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Advice on cancelling/obtaining refund from Complete Savings using POA
Evangeline1937
Posts: 1 Newbie
I wonder if anyone has any advice or previous experience of cancelling and trying to obtain a full refund from Complete Savings on someone else's behalf. In this case my sister and I are our fathers financial affairs attorneys.
Our father has mild dementia, when we first started sorting through paperwork and finances with him we came across a monthly payment of £10 to WLY*COMPLETESAVE.CO.UK from our parents John Lewis partnership account, something he had no knowledge of. I have worked my way back through the John Lewis statements we have been able to find which date back to approximately 2018 but can't find where the first payment started, John Lewis's online banking does not go back that far.
Apparently we can't cancel the payment to Complete Savings via John Lewis so we have been left struggling to contact CS by phone, letter and email. The only correspondence we have are the occasional letters that arrive asking our father to update his email address, he had changed this in 2016 when it appeared he started struggling with using the computer. We were advised to email them using our father's new email with details of his account but with no response, there is no account number on any of his correspondence which does not help.
This is not something that our father would have signed up for knowingly and the fact it appears they do not send out any contract or other information for their customer to sign or read through adds to the confusion and I can see why so many other people have ended up in this position.
Having read up a lot over the last year it does seem that the way they work is to hope some customers will not realise what they have signed up to but be happy to continue with the scheme and others won't even realise and continue pointlessly paying out the monthly sum. It is clear from reading up their comments and responses to customers online that they are aware of the confusion over their current signing up procedure and terms so they have had ample opportunity to change this to make it clearer.
I can see that there are other customers who are happy with the scheme but I am guessing in those cases the chances are the customers were fully aware of what they were signing up to, intended to do so and have been using and benefitting from the scheme which is very different to the position we find, and lots of other customers, seem to have found themselves in.
Initially we just wanted to be able to cancel the payments but this has now been going on so long I feel strongly that we obtain a full refund from Complete Savings but as it has been impossible to contact them or obtain any response before I am not sure how we can proceed using the Power of Attorney to resolve this once and for all on her fathers behalf.
Any help on how we proceed would be welcomingly received.
Our father has mild dementia, when we first started sorting through paperwork and finances with him we came across a monthly payment of £10 to WLY*COMPLETESAVE.CO.UK from our parents John Lewis partnership account, something he had no knowledge of. I have worked my way back through the John Lewis statements we have been able to find which date back to approximately 2018 but can't find where the first payment started, John Lewis's online banking does not go back that far.
Apparently we can't cancel the payment to Complete Savings via John Lewis so we have been left struggling to contact CS by phone, letter and email. The only correspondence we have are the occasional letters that arrive asking our father to update his email address, he had changed this in 2016 when it appeared he started struggling with using the computer. We were advised to email them using our father's new email with details of his account but with no response, there is no account number on any of his correspondence which does not help.
This is not something that our father would have signed up for knowingly and the fact it appears they do not send out any contract or other information for their customer to sign or read through adds to the confusion and I can see why so many other people have ended up in this position.
Having read up a lot over the last year it does seem that the way they work is to hope some customers will not realise what they have signed up to but be happy to continue with the scheme and others won't even realise and continue pointlessly paying out the monthly sum. It is clear from reading up their comments and responses to customers online that they are aware of the confusion over their current signing up procedure and terms so they have had ample opportunity to change this to make it clearer.
I can see that there are other customers who are happy with the scheme but I am guessing in those cases the chances are the customers were fully aware of what they were signing up to, intended to do so and have been using and benefitting from the scheme which is very different to the position we find, and lots of other customers, seem to have found themselves in.
Initially we just wanted to be able to cancel the payments but this has now been going on so long I feel strongly that we obtain a full refund from Complete Savings but as it has been impossible to contact them or obtain any response before I am not sure how we can proceed using the Power of Attorney to resolve this once and for all on her fathers behalf.
