Just answer a clever con

Martinsh

I wanted advice about the value of my silver candlesticks. As a result I Google searched and just answer responded. Like the others I assumed the £5 was a one off payment and the ‘expert’ responded so quickly I had not time to do further checks.  She seemed helpful and asked for pics.  I said “I don’t want to pay any more for this advice” and she said you don’t need to.  She gave me some information about the candlesticks and their value.  I was impressed and her conclusions were emailed to me.   I gave a positive report on Trust Pilot.  A couple of months later I noticed 3 payments of £35.90 had been taken from my account.  I immediately contacted HSBC and cancelled the order.  I discovered that, without realising it I was a member of Just Answer and so eventually cancelled my membership and complained.  I had an email confirming my cancellation.  This was interesting as I had no email from them regarding the monthly payments or membership.   This is clearly where the dishonesty is clearly still happening. I have not received any compensation from them. 

swingaloo

It does say 'Advice for a fixed monthly fee/ on the advertising. Most of the advice can be found instantly on Google anyway. Its a con but one that relies on people not reading the small print

Pollycat

Discussed here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81037515#Comment_81037515?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=justanswer

Nefertiti123

Im having the same problem currently.  I used the Justanswer service 3 days ago.  I paid an initial £5 for legal advice.  The  i paid £51 for a draft solicitor letter.  I have no qualms with the service.  Then  today I'm hit with a £50 fee.  Apparently there is a 3 day trial period.  Who does a 3 day trial.  I wasn't even aware there was a trial period.  Ive contacted Justanswer and told them I needed some legal advice as a one off now I'm a fully blown member!!  Absolute liberties.  Now they're saying its all there in black and white on their website and won't refund me.  Very sneaky as you are distracted by Pearl chatbit AI who immediately springs into view asking you questions. Then you just get bombarded with questions and pop ups

robatwork

While the pricing structure and how to cancel are clearly displayed all over the website, I do have a couple of issues with this company.

First it looks like they use recurring payment authority, which in my opinion ought to be banned completely. It's pointless to everyone other than companies like this who rely on people not noticing they've "signed up", as it just appears they are making a card payment. And then there's no way to list these insidious payments from your banking app. I've asked Santander in the past and there is no way to list them online, and they wouldn't or couldn't even send me a list of my recurring payments. If these recurring payments/CPAs didn't exist, companies would use direct debit where the sign-up is more transparent, and they can be easily listed and cancelled. 

Secondly, their illiterate lack of spaces between words is concerning in regards to their overall quality

Chief_of_Staffy

You'll get far superior answers by asking Claude or Grok, and they're free.

CarolHelen

I got all my money back from JustAnswer, just over £600.
They kept coming back quoting their Refund Policy would only allow them to refund the last 3 payments.
I challenged them to show me where their refund policy was on the UK website which they could not do as it is not on the website.
I sent them the critical article from the WHICH website and also told them that my credit card company knew exactly who they were as they get so many complaints.
The policy of a free trial followed by a subscription with no further communication is a very poor business model.
Don't let them get away with it keep emailing them until they refund what you have paid.

Jenna_Appleseed

Chief_of_Staffy said:

You'll get far superior answers by asking Claude or Grok, and they're free.

no you wouldn't, because they just base their answers on what's already on the internet (& could've been posted by any old idiot) and randomly make things up, & Grok is literally fascist. 

Pollycat

Jenna_Appleseed said:

Chief_of_Staffy said:

You'll get far superior answers by asking Claude or Grok, and they're free.

no you wouldn't, because they just base their answers on what's already on the internet (& could've been posted by any old idiot) and randomly make things up, & Grok is literally fascist. 

Are they both AI sites?
If they are, I'd rather ask some random bloke down t'pub for advice ...

And...to be clear...this thread was started over a year ago.
NECROPOST
Apologies to anyone who thinks the above is 'curt' and 'dismissive'.
FTR...the OP last logged onto MSE on 23/10/2024, which is incidentally the same date they posted their only post.

sheramber

Pollycat said:

Jenna_Appleseed said:

Chief_of_Staffy said:

You'll get far superior answers by asking Claude or Grok, and they're free.

no you wouldn't, because they just base their answers on what's already on the internet (& could've been posted by any old idiot) and randomly make things up, & Grok is literally fascist. 

Are they both AI sites?
If they are, I'd rather ask some random bloke down t'pub for advice ...

And...to be clear...this thread was started over a year ago.
NECROPOST
Apologies to anyone who thinks the above is 'curt' and 'dismissive'.
FTR...the OP last logged onto MSE on 23/10/2024, which is incidentally the same date they posted their only post.

But a new poster posted in November this year.