Changing Address on Driving License - Warning

HayleyD83

TooManyPoints said:

If you did not authorise any payment you should contact your credit card provider.

I'm afraid I do not agree that these sites are identical to the DVLA's. I've just looked at two - one of which is probably the one you used. At the top of the page is a banner saying this:

This is an optional checking service with charges from £49, additional and separate to any DVLA fee, which in some cases can be free. Applications can be made directly on gov.uk without a checking service fee.

The other has a similar banner:

This is a third party check and send service with an added service fee from £49, this is additional to any fees from the DVLA, which in some cases can be free. Applications can be made directly on gov.uk without any service fee.

TooManyPoints said:

If you did not authorise any payment you should contact your credit card provider.

I'm afraid I do not agree that these sites are identical to the DVLA's. I've just looked at two - one of which is probably the one you used. At the top of the page is a banner saying this:

This is an optional checking service with charges from £49, additional and separate to any DVLA fee, which in some cases can be free. Applications can be made directly on gov.uk without a checking service fee.

The other has a similar banner:

This is a third party check and send service with an added service fee from £49, this is additional to any fees from the DVLA, which in some cases can be free. Applications can be made directly on gov.uk without any service fee.

See my comment below Driving support online - since yesterday the site has completely changed its look. Definitely something very dodgy going on. I have raised a dispute with the bank. I would never in a million years consented to paying £80 I am a bit dense but I know it doesn't cost £80 to update your address on your licence. The payment field read £0 So I assumed it was a formality to enter your card details 

AdrianC

HayleyD83 said:

AdrianC said:

HayleyD83 said:

macman said:

It's 100% legal and it's not a scam. You engaged a third party to process your change of address and willingly paid £80 for them to do it for you, when the direct service is free.
The commercial listing has 'Ad' against it and is a .co.uk address. The .gov.uk one is the third one down on the search page.
If it's any consolation, this comes up most weeks.

Actually no I didn't - I only entered my payment details because it said the charge was £0 so I did not authorise them to take a penny from my account. This particular site is being investigated by the national intelligence office due to the nature of information which has been gathered and due the fact that they have lied about the amount of money being debited. To all those saying I should have known it was not legal. I didn't know it was an Ad fair point but it was realistic enough to have me believe it was a gov.uk site 

Which site is it?

Driving Support Online - I have just logged on to the site again and I swear to god they have completely changed the look of the site since yesterday!!!! To be honest with you after reading how many thousands of people have also been caught out with this I feel a bit silly but I am also far less concerned about the money as I am the fact that they have access to enough of my information to cause serious damage 

http://drivingsupportonline.com/
It looks the same now as it did in February last year and June 2019, according to archive.org
Feb 2020 - https://web.archive.org/web/20200220150027/http://drivingsupportonline.com/
June 2019 - https://web.archive.org/web/20190620044511/http://drivingsupportonline.com/

Yes, they have your information - which you were happy to give them.

NI numbers are not a state secret. People used to put them on CVs and job application forms.

HayleyD83

AdrianC said:

HayleyD83 said:

AdrianC said:

HayleyD83 said:

macman said:

It's 100% legal and it's not a scam. You engaged a third party to process your change of address and willingly paid £80 for them to do it for you, when the direct service is free.
The commercial listing has 'Ad' against it and is a .co.uk address. The .gov.uk one is the third one down on the search page.
If it's any consolation, this comes up most weeks.

Actually no I didn't - I only entered my payment details because it said the charge was £0 so I did not authorise them to take a penny from my account. This particular site is being investigated by the national intelligence office due to the nature of information which has been gathered and due the fact that they have lied about the amount of money being debited. To all those saying I should have known it was not legal. I didn't know it was an Ad fair point but it was realistic enough to have me believe it was a gov.uk site 

Which site is it?

