Buying Digital reaading material online.

RobHun

I recently signed up online to purchase a digital owners manual for a dementia clock that I had given as a present to an elderly relative a few months before. It seemed a simple transaction, giving them the model  No., manufacturer etc. and paying 0.95 Euros (as I thought) for the manual. The next day I received another e-mail asking for more information as they were having trouble locating the manual I needed. I sent this to them and duly received a digital copy of a manual. Unfortunately this was for a radio controlled alarm clock which bore no resemblence to the clock I had bought. The next thing I knew  I got word from my credit card company saying they had noticed some discrepancies in my account and to contact them straight away. It seems that I have signed on a contract with a personal assistance service with a 7day trial offer of 0.95Euros and if I've not cancelled within the 7 day trial period your subscription will be automatically renewed  for two months at 69.95 Euros.
 My credit card company has put a stop on the payments and I have cancelled the contract but of course they say this will happen after the two month billing period. This is obviously a scam which was confirmed when I went online and reviewed this company and found they had scammed hundreds of others.
  I don't know much about consumers rights but was looking for some advice  considering that I still don't have the manual that I paid for.     

TadleyBaggie

Seems that they are not a UK based company, so UK consumer rights would not apply. 

What is the name of the company?

lincroft1710

For 0.95 Euros, I would just forget it

born_again

RobHun said:

I recently signed up online to purchase a digital owners manual for a dementia clock that I had given as a present to an elderly relative a few months before. It seemed a simple transaction, giving them the model  No., manufacturer etc. and paying 0.95 Euros (as I thought) for the manual. The next day I received another e-mail asking for more information as they were having trouble locating the manual I needed. I sent this to them and duly received a digital copy of a manual. Unfortunately this was for a radio controlled alarm clock which bore no resemblence to the clock I had bought. The next thing I knew  I got word from my credit card company saying they had noticed some discrepancies in my account and to contact them straight away. It seems that I have signed on a contract with a personal assistance service with a 7day trial offer of 0.95Euros and if I've not cancelled within the 7 day trial period your subscription will be automatically renewed  for two months at 69.95 Euros.
 My credit card company has put a stop on the payments and I have cancelled the contract but of course they say this will happen after the two month billing period. This is obviously a scam which was confirmed when I went online and reviewed this company and found they had scammed hundreds of others.
  I don't know much about consumers rights but was looking for some advice  considering that I still don't have the manual that I paid for.     

Always read the print.
Not a scam. As it will be clear when signing up.

But why not contact manufacture for a manual?
if they have one it will be free, any 3rd party will charge...

RobHun

TadleyBaggie said:

Seems that they are not a UK based company, so UK consumer rights would not apply. 

What is the name of the company?

 Called Manualsmate
 Seems they have an address in Ruislip London


lincroft1710 said:

For 0.95 Euros, I would just forget it

The 0.95Euros isn't the problem as they are graciously giving me that back, it's the 69Euros for two more months that's giving me the hump. 
 

born_again

TBH. It is not even hidden. It's on the front page in the same size as the rest of the site

https://www.manualsmate.com/

Benefits of our Premium service

Paid personal assistance service. 7 days discovery offer at 0.95 EUR with an unlimited number of requests. Your subscription to our service is configured by default to be renewed automatically at the end of your discovery period for a period of 2 months, with tacit renewal. Your bi-monthly subscription is charged 69.95 EUR and your credit card will be debited with this amount. You can disable this automatic renewal, and thus terminate your subscription, at any time during its entire term, this request will take effect at the end of your current subscription period. For more information, please refer to our Terms and Conditions.

screech_78

As with almost anything that a poster on here reports as a “scam”, it’s not. Just a case of not reading what you’re signing up for. 

RobHun

Jeeze, talk about hiding in plain sight. I can only put it down to old age
I blame my credit card company. If they hadn't contacted me about discrepancies in my account I would never have noticed.

 In my defence looks like I'm not the only numpty.

 https://www.trustpilot.com/review/manualsmate.com 

born_again

RobHun said:

Jeeze, talk about hiding in plain sight. I can only put it down to old age
I blame my credit card company. If they hadn't contacted me about discrepancies in my account I would never have noticed.

 In my defence looks like I'm not the only numpty.

 https://www.trustpilot.com/review/manualsmate.com 

Why blame CC?🤷‍♀️
They have saved you £££

user1977

I would still call it scam-adjacent if not literally a scam - it's not as if anybody (in their right mind) would sign up for a 420 Euro p.a. subscription to download instruction manuals (which are generally available free from other sources, if available at all online).