Unauthorised Payments Taken By NOW TV

neilmcl

greyteam1959 said:

£39.99 taken out of your bank account for 3 months & you never noticed ??
Do you never look at your bank statements ??

That really isn't that unusual you know.

visidigi

paulyz said:

They told me that there's been no suspicious activity on my account. The evidence they gave me of when and for how long the sports channel has been used is odd. It's odd that someone would watch it for one minute. I don't think my account has been compromised. The only thing I can think is that I have inadvertently signed up to the pass. This is why I want them to explain to me how the pass could have been set up, but they just keep giving vague answers. I would have thought there would be an 'I agree to set this up' button that you have to click, but I wonder if they have some way of setting up a pass without customers realising. Having read some reviews other people have left online it certainly seems this could be the case. In which case this could potentially be fraudulent.

You not being able to see what your actions achieve do not make it fraudulent.

It sounds like you signed up without paying attention (I have NOW and any such request requires confirmation to proceed).

This would be backed up by the outcome of the inquiry. I can't say with any level of confidence that NOW have done anything wrong here.

The fact you didn't notice for three months is on you I am afraid.

DCFC79

paulyz said:

It was taken from my credit card from November 2020 to January 2021. I was having a busy time with my business. I was also spending quite a bit of money on my card at that time and quickly skimmed the statements which looked about right. It was £33.99, so it wasn't such a large amount to attract my attention. Yes, I know I should check my statement every month! 

My main concern though is that a pass was set up without my knowledge. I've since removed my payment details from my NOW TV account, so they won't be able to take anymore money from me. My other concern is that I've tried to completely delete my account with NOW TV and it doesn't seem possible.

I have also asked them for an address to write to as I want to send them a letter recorded delivery. They would not give me their address. I have since found it on the Companies House website.

Have you spoken to the bank ?

[Deleted User]

visidigi said:

paulyz said:

They told me that there's been no suspicious activity on my account. The evidence they gave me of when and for how long the sports channel has been used is odd. It's odd that someone would watch it for one minute. I don't think my account has been compromised. The only thing I can think is that I have inadvertently signed up to the pass. This is why I want them to explain to me how the pass could have been set up, but they just keep giving vague answers. I would have thought there would be an 'I agree to set this up' button that you have to click, but I wonder if they have some way of setting up a pass without customers realising. Having read some reviews other people have left online it certainly seems this could be the case. In which case this could potentially be fraudulent.

You not being able to see what your actions achieve do not make it fraudulent.

It sounds like you signed up without paying attention (I have NOW and any such request requires confirmation to proceed).

This would be backed up by the outcome of the inquiry. I can't say with any level of confidence that NOW have done anything wrong here.

The fact you didn't notice for three months is on you I am afraid.

It shouldn't be possible to be able to sign up to paying for a subscription service without paying attention. I had an online chat with NOW yesterday and they told me it is possible to purchase a pass accidently and not realise it. That's the equivalent of walking into Currys and accidently buying a washing machine because you happened to walk past it on your way to look at the kettles. That's a very underhand and dishonest practice. 

The fact I didn't notice for three months is on me, I agree. However, the money was taken from me without my authorisation and I have pointed this out to NOW. If they had refunded me I'd be a happy customer and I'd still be paying them for the Entertainment pass I have had since 2015. I had no intention of cancelling it until this happened, so they'd have continued to receive my payment of £9.99 a month for the foreseeable future. Instead, they've now got nothing and will never get another penny from me. I'll also make sure I spread the word about what a terrible company they are. 

[Deleted User]

DCFC79 said:

paulyz said:

It was taken from my credit card from November 2020 to January 2021. I was having a busy time with my business. I was also spending quite a bit of money on my card at that time and quickly skimmed the statements which looked about right. It was £33.99, so it wasn't such a large amount to attract my attention. Yes, I know I should check my statement every month! 

My main concern though is that a pass was set up without my knowledge. I've since removed my payment details from my NOW TV account, so they won't be able to take anymore money from me. My other concern is that I've tried to completely delete my account with NOW TV and it doesn't seem possible.

I have also asked them for an address to write to as I want to send them a letter recorded delivery. They would not give me their address. I have since found it on the Companies House website.

Have you spoken to the bank ?

No, it might be too late now. But I will give it a go, thanks.

Pollycat

paulyz said:

It shouldn't be possible to be able to sign up to paying for a subscription service without paying attention. I had an online chat with NOW yesterday and they told me it is possible to purchase a pass accidently and not realise it. That's the equivalent of walking into Currys and accidently buying a washing machine because you happened to walk past it on your way to look at the kettles. That's a very underhand and dishonest practice. 

