Have Complete Savings raised the daw bridge on refunds?

BruceT1

About a month ago I noticed a suspicious transaction (among many) on my bank statement. To my chagrin I was told by my local bank branch that I (along with hundreds of other consumers) had been caught in the Complete Savings web.

I'd honestly never heard of this company and had to ring their helpline to discover the source of this error. To my horror I was told they'd been taking money from my account for nearly 11 years (totaling around £2,000).

Since then I've had repeated email contact with Complete Savings but have only (to date) been refunded around £250. They claim that I filled in a long form (which I contested) before claiming around £10 back on train tickets. It sounds frankly preposterous. I've read that unsuspecting customers have clicked on pop-ups and thereby unwittingly consented to money being drawn monthly from their accounts.

I'm currently unemployed and this has completely sunk my finances. Complete Savings are refusing to refund any more money. I've seen success stories on the MSE web site from consumers who've been fortunate enough to get full refunds. I wonder if Complete Savings have simply stopped issuing these above a certain threshold.

Please does anyone have any updates on this?

flaneurs_lobster

You hadn't noticed "a suspicious [monthly] transaction for 11 years?

How does not getting a refund sink your finances? Until last month you didn't know about the deductions.

I'm no fan of how Complete Savings market their product but if you don't read stuff that you click/agree to then you must suffer the unwanted consequences.

Albermarle

About a month ago I noticed a suspicious transaction (among many) on my bank statement.

Why had you not noticed anything suspicious on previous bank statements ?

Curiosity2017

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140843#Comment_82140843

Well they've saved me thousands, way more than any other cashback site could do. I signed up through eBay so have to make one purchase with them a month to make the service free. This is very easy to do by putting non urgent items in a watch list them buying them each month eg key fob batteries for a my car etc. If the worst comes to the worst I'll just have to buy a cheap roll of kitchen roll or a 99p blob of blutac but so far have never needed to do this.

Pollycat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6683758/have-complete-savings-raised-the-daw-bridge-on-refunds

If you're expecting Complete Savings to refund you £2K taken from your bank account over the last 11 years, you're whistling in the wind.

Katej0312

My son has foolishly been caught by this buying some pizzas for his friends. Gave them a little used email account set up for spam type things so didn't notice any emails from them. First payment went out today. Immediately contacted them and cancelled future payments but they refused a refund. Are they now compliant with the law? Can we insist on a refund?

Pollycat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82145478#Comment_82145478

You (and the OP) might be interested to read this MSE article dated May 2025:

MoneySaver's 'unbelievable' refund from Complete Savings – check if you can get a refund

There is a further link to another article from 2024.

Basically, Complete Savings ads were banned and the regulator stated that such ads must make it clear that you need to sign up to a paid-for subscription and detail the steps to get any cashback, which can include making additional purchases.

Personally, I've posted on a number of Complete Savings threads here on MSE over the years and have always seen that it is a monthly subscription (and I'm not the only MSE member to say that).

Other members have stated that even paying the £18 per month subscription, the cashback they receive outweighs the cost of subscription.

A good lesson for your son not to randomly click on links when purchasing things online.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82145478#Comment_82145478

Think they've now decided to play hardball.

Don't believe there is any right to a refund, in the past they were just playing nice.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82142891#Comment_82142891

Why is it that whenever someone posts on here about Complete Savings unorthodox signup mechanism (I'm playing nice with my description) someone always pops up to say how great they are and how much money they've saved over the years.

We get it, they are fantastic, you'll save a fortune.

But why can't they just put all that on a website and promote it like any other cashback site? Why the sneaky after-purchase "click here to get your cashback" tactics? THAT'S what people object to, together with only finding out that they've signed up to a subscription service when the fee gets deducted from their account.

Pollycat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82145695#Comment_82145695

People are just documenting their own experiences, just like the people who are complaining.

Personally, I don't have an issue with that.

I can't comment on the marketing tactics that Complete Savings use but I've seen that link after quite a few purchases I've made.

Here is the message that used to appear - probably larger than the original but still clear that it's a monthly subscription.

I've not seen it lately but it was always been very clear to me that it was a subscription service costing £18.00 per month.

But then again, I'm very careful who I do business with online and even more careful about clicking on links without reading first.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82145718#Comment_82145718

….and again look at that pop-up (which appears at the end of a transaction to buy an unrelated item like a pizza or a train ticket), so this signup invitation is completely out of context.

See how much larger and emboldened the "£20.87 cash back" text is than the conditions text at the bottom?

And this is AFTER the regulator got them to make this clearer?

Legal? Of course.

Less than transparent? Sneaky? Underhand?

Pollycat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82145735#Comment_82145735

As I've already said:

I've not seen it lately 

I copied it from an earlier thread. It was posted as that size.

And - as I've already said:

probably larger than the original but still clear that it's a monthly subscription.

I don't know if this is "AFTER the regulator got them to make this clearer".

Probably not AFTER as I already said

"Here is the message that used to appear"

Personally, I have far more issue with scammy Chinese websites purporting to be based in the UK than with this company.

You may have a different viewpoint.

And that's OK with me.

I'll await the next post/thread about Complete Savings…from someone who has clicked on a link without reading it from a company who may be "less than transparent, sneaky, underhand' but very clearly states that you are signing up to a monthly subscription.