"Complete savings"...scam??

Largs

Pollycat said:

Largs said:

Well I clicked on an order confirmation from eBay I received earlier offering me the chance to join.  There are 3 numbered boxes.

1.Provide us with your name, address and email.
2. Provide us with a credit or debit card.

(A valid credit or debit card needs to be registered.) By providing your billing information below, you authorise Complete Savings to use the information you provide for billing the membership fee of £18 a month until you cancel, and to credit your Welcome Reward onto your card (visa card only). Our secure software encrypts your information as you send it to protect you and your privacy.

3. Create a password and click YES!

By entering my password as my electronic signature and clicking Yes, I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and the Offer and Billing Details and authorise Complete Savings to use my name, address and credit or debit card information I provided for billing monthly and benefit processing after my 30 day free trial.

Then beside these, the fields I would fill in with my details and then a large box at the bottom with "YES" or another smaller box with "no thanks take me back to eBay"

Well, that seems pretty clear that it's a monthly subscription. 
So I'm confused how all these posters seem to think they haven't signed up to it. 🤔

Maybe it was wine o'clock when they were shopping?

MeteredOut

PHK said:

Pollycat said:

Largs said:

Well I clicked on an order confirmation from eBay I received earlier offering me the chance to join.  There are 3 numbered boxes.

1.Provide us with your name, address and email.
2. Provide us with a credit or debit card.

(A valid credit or debit card needs to be registered.) By providing your billing information below, you authorise Complete Savings to use the information you provide for billing the membership fee of £18 a month until you cancel, and to credit your Welcome Reward onto your card (visa card only). Our secure software encrypts your information as you send it to protect you and your privacy.

3. Create a password and click YES!

By entering my password as my electronic signature and clicking Yes, I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and the Offer and Billing Details and authorise Complete Savings to use my name, address and credit or debit card information I provided for billing monthly and benefit processing after my 30 day free trial.

Then beside these, the fields I would fill in with my details and then a large box at the bottom with "YES" or another smaller box with "no thanks take me back to eBay"

Well, that seems pretty clear that it's a monthly subscription. 
So I'm confused how all these posters seem to think they haven't signed up to it. 🤔

There are a lot of people who don't read things. They see the opportunity to get something for free and sign up without taking in what they are doing, let alone checking out the company. 

This is why banks show warnings when you go to transfer money. Even in a situation like this where you need to go through multiple steps people still click through without thinking. 

The FCA consider that many people are vulnerable in this respect. The average reading age is 11 years old and this causes poor comprehension skills. (There are some quite big groups with even lower reading ages. eg Sun readers have an average reading age of eight years)

Combined with some people not checking their transaction history or bank statements it's no wonder things like this happen. The upshot of this is that financial firms must use language their target audience will understand but no such requirement exists for other types of companies. 

Whilst I really want to believe this, I'm extremely sceptical. can you provide a source please?

WillPS

I thought for many years those "£20.67 cashback" 'offers' as a total scam, but to my great surprise it's actually a pretty generous scheme. My wife and I make back the £18/month charge with a quick purchase of a SIM card from Argos (which I really must remember to collect this month ) then we each buy a £100 One4all voucher for £80. Easy ~£40 saving.

Finally there are lots of cashback offers which are normally far more generous on there than elsewhere. In the last month I've had 10% back from Ebay (1% on TCB), Zavvi (1% on TCB for existing customers), Haven (not on TCB/Quidco), Sainsbury's online groceries (flat £1 for existing customers on TCB) and Just Eat (3% on TCB for existing customers).

It's not for everyone, but as someone who spends an hour or so each month jumping through hoops (e.g. for monthly rewards from banks and manually feeding regular savers) it's actually a bit of a no brainer, and I'm sort of kicking myself for being so cynical up to now.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MeteredOut said:

Whilst I really want to believe this, I'm extremely sceptical. can you provide a source please?

https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/16247/Public-Health-news-Health-Literacy#:~:text=Guidance tells us the average,a reading age of 8.