The fact I didn't notice for three months is on me, I agree. However, the money was taken from me without my authorisation and I have pointed this out to NOW. If they had refunded me I'd be a happy customer and I'd still be paying them for the Entertainment pass I have had since 2015. I had no intention of cancelling it until this happened, so they'd have continued to receive my payment of £9.99 a month for the foreseeable future. Instead, they've now got nothing and will never get another penny from me. I'll also make sure I spread the word about what a terrible company they are. 

Did they explain how that can happen?

Seems odd (and wrong).

visidigi

paulyz said:

visidigi said:

paulyz said:

They told me that there's been no suspicious activity on my account. The evidence they gave me of when and for how long the sports channel has been used is odd. It's odd that someone would watch it for one minute. I don't think my account has been compromised. The only thing I can think is that I have inadvertently signed up to the pass. This is why I want them to explain to me how the pass could have been set up, but they just keep giving vague answers. I would have thought there would be an 'I agree to set this up' button that you have to click, but I wonder if they have some way of setting up a pass without customers realising. Having read some reviews other people have left online it certainly seems this could be the case. In which case this could potentially be fraudulent.

You not being able to see what your actions achieve do not make it fraudulent.

It sounds like you signed up without paying attention (I have NOW and any such request requires confirmation to proceed).

This would be backed up by the outcome of the inquiry. I can't say with any level of confidence that NOW have done anything wrong here.

The fact you didn't notice for three months is on you I am afraid.

It shouldn't be possible to be able to sign up to paying for a subscription service without paying attention. I had an online chat with NOW yesterday and they told me it is possible to purchase a pass accidently and not realise it. That's the equivalent of walking into Currys and accidently buying a washing machine because you happened to walk past it on your way to look at the kettles. That's a very underhand and dishonest practice. 

The fact I didn't notice for three months is on me, I agree. However, the money was taken from me without my authorisation and I have pointed this out to NOW. If they had refunded me I'd be a happy customer and I'd still be paying them for the Entertainment pass I have had since 2015. I had no intention of cancelling it until this happened, so they'd have continued to receive my payment of £9.99 a month for the foreseeable future. Instead, they've now got nothing and will never get another penny from me. I'll also make sure I spread the word about what a terrible company they are. 

Be careful. You can't prove the accusations you are making - so 'spreading the word' is only going to get you into trouble. If you could then this sudden evidence of it can be done by accident would have been in your cases which was declined upon review.

Of course its possible to do this without knowing if it was your compromised account. Unless NOW have checked the IP's and further more reliable data/logs then they cannot say if it would be abnormal (as from their perspective it looks like you did it).

By all means vote with your feet if it makes you feel better, but reliable you can be held liable for spreading unfounded accusations.

Bank won't be interested given NOW will just say it failed their internal process and you took it to adjudication which also failed.

Pollycat

visidigi said:

Be careful. You can't prove the accusations you are making - so 'spreading the word' is only going to get you into trouble. If you could then this sudden evidence of it can be done by accident would have been in your cases which was declined upon review.

Of course its possible to do this without knowing if it was your compromised account. Unless NOW have checked the IP's and further more reliable data/logs then they cannot say if it would be abnormal (as from their perspective it looks like you did it).

By all means vote with your feet if it makes you feel better, but reliable you can be held liable for spreading unfounded accusations.

Bank won't be interested given NOW will just say it failed their internal process and you took it to adjudication which also failed.

Interestingly, there is mention of defamation in the new MSE rules:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs/?_ga=2.78998356.1902337939.1623323171-213726009.1623323171

See #3 Legal Considerations.

born_again

paulyz said:

NOW TV somehow set up a sports pass on my account without my knowledge. They apparently sent me an email, which to date I have not been able to find. Unfortunately, I didn't become aware that this sports pass had been set up until 3 months later and NOW took 3 unauthorised payment of £33.99. I have asked them to provide me with an explanation of how a pass was set up without my knowledge or authorisation, but they keep giving me the same vague reply quoting a date and time the pass was set up. I have been through a complaints process with both NOW TV and CISAS and an 'independent' adjudicator has ruled in favour of NOW and my case has been closed.

 

I'm not prepared to accept this, and I have read that other people have experienced similar problems. Setting up passes without people's knowledge and taking payments without authorisation is verging on criminal. I think consumers need to be made aware that this company has some rather dubious practices, so I have contacted the Radio 4 programme You and Yours. I would urge anyone else who has had similar experiences to me to do the same. If a whole lot of people contact the same consumer programme the likelihood is they'll notice it and run an item on it. So, I hope anyone out there reading this will support me.

 

Thanks!

So how long have you had a Now TV account?
How did you sign up to your NowTv acc?

Have you ever looked at any of the sports channels or maybe a one off event that may have been on a sports channel?

Browntoa

I'd be on my account checking on registered devices , shows you the date last accessed and the type of device , nowtv box , android phone or TV .

If you only have one device and more than that are connected then that is your answer.

As a side issue , there seems to be no way to set up two step authority as a security option