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

beanie51

I found this Info on a Facebook group warning of the SCAM! Very useful:

Shopper Discount & Rewards is a multi national company who have been ripping people off World Wide for a number of years now. This group is intended to spread awareness of their activities and hopefully prevent further people being ripped off.

The below refers to the UK market only, but if you don’t live in the UK, I would still advise that you check your bank statements (especially if you live in the US).

If you purchased anything online from the likes of, but not exclusive to.....

Asda
PC World
Ticketmaster
Easyjet
Ryanair
Expedia
Thetrainline
Littlewoods
Debenhams
House Of Fraser
B&Q
Interflora
Hamleys
National Express
Photobox.co.uk
Ebookers
Electricshopping.com
Wondershare
Vistaprint
Allposters
Millet Sports
Misco
DVD.co.uk

....then chances are your credit/debit card details have been passed on to Shoppers Discount, and they would have been taking between £8/£10 from your account EVERY month since your initial purchase.

When you made your purchase, you would have been offered a FREE £10/£15 voucher off your next purchase, and by simply accepting this voucher, your info including credit/debit card details would of been passed on Shoppers Discount with authorisation to deduct a monthly fee.

The debit will show up on your bank statement under various different names including…

Shopperdiscount.co.uk
SHPDSC.COM
SHOPPER DISCOUNTS
shopdisc.co.uk
shopperdisc.co.uk

TOTAL SCAM, but don't worry, you will receive a full refund by following the below steps.

1. Do not go through your bank. This is a long winded and drawn out process and they will only be able to guarantee a refund for monies taken within the last 60 days.

2. Call Shoppers Discount on 0808 234 1539 and request a cancellation and full refund as you never authorised this subscription. They will check their records to make sure you haven’t used their services and then offer a refund for up to 3 payments. If necessary, they will send a claim form via email which you will need to complete in order to receive any further refunds due.

3. Make sure to send your claim form via recorded delivery so you have a record. Once they have received and processed your claim you should receive the rest of your refund within 7-14 working days.

Do not settle for anything less than a full refund. If they give you trouble on the phone (which is doubtful), advised them that unless you receive a full refund ASAP, you will be seeking legal advice and contacting Trading Standards. They should then play ball.

Spread the word by inviting your friends to join this group, and together we can make sure these charlatans don’t get away with stealing any more money!

Shopper Discounts & Rewards contact details:

Email: customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk

Mail:
Shopper Discounts & Rewards
P.O. Box 450
Sevenoaks, Kent,
TN13 9HN

Phone:
Customer Service
0808 234 1539

Mon-Fri - Sat
8 AM - 8 PM
9 AM - 4 PM (read less)

Lemony

Hi,

To those of you wondering how people are inadvertently signing up to this 'scam/deal', I think it's via a pop-up asking if you would like a £10 voucher to spend on your next purchase.

I vaguely remember buying train tickets online and at the checkout when I was paying there was a pop-up that asked me if I wanted to claim my £10 voucher. I ticked 'yes' but when I read the terms and conditions it said I would be billed monthly for membership (can't remember how much) so I un-ticked the box! They make it look like you are just agreeing to get a discount off your next purchase FROM THE SAME COMPANY YOU ARE PURCHASING FROM which in my opinion is sly and underhand.

I'm now worried that I may have signed up inadvertently as I regularly buy tickets online and so does my other half, and it's possible at some point that either one of us could have ticked the box by mistake.

Utterly scandalous in my opinion!

Will be checking my bank statements tomorrow after reading this, and warning all my friends!

BILL_PAYER_3

It seems that Ryanair are foolish enough to be linked with this company. I booked some flights with Ryanair and when the 'discount' pop-up appeared, I thought it was a reward from Ryanair.

5 weeks later £10 debited from my bank. Fortunately, I had printed off the voucher & terms (which I accept state in the small print that you will pay £10 p.m.).

Two big lessons. Don't assume something is for nothing and read the small print.

A feel a bigger lesson for Mr O'Leary is: Do you really want to alienate customers with an online sleight of hand, when you have encouraged safe online shopping with Ryanair?

Earn extra revenue, but at what price?

Finally, I rang 08082341539 (if you press the button that your email address is wrong, you are put through to a human-ish being, rather than automated). Email came back in a few minutes confirming refund. I also emailed Ryanair and will update with their response, if any.

trollette

I was also scammed by this company, but fortunately I realised the first month when they took the £10 charge from my bank.

I called them immediately and complained. The representative was very pleasant, she cancelled the 'membership' and promised to refund the money. I followed this up with emails to the customer services, complaining simultaneously that I hadn't even been given the £15 I was promised!

