sound like cold callers. they are very clever!
Never again will I fall for anything like this!

Mrsct_2

LuciferTDark wrote: »

These days I say no to all cold callers, had one the other day in fact, my house insurance is due for renewal shortly & another company got our number somehow. They won't be calling back in a hurry.

I do normally say not interesting and hang up. Pitty I didnt do that this time!

I keep getting double glazing and conservatory companys call my land line all the time. When I set up my phone line, BT made it ex directory and said that my phone number wont apear in any data bases, so I should never get cold calls.
Everytime they call I ask them where they got my number and they wont tell me. I asked them to remove it from their data base. years later they still call us. I get so annoyed with them they put the phone down on me. Its a waste of their time too as I always tell them I am renting an appartment, so I cant have their services anyway!

\i should say yes and get them to come out to price up a conservatory, They will come to my home and see I am on the top floor! They should stop them.

Doe anyone know how I can stop these cold calls? I should not be getting any, and I never give my land line number out and should not be on any data base. I have it just for broadband and family to call me. everyone else just has our mobile numbers.

Blacksheep1979

Mrsct wrote: »

I only gave my card details for them to take the refundable deposit, not to pay for anything. I was told only £25 would be taken and refunded when I showed up on the day or cancelled at least 14days before the appointment date. I see that it is free, I know they make all their money on the photos. They just hope you buy some pics, and now after reading up on them they force you to buy them! I was told i dont have to buy any, but I will love the pics so much I wont be able to resist! They also make money on the ppl that buy the make over and photoshoot as a gift experience, so they tell you its worth £100 and your getting all that free.

I always put the phone down to cold callers, but this time i didnt- they get u hooked cos they mention your friends name straight away and they dont appear to sound like cold callers. they are very clever!
Never again will I fall for anything like this!

They are not very clever - someone who thinks that if you give money for something you are going to get it back isn't - I'm sorry but just hold your hands up here. It's a bit harsh what happened but if someone is saying something is free but wants money which, 'honest, we'll give it back' is not quite on the level.

ajaxgeezer

Opt out of marketing with this link . It isn't going to help you if your friends are giving your number out though - oh to have friends like that. :rolleyes:

You could make a note of every organisation which calls and a contact name, then tell them that you want your name removed from their lists, and that any further calls will be treated as harassment and Ofcom will be notified. That probably won't bother them as Ofcom is really weak, but you never know. It is always fun to say "I spoke to Margaret at your company on 21st May who assured me I'd receive no more calls, now put me through to your manager". They do tend to be contrite at that point.

Also.... never ever ever buy anything from cold callers as it only encourages them, and you become known as a punter. If they are contacting you then you can bet your backside that it suits them to do it, not you.

Voyager2002

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

They are not very clever - someone who thinks that if you give money for something you are going to get it back isn't - I'm sorry but just hold your hands up here. It's a bit harsh what happened but if someone is saying something is free but wants money which, 'honest, we'll give it back' is not quite on the level.

Your comment is unduly harsh. Charging a returnable deposit is not exactly an unusual business practice.

Anyway, since the telephone caller agreed an amount and cancellation conditions at the time the card number was taken, and the company has not complied with those conditions and has taken an amount different from what was agreed, the bank should stop the payment as fraudulent.

Blacksheep1979

Charging a returnable deposit on darts or pool cues at a pub, shoes at a bowling alley etc - something where you have something that the company wants returned or a deposit that is used towards the full price of an activity etc is not unusual but a deposit for a free activity - if it looks like a scam, smells like a scam and they ask for money from you...

reehsetin

exactly the same happened to me, they are very intimidating when you get there, lucky i wouldnt accept their rubbish, same happened to me word for word except i actually went, me and my cousin, shoot was ok photographer wasnt very friendly, they stuck us in a room to show us the pictures and we were there for 2hours! the sales person kept leaving us to discuss it, i was adamnt that i had been given a budget by my mum and couldnt exceed it (i was about 17 at the time), in the end i got full size copy on cd of 2 i think it was and a mini sheet which contained a sample of all the photos (worked out to £80) luckily i managed to scan in all the photos to a decent size so have very good copies of all the pictures.
the woman got really huffy at the end when she realised i was serious
and she wasnt going to get the silly amounts she wanted and had a go at us for wasting the day (aparently if we didnt buy the photos it was pointless) and 2hrs of her time discussing the prices when it was her who left us for long periods of time to 'talk'

a refund we were due because of pre payment took ages and lot of chasing up aswell, if this had happened with what i know now this company would have a lot to answer for
the photos were some were nice but some just were wrong, blury
a photographer friend looked at them and told me some of the effects that had tried to do but got badly wrong!


im just glad i have photoshop so could improve a lot of them but when the effects are just wrong theres not a lot i can do!

Mrsct_2

My friend called me today to say her photos and disc arrived. She also said that she has now been refunded her deposit into her account and so has the girl she took with her. (I was told by the sales rep, that you get this on the day of ypur appointment! But my friend was told it takes upto 30days after! Another Lie I was told!)

She is not happy with the pics, they are bad quality and blurred. They are nothing like in her viewing session or thumbnail chart. I have looked on her MYSPACE and she has put the disc version of the pics on there, well they are tiny and blurred, she can increase the size as they quality is then much worse. She paid £400 for these pics! It looks like, the more you pay the better quality you get!
She might as well have had her make up and hair done at a salon and got a professional Photographer to take the pics in a studio. They would have been better quality for far less!

In regards to my refundable deposit the bank have said I can get this refunded through them as they took more than the amount agreed and all further payments from this company will be stopped. So I will not get a £200 no show fee, when i have left msgs and emails to cancel it! :rolleyes:

Please post your own Double Take storys on here, so that everyone knows how bad they really are!!

Thanks
Mrs C T:o

Mrsct_2

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

Charging a returnable deposit on darts or pool cues at a pub, shoes at a bowling alley etc - something where you have something that the company wants returned or a deposit that is used towards the full price of an activity etc is not unusual but a deposit for a free activity - if it looks like a scam, smells like a scam and they ask for money from you...

Well my friend that did show up for the appointment on the day, has got her refundable deposit back and so has her friend. looks like they just dont want you to cancel like I am! They both got their day for free, where there were others there that had paid for the day through booking on the website and gift vouchers as a birthday present! But then they all decided to buy some pics at the end of the session, for around the same price as eachother. So it was a free make over and photoshoot!!