I guess it was the first link on Google.  

Don't know about reading but where my wife used to work the younger staff struggled with giving the correct change and even telling time on a traditional clock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYYlAKvjvI

The television eventually became dubbed "the idiot box", the idea of calling all this tech "smart" was genius, I wonder how many years it'll take for it to obtain a colloquial term similar to the television. 

Back to the OP I do like the FAQ on their site:

4 How much does membership cost?

Complete Savings offers all members a 30-day trial period for only £5 and in some cases, the trial period may be free. To learn more about the terms and conditions for the first 30 days, please check your welcome email. You will get the opportunity to learn about and take advantage of every benefit that the programme has to offer. Following the trial period, you will be required to pay a monthly membership fee in order to continue receiving discounts, special deals, and cashback savings on a variety of products, including electronics, fashion, travel, and much more. You can keep your subscription active for as long as you like.

So the FAQ doesn't tell you what it costs..... 

I'm sure it's made clear during the sign up but just going direct to their site there seems to be little info on costs or indeed what the specific benefits are. Without clicking Sign Up and just looking at the info available on their site I'd find it difficult to make an informed decision as to whether the benefits the membership offers is worth the monthly fee. 

starfishmommasunite

I've just completed a parcel2go order, and the very same sum of money came up from Complete Savings - £20.67 cashback.  What is so particular about that amount?  Apologies if the answer came up elsewhere.

starfishmommasunite

update.  I've already had to ask them to delete all information and close my account with them.  Far too dodgy for my liking that you can't even sign in.  Tried using auto generated password but got message that it contained a bad character, tried a couple more times with same password but with all characters removed except one, which I know from previous passwords that I could remember would be accepted.  Would not take it.  Came up with a normal one I made up, still would not accept it.  That was enough! If you do sign up, take pics of each step and page and keep record.  I started to wonder if they were hoping I'd come up with my own simplistic password?

MeteredOut

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

MeteredOut said:

Whilst I really want to believe this, I'm extremely sceptical. can you provide a source please?

https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/16247/Public-Health-news-Health-Literacy#:~:text=Guidance tells us the average,a reading age of 8.

I guess it was the first link on Google.  

Touche. I'm sure there's something ironic about me not searching for that myself

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MeteredOut said:

Touche. I'm sure there's something ironic about me not searching for that myself

I only searched to check because I found it hard to believe as well  

MiniAmethyst

I posted about Complete Savings on an older thread, and someone nudged me over to this one to let me know there was a more recent discussion. Here's what I wrote:

I would definitely not recommend this service. It 100% is shady. I signed up to it for the initial cashback, and was impressed by the 10% offer on every purchase from every shop involved in the scheme. They had ASDA on there, I have to do a regular shop, and on average, 10% of that would come to a little more than the £18 membership fee. What could go wrong?

They don't pay you 10% of the cost of your shop, that's what. They pay you weird and seemingly random amounts (like 3.8%, or 2.4% of what you paid), leaving you well out of pocket. In order to get what you're actually owed, you have to make multiple phone calls and repeatedly submit every receipt and bank statement from the purchase.

Time is money, and £18 is a high membership fee. If the system was seamless, like the way it's advertised (you sign up, access the chosen website through Complete Savings, make the purchase, and automatically get the 10% cashback as promised), it would definitely be worth doing. But the few quid you end up with once the membership fee is deducted is so not worth it when you have to jump through so many hoops to get it.

RD_DS

I've just had a similar "invitation" at the end of a transaction with a well-known DIY/hardware company. Last week, I had the same with a vet pharmacy. I emailed both of them to express my opinion that it makes them look shoddy and will do their reputation no good.

I note one of the earlier messages suggesting that people may be fooled by this if they're placing an order at "wine o'clock". Thing is, people should be allowed to safely place orders at whatever time they please, without having to be hyper-vigilant about whether the vendor themselves is trying to "scam" them. When money's tight, people are likely to be more susceptible to saving a few quid where they can. Reputable businesses shouldn't be trying to exploit this.