Within 5 days I had the £10 returned to my bank account and this morning I received a cheque in the post for £15.

trisontana

Ryanair have to attempts to try and get you to sign up. Once when you make your initial booking, and a second time when you complete your on-line check-in procedure nearer your date of travel.

vanzant

Hi,several months ago i booked flights with flybe and have some how or other apparently signed up to rewardsfirst who have taken 2 x £14.95 payments from my account.i have asked them to cease membership and refund the money,i am awaiting confirmation that membership has been stopped but they refuse a refund.when i asked for an address so as to send them a registered letter i was given a P.O. box.
Has anyone else been caught by this crowd and if so had you any joy with a refund or stopping membership.

katebl

Hi all,

Have seen this thread around so knew what to expect - just ordered through lastminute.com and at the end of the order process was the confirmation page and below that a banner saying "Thankyou, click here to claim your £10 cash back reward from our valued partner".

As soon as I saw this I thought ha! not getting me! and clicked on the button a few lines below which says Exit lastminute.com thinking this would log me out. Sadly the scamming b**tards have a fake button (the one I clicked) :mad: which leads through to their website - I saw a form to be filled in and an offer of £15 cashback and closed the window straight away. Does anyone know if I'm going to have the same grief as everyone else here trying to cancel it or did I just escape it by not filling in the form? I haven't received any emails from them yet..

fozmcfc

You possibly will, if they are passing on details without customers concent.

Hopefully you do check anyway, but make sure you check throughly your bank statements and the card statement you paid with if a credit card and don't just do it for this month, but for the next few months.

As I've already stated in this thread, they are either doing the above, or people are signing up without realising and/or reading the T&C's.

I recently purchased from Ticketmaster and know I most certainly didn't click or sign up for anything. I check throughly my credit card/bank statements, several times a month anyway.

If I find my details have been passed on then I shall be writing Ticketmaster a formal complaint asking for proof I signed up for the scheme and if I don't get proof, I'll take it further.

marleyboy

katebl wrote: »

Hi all,

Have seen this thread around so knew what to expect - just ordered through lastminute.com and at the end of the order process was the confirmation page and below that a banner saying "Thankyou, click here to claim your £10 cash back reward from our valued partner".

As soon as I saw this I thought ha! not getting me! and clicked on the button a few lines below which says Exit lastminute.com thinking this would log me out. Sadly the scamming b**tards have a fake button (the one I clicked) :mad: which leads through to their website - I saw a form to be filled in and an offer of £15 cashback and closed the window straight away. Does anyone know if I'm going to have the same grief as everyone else here trying to cancel it or did I just escape it by not filling in the form? I haven't received any emails from them yet..

Keep a close eye on your spam email, you may find they sneak in via the backdoor, filling in the form is not needed, this gets filled on for you courtesy of lastminute.

Demanding a FULL REFUND is easy, and rest assured they will pay it BY LAW, simply be sure to demand a FULL REFUND reminding them you never willingly signed up to this scam.

It only takes two steps:

1-A phone call (2-3minute), confirm your email, name and address (and you'd like all your money back, as you didn't know that you signed up to this scam).

2-Posting of the claim form. (which they email to you as a result of the phone call):



Note: Your cancellation ref number is in the email they send with the claim form.

Shopper Discounts & Rewards contact details:

Email: [EMAIL="customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk"]customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Mail: Shopper Discounts & Rewards
P.O. Box 450
Sevenoaks, Kent,
TN13 9HN
Phone: Customer Service
0808 234 1539 Mon-Fri

Do not settle for anything less or allow them to fob you off.!!!!!!!!!!!!

marleyboy

SD&R pay each company a cut depending on how many customers click on their link via a company, we are not just talking Pizza hut - which is far worse, as customers can easily assume its a pizza offer. Big companies, from Airlines to Train lines are involved.

A good example of companies becoming aware can be found here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...y-1628626.html

However in respect of the Data Protection Act - if a company wants your personal and financial information they must ask you for it, not get it from a third party.

Then there is the T&C relating to the various companies promoting them, who as far as they are aware you have read and understood the following.

Shopper Discounts & Rewards is a special rewards promotion offered after making a transaction at our website. The promotion offers a 30-day free trial in Shopper Discounts & Rewards with all the money saving benefits they have to offer, as well as a £10.00 cash back voucher to be used on your next purchase at our website.

If you have signed up for Shopper Discounts & Rewards you would have entered your home address and specific billing information. Additionally you would have created and entered a password for your membership, and also clicked a button to accept the membership.

If you have any further questions, please contact our partner, Shopper Discounts & Rewards at 0808 234 1539 and they will be more than happy to assist you.

This is up until you have clicked the SD&R link, and entered out of the various companies onto SD&R site where that part of the T&C suddenly becomes;

"By entering my email address as my electronic signature and clicking YES, I have read and agree to the Offer and Billing Details and authorise Interflora.co.uk to securely transfer my name, address and credit or debit card information to Shopper Discounts & Rewards for billing and benefit processing."

