[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] "Shopper Discount & Rewards"

smartiepants

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I too have [fallen for this], I just noticed a recurring visa payment of £10 on my debit card statement, I do remember the POPUP which happened during a GROUPON purchase via MANKIND, but I was definately unaware that I had agreed to any form of monthly charge. I am currently dealing with the situation and will update you with my experience. Please everyone make sure you check your bank statements

[text in brackets edited by MSE Forum Team]

Steve_xx

smartiepants wrote: »

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I too have been conned into this scam, I just noticed a recurring visa payment of £10 on my debit card statement, I do remember the POPUP which happened during a GROUPON purchase via MANKIND, but I was definately unaware that I had agreed to any form of monthly charge. I am currently dealing with the situation and will update you with my experience. Please everyone make sure you check your bank statements

Follow the instructions in my posts numbered 1237 and 1243 and I'm sure you will be properly refunded.

mjod1952

I just noticed these people appearing on my credit card bill. I had unwittingly signed up through Interflora a couple of years ago and eventually cancelled the subscription. This time they have only taken one £10.00 charge.

This appears to be clear fraud - obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception - why is it still happening? Can't all these posts be sent to Trading standards and the ICO?

Steve_xx

mjod1952 wrote: »

I just noticed these people appearing on my credit card bill. I had unwittingly signed up through Interflora a couple of years ago and eventually cancelled the subscription. This time they have only taken one £10.00 charge.

This appears to be clear fraud - obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception - why is it still happening? Can't all these posts be sent to Trading standards and the ICO?

Not fraud because you have consented by clicking on a button. It's more slight of hand really. They rely on you not reading the spiel properly and they further rely on you not noticing the £10's going out of your account monthly. And unfortunately for all of us it seems to work for them just nicely up to now.
I agree that Trading Standards ought to clamp down on this and I cannot understand why they haven't.

NonGeographicalMan

bob69 wrote: »

Now, after reading up on S,D & R on this forum,I fully intend to cancel my subscription,however, I am wondering if I should wait until I have received my £15 & let them take the 1st £10 subscription fee,as I'd be £5 up on the deal,bearing in mind I have already shelled out over £100 on my Argos Sale purchases,(which I would have made anyway & were great value).
Could someone with more experience of them advise me whether I should just sack them off now & put it down to experience

Hi Bob,

With Adapative Affinity I contacted them early on after they failed to send me any confirmation of membership number with which to claim the £15 cash back. I made it clear I expected the £15 and also wanted to cancel before the first payment was taken and that not sending receipts for the payment to join their scheme so I could claim the cashback before the first payment was due was a clear scam. The original purchase I made with FlyBMI clearly stated there was a further £15 off my flight if I clicked on the attached link and did not stipulate I had to spend £10 on membership to get the £15.

In any event they did cancel the membership and I did get my £15 too by cheque (I expect they hoped I would forget to bank the cheque) so I would recommened a proactive stance on your part on this matter.

The thing is AA and S D & R always have to appear above board if challenged on any of their little dodges and can never afford to be seen as the blatant conmen and cheats they so clearly obviously are. This is basically how they persistently managed to get round being closed down by the OFT or Trading Standards.:eek::mad:

Anyway do as I suggest and you should not only avoid paying them any money but hopefully have the satisfaction of leaving them out of pocket for the £15 you were promised when you were conned in to signing up with them.:T

MiddleEnglander

Another victim here!

I got hooked via the Argos website when I didn't read the smallprint and thought I was actually buying the item I was reserving for collection. Alarm bells should have rung (but they didn't) when I went to pick it up and it turned out that I hadn't paid for the item at all. So it was my error that allowed the problem to arise .

Shopperdiscount have got an automated cancellation process on their telephone system that I just used. If you drill down through the options whilst cancelling you can also get an option to refund the last payment. On my first attempt to cancel by speaking to a person, the woman I was speaking to hung up on me! Anyway I rang back and used the automated system so worst case is that I will be £10 out of pocket.

I've instructed my credit card company not to make any further payments to these shysters under any circumstances and suggested that they are not fit to hold "Cardholder not present" status for card transactions - Who makes the decision to give traders this status I wonder?

I've complained to Argos for being complicit in an underhand practice and told them that they are calling their own good name into question.

I've informed Trading Standards and said that the fact that thousands of people are falling prey to this should be triggering some action from them.

As this has been going on for so long and clearly doesn't apparently breach any current legislation, it seems that consumer protection legislation is somewhat lacking and so a letter to my M.P. seems to be in order as well.

Now then what else?

the_lenster

I was caught by this, paid £10 a month that shows as a debit card purchase, so not as easy to spot. I did not notice this for 23 months !! read this forum, contacted them and after a bit of messing about they are paying back all the payments. This is as long as you have not used the vouchers or savings. The lady on the phone is so used to screaming mad people she is a legend at keeping calm and telling you how to get your money back.
A bit silly of me not checking my account , but i thought M+M were a decent supplier [text deleted by MSE Forum Team].

Lenny.

Steve_xx

Yes, buying anything online is an obstacle course these days. Hidden credit/debit card charges and now this. Try booking a flight with Ryanair and you're offered everything from insurance and suitcases to hotels and car hire and you cannot simply skip through them, oh no, you have to actively tick all the NO boxes before you can proceed. Then, when it gets time to print the Boarding Cards off, which could be weeks later, you get offered all this garbo again and I suspect that Ryanair may somehow hold onto your card details.

Then if you go out to buy anything the roads are booby trapped with speed cameras and other money making paraphernalia.

And if you opt to stay in the house you get mugged through your letterbox with these ridiculously high gas and electric bills!!!

Aimizzle

I'm another idiot who's been taken for a ride.

I bought two carsd from Funkypigeon in December last year and saw this £10 voucher thing, at the end. I knew that I wouldn't be buying much from fp in the future so I wasn't too bothered whether I got it or not; I clicked for it anyway because you never know and all that.

I just checked my bank account the other day and saw this myster £10, which I traced back for three months - it's not as long some of you guys have been swindled, but even one occurence is too much.
So I emailed shoppersdiscount and told them the situation, over a day later I received a response from 'Lorraine' or someone, who said that I had applied for it blah de blah.

I've replied saying that that's a load of crap and I demand my money back. The amount the obviously make it shouldn't be too much of an issue to give me £30 back.

I've also emailed Funkypigeon saying that I'm disgusted they're using this ridiculous company, and they'll lose a lot of companies. Either way, one of them will have to give me my money back.

bernieross12

There's another one - not sure of the name, but it is being promoted by thetrainline.com. Surprising, as it's usually dodgy outfits like Ryanair that do this. You buy a ticket and you're told to claim £15 off your next trainline ticket. I've just emailed the trainline.com as follows, and invite everyone to announce their disgust...

" I have experience of a cashback site like the one you are promoting. Usually, promoters are scuzzy outfits like Ryanair who do this. This cashback site, and others like it, put the fact that they will debit your account by £10 a month, in small print. Unless you check statements carefully, they simply leech your account. You advertise £15 cashback in three months. By this time, the site will have taken £20 from you. I am disgusted that a reputable site like yours is promoting such ripoff sites. Unless you cease to promote them, I shall not be using your site to buy train tickets again."

- Bernie