Driving Support Online - I have just logged on to the site again and I swear to god they have completely changed the look of the site since yesterday!!!! To be honest with you after reading how many thousands of people have also been caught out with this I feel a bit silly but I am also far less concerned about the money as I am the fact that they have access to enough of my information to cause serious damage 

http://drivingsupportonline.com/
It looks the same now as it did in February last year and June 2019, according to archive.org
Feb 2020 - https://web.archive.org/web/20200220150027/http://drivingsupportonline.com/
June 2019 - https://web.archive.org/web/20190620044511/http://drivingsupportonline.com/

Yes, they have your information - which you were happy to give them.

NI numbers are not a state secret. People used to put them on CVs and job application forms.

Thats nothing like what I looked at yesterday. Anyway I'm not here to argue with anyone I have better uses for my time!

jimjames

HayleyD83 said:

macman said:

It's 100% legal and it's not a scam. You engaged a third party to process your change of address and willingly paid £80 for them to do it for you, when the direct service is free.
The commercial listing has 'Ad' against it and is a .co.uk address. The .gov.uk one is the third one down on the search page.
If it's any consolation, this comes up most weeks.

 I didn't know it was an Ad fair point but it was realistic enough to have me believe it was a gov.uk site 

For info, a .gov site will have a URL that contains .gov.uk in the address bar. If it has .co.uk then it isn't a .gov website. Make sure you look at the left of ALL results if you do a search, any that say Ad are paid to be there for that search term.
No idea who National intelligence office are but you might want to check that's genuine too

peter_the_piper

Having needed to change the address onyour driving license you will also need to change the address on the dvla for any vehicle you have. Changing the drivers one does not also change vehicle one at the same time.

Webxite

I think OP probably visited this page, which I agree does look quite governmentish, despite all their disclaimers etc below. 

https://www.drivingsupportonline.co.uk/?theme=v8&gclid=CjwKCAjwqcKFBhAhEiwAfEr7zZc-4LlBBoKetPgq2hxa6n27jQ1D0hARq-Gt7q1KFQKQJVjgRlYqNxoC2kUQAvD_BwE

peter_the_piper

This would make me look twice.

*Please note that £80 of the prices bellow are our service fee and VAT is included.

ontheroad1970

Webxite said:

I think OP probably visited this page, which I agree does look quite governmentish, despite all their disclaimers etc below. 

https://www.drivingsupportonline.co.uk/?theme=v8&gclid=CjwKCAjwqcKFBhAhEiwAfEr7zZc-4LlBBoKetPgq2hxa6n27jQ1D0hARq-Gt7q1KFQKQJVjgRlYqNxoC2kUQAvD_BwE

Did you miss the box to the right?  Quite a full explanation of who they really are.  Yes the fonts are similar to gov uk but not the same, and shows how many people are caught out because they only skim read sites

Webxite

ontheroad1970 said:

Webxite said:

I think OP probably visited this page, which I agree does look quite governmentish, despite all their disclaimers etc below. 

https://www.drivingsupportonline.co.uk/?theme=v8&gclid=CjwKCAjwqcKFBhAhEiwAfEr7zZc-4LlBBoKetPgq2hxa6n27jQ1D0hARq-Gt7q1KFQKQJVjgRlYqNxoC2kUQAvD_BwE

Did you miss the box to the right?  Quite a full explanation of who they really are.  Yes the fonts are similar to gov uk but not the same, and shows how many people are caught out because they only skim read sites

Yes, I saw all of that. I was just trying to help the OP who could have been convinced they were going mad, as a visit to the main domain looks completely different, and they sounded like they thought it had changed overnight. I agree it shows the dangers of a skim read. 

AdrianC

Webxite said:

I think OP probably visited this page, which I agree does look quite governmentish, despite all their disclaimers etc below. 

https://www.drivingsupportonline.co.uk/

That didn't even come up googling for "driving support online" for me, so... Yes, it certainly does look more likely.

But may I point to the OP's response? Not "No, I think that's a different site", but "It's all a conspiracy! They changed it!". Basic browser driving lessons are available.

As for visual similarity to the Gov.UK site... (Disclaimers highlighted in red)