But by this time, you have already signed up, no matter what you click. Here is a perfect example from this very thread;

And here is a letter I sent to petplanet:

"In October I ordered some cat food from you. I do a lot of shopping online, including pet food of course, and always buy whenever I see the best offers, which happened in one occasion so far with your company. However, because of something which has happened, I may cancel your company from the list of my favourite shops in the future. In November, until February, a company called Shopper Discounts and Rewards, P.O. Box 454, St Albans AL4 0YE, has debited £10 every month from my credit card. It appears, on researching their website, that I am said to have signed up to this monthly debit at some point and am now a "member". I would not knowingly have done so and, so far as I am concerned, I have not. I have certainly not knowingly authorised the £10 monthly debit from my card account. Especially with an account that I have only used in one single occasion, when I purchased the cat food through you. If I sign up for any monthly payment, I would use my other account which I use regularly. As a matter of fact, I went overdraft as I only had a few pounds in that account, the very few money I spent with it, was by purchasing the cat food with you.

Can you explain how this may have happened? My suspicion is that, somehow, my details have been passed to Shopper Discounts and Rewards by you. I'd imagine you will deny this, however you might not be aware that shopperdisounts may be able to access private data when the transaction is still open (namely, their pop-up window opens at the moment of purchase, so there might be some encrypted data that they might be able to access, such as my debit card). Be sure that I have never disclosed my debit card details, even less, have I ever authorised to take £10 every month from my account (the one I used only once with you, where there WAS very little money), for a non-service such as theirs. At most, I have signed up with a secondary email address (one that I only use for unimportant registrations) to receive their coupon. As it was through your company, I kind of trusted them, I never sign up with unknown companies, especially those that promise free products, huge discounts etc. I am a careful and experienced web surfer.

If you haven't done it yet, I strongly exhort you to contact this partner of yours and cancel any agreements you might have. Please be aware that I don't want any of my details to be disclosed to them (you can refer to this email, but not to who wrote it, I'm still waiting for all my money to be refunded, if they don't want my lawyer to contact them).

Be also aware that you'll find a lot of complaints online against shopper discount and their frauds.

Should there be any wrong development of the story (such as they don't pay me back my money, or delays whatsoever) I will intend to sue that company, in which case it might result in you having to provide convincing evidence that my debit card details have not been knowingly or unknowingly provided by you. I hope this won't be the case."

And the reply;

Thank you for your recent email regarding Shopper Discounts and Rewards. Further to your comments and emails we have had from a couple of other customer with similar experiences we have taken the decision to remove the programme with immediate effect from our website. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused.

There are two ways in which the Shopper Discounts and Rewards can be implemented the first being that when a customer agrees to sign up to the programme there credit card details are sent automatically - we do not and have never used this method.
The second way and the method we use is that if a customer wishes to sign up to the programme then they must enter their credit card details again. We do not pass on any details to Shopper Discounts and Rewards directly without the customer signing up for the programme.

Once again please accept my apologies and should you wish any further clarification on this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards
Kirsty

There are only 2 ways that our details could be passed on -

1) By the original company that we purchased from passing on our financial details to Shopper Discounts presumably for some sort of financial reward.

2) Shopper Discounts somehow snooping on the financial transaction.

Somehow a very low level of consent is required to start up the monthly payment - You do it by entering your e-mail address twice, or by pressing Yes twice.

In all cases the assumption is made by us - "I have not put in my financial details so all I am signing up for is a one off discount should I purchase from the referring site again"

Yet it has also been reported that

if you've been caught by the Shopper Discount and savings co.uk scam, to check your pc for their software. It's called savingsuk.exe and savingsuk.pf.

Most likely you'll find it in a folder called savingsuk in C:\Programs folder.
In the folder there is a Readme file which says you can uninstall the program by going the usual route: Start\Settings\ControlPanel\Add or Remove programs where it's listed under SavingsUK.

If you go this route and click on Change/Remove you will get a popup with WARNING! in large letters against deleting the file. If you ignore it and try to delete the folder, it will disappear from the list of programs BUT IT HAS NOT BEEN REMOVED!!!

Trying to remove it by blanking the Read Only box on Profiles/Attributes doesn't work -- nor does attempts to Wipe it or Shred it.
I found the only way to get rid of it was to move it to a blank disk on the A-drive and then either deleting it from the disk or formatting it.

Remember to go to Start\Run and enter regedit. Then click on Edit\Find and enter Savingsuk. It finds only one entry. click on the containing folder (in the left column) and click on Delete.

Which is very very naughty if it is the case (I dont know if that is factual).

