Driving License Renewal

AdrianC

The standard defensive response is "But it looked just like the official site!"

Then when they say which site it is, it not only turns out to look nothing like gov.uk, but to have mahoosive warnings and sales spiel several times before you get to the payment page.

Pollycat

Manxman_in_exile said:

I know.  Most tech-savvy people would consider me a very inexpert and even ignorant web-user, but even I understand this basic stuff.  What concerns me for the future is that many people who make these errors are surely so young that they MUST understand this stuff better than I do - but it seems they don't.  I wonder if many younger people have grown up in such close proximity to the internet that they have developed a false sense of security and have to be given the equivalent warning of "Don't accept sweets from strange men in the park"...   (Or maybe I'm suffering from age bias and it's not younger people doing this).

Pollycat said:

...It will tell you somewhere on the website that you are not on the official website.

It would have told the OP that he/she was not on the official DVLA website when they completed the application form.

This I don't understand either - whenever I'm doing any sort of transaction via the internet I double and triple-check everything to make sure I understand exactly what I'm doing... 

I don't understand it either.

On most of the DVLA websites that I've looked at after reading threads like this are very clear that they are not the official website.

Re the bit in bold:

I think a lot of people do think the internet is a safe, fluffy place to do business. I don't know if it's age related or not.

I work on the premise that any website that I've not done business with before is potentially going to try to rip me off. Or scam me.

That's why I usually look at the 'About us' page.

And I check the returns details so I'm not surprised that a website that ends in .co.uk is actually based in China and that's where the return has to go.

As the quote from Martin Lewis points out, these companies will have paid Google to be at the top of search results.

Of course, if you use these companies rather than the official website, you will pay for a free service or pay more for a service than from the official source.

People should beware of any website that has Ad at the front of the search result.

Legitimate companies may also have Ad at the front of search results, obviously they have paid Google for the top spot.

In these cases, there is usually a link below to the same website without Ad.

To be 100% sure, I always select the link without Ad.

AdrianC

Pollycat said:

People should beware of any website that has Ad at the front of the search result.

Legitimate companies may also have Ad at the front of search results, obviously they have paid Google for the top spot.

In these cases, there is usually a link below to the same website without Ad.

To be 100% sure, I always select the link without Ad

Even better, use an adblocker, then you won't see them at all.

Pollycat

AdrianC said:

Pollycat said:

People should beware of any website that has Ad at the front of the search result.

Legitimate companies may also have Ad at the front of search results, obviously they have paid Google for the top spot.

In these cases, there is usually a link below to the same website without Ad.

To be 100% sure, I always select the link without Ad

Even better, use an adblocker, then you won't see them at all.

We've had this conversation before on another similar thread.

Manxman_in_exile

Pollycat said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

I know.  Most tech-savvy people would consider me a very inexpert and even ignorant web-user, but even I understand this basic stuff.  What concerns me for the future is that many people who make these errors are surely so young that they MUST understand this stuff better than I do - but it seems they don't.  I wonder if many younger people have grown up in such close proximity to the internet that they have developed a false sense of security and have to be given the equivalent warning of "Don't accept sweets from strange men in the park"...   (Or maybe I'm suffering from age bias and it's not younger people doing this).

Pollycat said:

...It will tell you somewhere on the website that you are not on the official website.

It would have told the OP that he/she was not on the official DVLA website when they completed the application form.

This I don't understand either - whenever I'm doing any sort of transaction via the internet I double and triple-check everything to make sure I understand exactly what I'm doing... 

...I work on the premise that any website that I've not done business with before is potentially going to try to rip me off. Or scam me.

That's why I usually look at the 'About us' page.

And I check the returns details so I'm not surprised that a website that ends in .co.uk is actually based in China and that's where the return has to go...

Yes.  With any internet transaction I also always check the About Us page, I also check the return details to check it's a UK address, and I also check the T&Cs to see what jurisdiction deals with disputes.  If they aren't all UK I'll usually pass - or proceed on the basis it's my own fault when it all goes wrong.

But to be fair, I don't think I would have known to do any of that before I joined MSE and started following the forums...