Money taken from Daughters account but not Fraud - Help!

Flobberchops

I'm sympathetic, and the company are scumbags, but ultimately your daughter received the goods she ordered at the price agreed and didn't cancel within the permitted period. Going forward I hope she will use this as a valuable lesson in not believing everything she reads, and taking extra care to check out deals that sound too good to be true.


As an aside, tell your daughter to not bother with any more "slimming supplements" as they're almost universally snake oil and the few that aren't are dangerous. Most "herbal" slimmers/fat burners are just blends of what you can find on the shelves of Holland and Barret, sold at a huge mark-up, sometimes with added caffeine. "Slim tea" products are generally just diuretics or laxatives, and routinely relying on that kind of thing for weight loss is a thin line away from bulemia. There are some "fat burner" pills available on the internet that are so dangerous that people, many of them young women, have DIED in agony having taken too many on the assumption that raising the dose = quicker results.



As a 16 year old girl she's in all likelihood in better shape than she gives herself credit for - but if she wants to lose weight the only real options are to reduce calories and exercise more, in that order of preference.

jonnygee2

These vitamin subscription scams are very common. Your bank is right that it is not fraud, and therefore not their liability - your daughter purchased from them originally and it is therefore a merchant dispute.

But, the transactions can pretty much always be charged back, because the payment information was never clear enough originally (and, these websites are so used to the chargebacks they never fight them).

Ask your bank to start a chargeback for all of the transactions.

Zanderman

jonnygee2 wrote: »

Ask your bank to start a chargeback for all of the transactions.

If she received the products she can't ask for a chargeback.

jonnygee2

If she received the products she can't ask for a chargeback.

That's incorrect, there are many situations where chargebacks can be used, goods not recieved is just one of them.

k3lvc

Chloegib wrote: »

Without our knowledge in February this year our 16 year old daughter purchase slimming supplements from Snapchat site (company called UltraMV)

I'd be more grateful about her still being alive and discussing buying drugs from dodgy internet sites than trying to get the money back

Terry_Towelling

This sounds like the sort of contract that is voidable and not enforceable in law, given that your daughter is a minor.

Now, whether that gives her the right to return unopened/unused goods and demand a refund I do not know but it would be worth taking some advice on that just in case it gets you a foot in the door. Consumer rights legislation also allows for goods ordered online to be returned to the seller for a refund up to 14 days after delivery. It looks like that time span has passed now but may be worth remembering for the future.

Suffice to say, regardless of the contract terms (e.g. if it states she is bound to pay for goods for x number of months) she can cancel that without reason whenever she likes as long as she is still under 18 and the supplier cannot stop her from doing so in law.

As others have said, if no goods have been received, get the card company to raise a Chargeback. If goods have been received and used, then I guess the price paid is fair exchange for the value of the lesson learned - and I don't say that to be patronising or harsh.

Jeady09

A friend has just had the same thing happen for just over £120 with the very same company!

The bank (HSBC I'm 95% sure) refunded it as an unauthorised transaction. But the story was virtually identical. The payment was taken from her card directly 16/17 days after the first purchase so a bit sooner.

She was initially turned away but went into the branch with all the relevant information and they listened, Not sure if this is out of the ordinary though.

They are toe rags for scamming people like this and need to be brought to book!

Good luck Chloe!

J