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

Steve_xx

bernieross12 wrote: »

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

I think it might the usual suspect. ed the following:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/feb/13/shopper-discounts-and-rewards

NonGeographicalMan

MiddleEnglander wrote: »

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 suggest you also send your email to their CEO using the email address to be round at www dot ceoemail dot com of john dot walden at argos dot co dot uk (sorry have to list it that way as this website gets upset if you post email addresses)

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.

Trading standards seem to be sitting on their hands for some reason. They need kicking via a few pays speaking up in Parliament about their repeated inaction.:mad:

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.

I assume you are familiar with the email contact details available for your MP at www.theyworkforyou.com

bernieross12

I have received a reply from the train line:

Thank you for your email.

I would like to explain you that at the thetrainline.com our aim is to help rail passengers save money when booking their train travel. As such, we are always looking for partnerships which fit with that ethos and benefit customers. We see the Complete Savings programme as complementing our site by giving people the opportunity to take further savings on thetrainline.com as well as other retailers. Once a customer has completed their transaction on thetrainline.com they are offered the opportunity to visit the Complete Savings website. We clearly state that their booking with us is complete. If they wish to proceed, they are taken through to the Complete Savings site for registration where the scheme’s terms and conditions are clearly stated. We do not pass on any customer information to the Complete Savings programme. Customers must agree to the terms and conditions of the programme and enter their personal information including payment details themselves. However, you can contact them on their below mentioned details. Phone – 0800 389 6960 (free phone).. We hope this information was helpful.

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

Sushil

---

To which I replied:

Thank you for your reply.

I of course understand that you are partnering with with the cashback company solely for the benefit of us, the customers. You are not making any money out of this yourselves. This is really kind of you.

I also understand that the fact that this company will deduct £10 per month from its customers' accounts is stated clearly, in huge letters, so that everyone sees it. It is not half-stated in the smallprint. It is made absolutely crystal clear that if you agree to an automatic deduction of ten pounds per month, ad infinitum, they will, after three months, send you fifteen quid.

That is why, when you google "complete savings programme", you find absolutely NOBODY posting to forums, such as the one on moneysavingexpert.com, (and many others) complaining about a "scam", and saying that they had no idea the organization would be debiting their accounts. None at all.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and see and see my psychiatrist, who's treating me for a bad case of delusion.

I suggest you get a checkup for the same malady.

- Bernie
PS. Please close my account at the trainline. And please don't try and insult my intelligence again.

NonGeographicalMan

bernieross12 wrote: »

We see the Complete Savings programme as complementing our site by giving people the opportunity to take further savings on thetrainline.com as well as other retailers. Once a customer has completed their transaction on thetrainline.com they are offered the opportunity to visit the Complete Savings website. We clearly state that their booking with us is complete. If they wish to proceed, they are taken through to the Complete Savings site for registration where the scheme’s terms and conditions are clearly stated. We do not pass on any customer information to the Complete Savings programme. Customers must agree to the terms and conditions of the programme and enter their personal information including payment details themselves.

In other words TheTrainLine.com is clearly run by completely unprincipled directors who couldn't care less about the unethical business practices used by S D & R and Adaptive Affinity and who only look at maximising their revenue in the short term.

I find it astounding that so many businesses including other apparently reputable names like FlyBMI (who you clearly trust with your life when you decide to fly with them) are prepared to behave in this kind of way. However it does suggest to me that the cash they get by forming these relationships with S D & R or Adaptive Affinity is very large indeed on an amount per customer basis since the potential collateral damage to their own brand must be more than any obvious to any of these firms.

I also don't believe that any of these businesses sign these deals with S D & R or Adaptive Affinity unknowingly or accidentally and that they all know precisely the kind of people that they are deciding to do business with.

The fact that one of the firms that does business with S D & R or Adaptive Affinity is Ryanair comes as no surprise at all given that they are themselves past masters at the art of unfair hidden charges. Some of the other brand names who are prepared to link these businesses to transactions on their website do give much greater cause for both surprise and concern.

Lob-Leg

I think MSE should put a list on the site, naming and shaming the main culprits and highlighting that these so called reputable companies are advertising [this].

Can this be done?

[text in brackets edited by MSE Forum Team]

shanni10

I just bought an item from MyMemory and saw the £15 voucher. It asked me to fill in 3 quick steps. On Step 2, it asked for my card details.

This my friends, should have alarms going in your head. The minute you see this, you know you are going to be taken for a ride. Any company that asks for card details when offering a cashback, in my book has to be a scam.

I carried on reading and saw the £10 a month charge that would hit you after 30 days. Luckily I didnt enter any details and closed the page.

So the moral of this story is, if you see a cashback offer and they ask for card details, WALK AWAY! Also it helps reading the small print first before going gung ho and filling in the application first and regretting it later

leeuwtje78

Just purchased from TOYSRUS and they had the link to these [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]s well. £15 off next purchase if you signed up with them. Sounded dodgy to me so decided to check them out online and saw this thread. Needless to say I did not leave my details but I will keep an eye on my credit card statement to make sure nothing is taken off. Very annoying that trusted companies link up with these people.

lucy03

I personally find this method quite distasteful. I've had to deal (not for myself but for an elderly relative) with a case involving National Express. One member of staff admitted they had received a significant number of complaints and that they always (privately) ensure people are refunded via the company (not by themselves as National Express aren't directly involved) because of the number of complaints. Although National Express seem quite responsible in dealing with this, I wonder why they thought it was a clever idea in the first place and why they think it's worth risking their brand name over.

gatita

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] I checked my statement today and discovered I had been paying £10 for the past 4 months to a "shoppers discount". I had no clue who or what they were. I Googled and found this thread, I telephoned the company and told them in no uncertain terms I was furious, and demanded what they were going to do about it. They informed me that I had made a purchase at House Of Bath, and I must have ticked a box agreeing to become a member of shoppers discount.
I remember clearly starting to fill in my details for a discount, but did NOT finish it, and I certainly didn't see ANYWHERE that it would cost £10 a month!!!
I was told that I would get a refund for the last three months, and that I would have to claim the other month by post.
[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] Can nothing be done about it?

keiran

I've come across this thread by accident and am genuinely shocked at the vitriol/misinformation contained within it.

Shopperdiscounts is absolutely upfront about what it is and what it charges. I am shocked that people will go for years without checking their statements and be offended to find transactions they don't recognise. Where's personal responsibility here?

Many years ago, I would sign up to this sort of deal, acquire the introductory £15/£20, etc and then cancel using their freephone number.

Two years ago, I started to use it!
Yes, they take £10 by credit card, but I send them any sales email confirmation within that month and get a cheque for £10. So membership is free

I get 10% back on all my online purchases ( much higher than topcashback , quidco, etc), including on heavily discounted purchases on group on, living social, etc. I've made more than a thousand pounds on purchases I would have made anyway

The tracking is better than topcashback, etc and on the rare occasion when a purchase hasn't tracked, I fill in a missing claim form and the issue is resolved, more quickly than topcashback.

There's also up to 20% off a wide range of vouchers ( Boots, top man, Cineworld, etc etc )

I realise that their operations may depend on people signing up and then not using/cancelling their accounts, but really if you understand the system and are just a little organised, the website is a real money saver