Any help on how we proceed would be welcomingly received.
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Comments
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Is it a direct debit or standing order or does it come from a debit/credit card. If it is a DDO, ask the bank to deal with it under the direct debit guarantee. You could just stop the payment although that is often warned against but at least it will make them contact you/your father!0
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I'd have thought you might have been better posting on the Banking and borrowing forum here Banking & Borrowing — MoneySavingExpert Forum, possibly on the Savings and Investments board? [Edit: I'd try reporting your own post using the exclamation mark in the bottom right of your post and ask the site team to move the post]
Why can't JL bank stop the payments?
I know there is sometimes a view that the customer can't stop Continuing Payment Authorisations (if that's what they're called) but I've never understood why not. I don't see why a later instruction can't override a previous one. If your father has contractually agreed to make the monthly payments, then that's between him (or you) and Complete Savings. I don't see how the bank can just say "We refuse to follow your instruction to cancel this payment." It's not the bank's business to tell you what to do with your money.
But I'm not a banking expert... hence the other forums
Good luck0 -
And if JL suddenly say "Yes. Of course we can stop the payments", tell them you want to be refunded back to the point when you originally asked them to cease the payments and they wrongly told you they couldn't.
JL do know you and your sister have POA?0 -
They are scoundrels in the way they get people to sign up but according to my bank it's not a scam although Barclays have had multiple compaints about them. I emailed the company and requested a complete refund and to take me off their list which they did. If you have a problem you can't get a chargeback but you can raise a merchant dispute with the bank.“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.”
― Groucho Marx0 -
How do I make a complaint?We would be sorry to hear you would not be fully satisfied with the program. If you’d like to make a complaint, please email customerservice@completesavings.co.uk or call 0800 389 6960 and we will endeavour to resolve the issue as soon as possible. In the unlikely event we are unable to resolve your issue, or you are not happy with the resolution, we recommend contacting the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). Alternative Dispute Resolution provided by bodies such as the CEDR, is a cheaper, flexible and less-stressful alternative to court proceedings and can assist with the timely resolution of your matter if we are unable to.
https://www.completesavings.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions0 -
JL are not telling the truth. They have the facility to stop future payments. Via Visa/Mastercard system.Evangeline1937 said:I wonder if anyone has any advice or previous experience of cancelling and trying to obtain a full refund from Complete Savings on someone else's behalf. In this case my sister and I are our fathers financial affairs attorneys.
Our father has mild dementia, when we first started sorting through paperwork and finances with him we came across a monthly payment of £10 to WLY*COMPLETESAVE.CO.UK from our parents John Lewis partnership account, something he had no knowledge of. I have worked my way back through the John Lewis statements we have been able to find which date back to approximately 2018 but can't find where the first payment started, John Lewis's online banking does not go back that far.
Apparently we can't cancel the payment to Complete Savings via John Lewis so we have been left struggling to contact CS by phone, letter and email. The only correspondence we have are the occasional letters that arrive asking our father to update his email address, he had changed this in 2016 when it appeared he started struggling with using the computer. We were advised to email them using our father's new email with details of his account but with no response, there is no account number on any of his correspondence which does not help.
This is not something that our father would have signed up for knowingly and the fact it appears they do not send out any contract or other information for their customer to sign or read through adds to the confusion and I can see why so many other people have ended up in this position.
Having read up a lot over the last year it does seem that the way they work is to hope some customers will not realise what they have signed up to but be happy to continue with the scheme and others won't even realise and continue pointlessly paying out the monthly sum. It is clear from reading up their comments and responses to customers online that they are aware of the confusion over their current signing up procedure and terms so they have had ample opportunity to change this to make it clearer.
I can see that there are other customers who are happy with the scheme but I am guessing in those cases the chances are the customers were fully aware of what they were signing up to, intended to do so and have been using and benefitting from the scheme which is very different to the position we find, and lots of other customers, seem to have found themselves in.
