Warning about Completesave

Sicard

I was logged into my Barclays account when suddenly a pop-up appeared which I assumed was from the bank offering to make payments easier. I also assumed it was a Barclays service initiated due to the pandemic. I also have uBlock Origin installed. I must admit I didn't read it closely but filled in the form.

A few days later I logged into my account only to find £15 deducted by Completesave. I never received an email confirming that I'd signed up. I did some research only to discover many people have complained about the underhand ways this company get sign-ups. I emailed them to demand a refund and to cancel my subscription but had no response after several days. I phoned Barclays using the number on the back of my debit card to report a scam. The security process was an absolute nightmare. The voice kept asking for my card number which wasn't recognised. It then asked for my account number which I supplied four times. Still it didn't recognise. Then it asked for my sort code which I supplied another four times. Even this wasn't recognised.

Luckily I found another phone number I'd kept from a few years ago in my Skype account. I actually got through to a human. I explained the situation and she said the company is legitimate but the way they get people to sign up is sneeky and they couldn't do a chargeback. She advised that if I got no joy from the company I'd have to wait 15 days from the amount taken from my account and there was a possibility I could raise a merchant dispute.

I couldn't use the 0800 number for them as I'm abroad but after further research I found I found an online form. Two days later I got a refund. Hopefully they've cancelled my subscription too.

I told them although their company is legitimate their signing up process is verging on fraudulent.

I hope all of this is of assistance to anyone else.

The_Fat_Controller

" I must admit I didn't read it closely but filled in the form"

That'll teach you !

LOL

tempus_fugit

Yes, it helps greatly. It confirms my existing belief that when popups appear on your computer screen. never assume anything and always read it carefully before acting upon it.

Sicard

Well, in my defence there wasn't a lot of info and as it popped up when I was logged into my bank account I made the bad assumption it was from them. Because of the circumstances and in hindsight it leads me to believe it wouldn't take much for a good coder to set this up when someone logs into their bank account. Or I might be paranoid.

Pollycat

I would have checked out Completesave before filling in the form if there wasn't enough info to satisfy me.

I would then have seen various hits warning about this company - including one on this forum.

If you'd searched this forum, you'd have seen 5 different threads warning about this company.

I work on the principle that people are trying to rip me off until my research shows me the company is kosher.
It's a shame that it's necessary to be so doubting but it's my money and it's up to me to look after it.

Sicard

Pollycat said:

I would have checked out Completesave before filling in the form if there wasn't enough info to satisfy me.

I would then have seen various hits warning about this company - including one on this forum.

If you'd searched this forum, you'd have seen 5 different threads warning about this company.

I work on the principle that people are trying to rip me off until my research shows me the company is kosher.
It's a shame that it's necessary to be so doubting but it's my money and it's up to me to look after it.

Yeah, I had my doubts about posting this as I'm aware of people on here can be quite judgement as well as possessing the desire to top up their posting count, but decided to go ahead in the hope non-site people would see my post and learn from my mistakes.

Pollycat

It wasn't judgemental.
It wasn't anything to do with post count.
My post was the same as the other 2 replies you had.

Most people don't learn from other people's mistakes.
Did you learn from the other people I mentioned who posted on MSE about their mistakes...?
Generally, people make mistakes and then find out that other people made the same mistake before them - by doing their research after they've paid their money.

RogerBareford

Sicard said:

Pollycat said:

I would have checked out Completesave before filling in the form if there wasn't enough info to satisfy me.

I would then have seen various hits warning about this company - including one on this forum.

If you'd searched this forum, you'd have seen 5 different threads warning about this company.

I work on the principle that people are trying to rip me off until my research shows me the company is kosher.
It's a shame that it's necessary to be so doubting but it's my money and it's up to me to look after it.

Yeah, I had my doubts about posting this as I'm aware of people on here can be quite judgement as well as possessing the desire to top up their posting count, but decided to go ahead in the hope non-site people would see my post and learn from my mistakes.

I think it's honourable that you will share your mistake in the attempt to help others avoid it in the future.

But unfortunately I don't think it will help because you seem to be an active user of this forum for many years, therefore more likely to be aware of such things as this, but you still unfortunately filled out the form. It seems you didn't do it because you were fooled in any way, simply because you didn't read it thoroughly enough, and this is a mistake that anyone can make and often does.

I think the only way is to always be on the defensive, as Pollycat explains above.

Sicard

Pollycat said:

It wasn't judgemental.
It wasn't anything to do with post count.
My post was the same as the other 2 replies you had.

Most people don't learn from other people's mistakes.
Did you learn from the other people I mentioned who posted on MSE about their mistakes...?
Generally, people make mistakes and then find out that other people made the same mistake before them - by doing their research after they've paid their money.

Of dear, I think I touched a nerve but from the vast amount of posts you've made there wasn't really any need for you to contribute to mine.

"Most people don't learn from other people's mistakes." How do you know this? 

"Did you learn from the other people I mentioned who posted on MSE about their mistakes...?" Well I would have had I not hastily completed the form and having never heard of this company there was no need or so I thought. I don't really live on these forums, I just pop in occaisionally.

You seem to be missing the point of my not knowing the form was not associated with Barclays.

Have a good day, and Xmas and schadenfreude.