Initially we just wanted to be able to cancel the payments but this has now been going on so long I feel strongly that we obtain a full refund from Complete Savings but as it has been impossible to contact them or obtain any response before I am not sure how we can proceed using the Power of Attorney to resolve this once and for all on her fathers behalf.
Any help on how we proceed would be welcomingly received.
See post by @sherambler
Right that 0800 number. Done it many times for customers who think they are going to be scammed further 🤷♀️. They will refund 3 months upfront & send a email for the rest. But Complete Savings do need the email used to sign up. No way round that, as that is how their systems work.
If you look through your fathers statements around 30 days prior to the debits starting there will be one to a retailer that offered a discount of a future purchase for passing the details on. many people do this & fail to read the T/C that goes with it. But CS do send out emails to remind people that they will be taking payment at the start.
End of the day CS are one of the best at dealing & refund of these companies.Life in the slow lane0 -
Why do you make your sign-up so sneakily deceptive? Why not just be upfront about it?sheramber said:How do I make a complaint?We would be sorry to hear you would not be fully satisfied with the program. If you’d like to make a complaint, please email customerservice@completesavings.co.uk or call 0800 389 6960 and we will endeavour to resolve the issue as soon as possible. In the unlikely event we are unable to resolve your issue, or you are not happy with the resolution, we recommend contacting the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). Alternative Dispute Resolution provided by bodies such as the CEDR, is a cheaper, flexible and less-stressful alternative to court proceedings and can assist with the timely resolution of your matter if we are unable to.
https://www.completesavings.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.”
― Groucho Marx1 -
?????????pendragon_arther said:
Why do you make your sign-up so sneakily deceptive? Why not just be upfront about it?sheramber said:How do I make a complaint?We would be sorry to hear you would not be fully satisfied with the program. If you’d like to make a complaint, please email customerservice@completesavings.co.uk or call 0800 389 6960 and we will endeavour to resolve the issue as soon as possible. In the unlikely event we are unable to resolve your issue, or you are not happy with the resolution, we recommend contacting the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). Alternative Dispute Resolution provided by bodies such as the CEDR, is a cheaper, flexible and less-stressful alternative to court proceedings and can assist with the timely resolution of your matter if we are unable to.
https://www.completesavings.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions0 -
I think @pendragon_arther was confused by your quote of complete savings "How do I make a complaint? - We would be sorry... etc etc "but without making it 100% clear that that wording was from CS and not from you.sheramber said:
?????????pendragon_arther said:
Why do you make your sign-up so sneakily deceptive? Why not just be upfront about it?sheramber said:How do I make a complaint?We would be sorry to hear you would not be fully satisfied with the program. If you’d like to make a complaint, please email customerservice@completesavings.co.uk or call 0800 389 6960 and we will endeavour to resolve the issue as soon as possible. In the unlikely event we are unable to resolve your issue, or you are not happy with the resolution, we recommend contacting the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). Alternative Dispute Resolution provided by bodies such as the CEDR, is a cheaper, flexible and less-stressful alternative to court proceedings and can assist with the timely resolution of your matter if we are unable to.
https://www.completesavings.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions
(Without "" marks the bit starting "We would be sorry... " sounds as if you are their rep.)1 -
It is very clear exactly what they are doing. If you ignore the £££ offer, you will notice a link to their T/C & they also send a email outlining exactly what you have to do to not incur the monthly charge.pendragon_arther said:
Why do you make your sign-up so sneakily deceptive? Why not just be upfront about it?
So as ever this is down to people seeing the £££ off a future purchase & not reading the rest of the offer.
This is just the same as saying they have been scammed by Amazon in signing up to prime, which is very clear & Lookfantastic subscription which they detail on the invoice before you press submit on your purchase.
Trainline is one of the sites that you will see the complete savings offer.
https://support.thetrainline.com/en/support/solutions/articles/78000000451-what-is-complete-savings-
Life in the slow lane1
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