Another interesting article is http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/money/...ckefeller.html where they STILL claim "Credit card and personal details had to be entered".

One case (also in this thread)that didnt even involve an online transaction as follows;

The shoes I wanted were out of stock so the assistance advised that they can order them and they will be sent directly to me, however in order to do so I need enter my details (address etc), on to their computer, which I. No harm there, but this was a simple, in store, online terminal (the till in fact). There were no tick boxes, I did not visit/sign up to the website etc and so there was NO money off vouchers offered for me to accept. My details were simply passed on to SDR without ANY authorisation and bang, there goes my money each month.

So who is to blame? Does a company willingly pass on such details to them, or do they somehow sabotage them.

An interesting forum is by photobox, who after numerous complaints felt compelled to discuss it and claim;

"PhotoBox wants to make it clear that we do not sell or transfer any of your details to Shoppers Discount and Rewards, that level of integration does not exist on our site.

It’s not automatic, the only way a person’s details can be entered into the Shopper Discount and Rewards scheme, if this person re-enters all their details on the Shoppers Discount and Rewards website and hits the confirmation button that enrolls them in such scheme.

From our perspective we are being completely transparent and honest."

They do seem oblivious to it, you can find this here;
http://blog.photobox.co.uk/shopper-d...page-1#comment

However as far as I am aware Photobox have took them off their site as a result of unhappy customers. (well done photobox)

Of course there is a lot more revealing information about this company here;
http://www.callferret.com/800-889-8776.html

And if we are to boycott all the companies that promote them, we need to include; -800-flowers.com, 123inkjets.com, A & E videos, A1Books sellers, AccStation.com, AirportParkingReservations.com, AllPosters.com, Amazon.com, AmericanGreetings.com, Americart, AmericaWest, BARNES AND NOBLE, BHphoto.com, BIDZ.com, bigceramicstore.com, Bizrate.com, Broderbund, BrylaneHome.com, Buy.com, campusfood.com, Carol Wright Gifts Cataloge, CasualLivingUSA.com, Chadwick’s, CheapTickets.com, ChoiceHotels.com, Classmates.com, COLLECTIONSETC.COM, ColoradoGiftBaskets.com, columbiahouse.com, ComputerGeeks.com, CoolSavings.com, DeepDiscountDVD.com, DELTA.COM, DrLeonards.com, Drugstore.com, dvdmarketplace.com, EBGames.com, eCost.com, eGreetings.com, etix online, Expedia.com, Fandango.com, Freecovers.net, FTD.com, gamefly.com, Geeks.com, Gevalia, Haband Online, Half.com, Hotels.com, invitationsbydawn.com, JC Whitney, JGHOOK, Joann.com, Juno, kingsizedirect.com, Lane Bryant, lernercatalog.com, Lillian Vernon, MapBlast, Marketworks.com, Movies.com, MovieTickets.com, MUSICSPACE.COM, MyFamily.com, MyLotto, Mypoints.com, MyRatePlan.com, Netzero, One Spirit, OneTravel.com, Orbitz.com, PersonalCreations.com, Petco.com, PetMeds.com, Priceline.com, Redcats USA, Ritzcamera online, Riverdeep.com, Romans.com, SandBox, skinstore.com, SmartBargains.com, sportsnmore.com, STAPLES, Strawberry.com, The Learning Company, theshoeplanet.com, TigerDirect.com, TimeLife.com, Travelocity.com, uBid.com, United Online, videomoviehouse.com, VistaPrint.com, vitacost.com, Walter Drake, Webstakes.com, WeLoveMacs.com, WirelessEmporium.com, Yahooshopping.com, ZDnet.

Leaving us kind of limited in our choices.

Yet SD&R still claim "We make every effort to be clear and straightforward in our marketing. Our offer page describes the programme and its benefits in detail; the cost of membership is referenced 6 times throughout the page and the fact the credit or debit card will be billed is referenced 3 times. To join the programme, a consumer enters his / her name, home and email addresses, credit or debit card details and a personalised password."

Which is strange because once you are on their website it clearly states;

"To become a Shopper Discounts & Rewards member, you will either be asked: to (a) provide a basic profile about yourself by filling out an online registration form with your name, mailing address, email address and payment information (including credit and/or debit card number and expiration date); or (b) expressly authorize a marketing partner of ours to transfer certain contact and billing information to us (including your mailing address and payment information (including credit and/or debit card number and expiration date). We process such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Our marketing partners may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies."

It seems to be the case that all these companies rely on the fact that the terms state (to them at least) that members do input their own bank details, yet this changes as soon as you have left one site to be forwarded onto another. (its not too difficult for a company to grab any other details about you if you have specifically been forwarded on to them - especially if they can inbed themselves into a website as a link (think how pop ups work).

This is why it is too easy to reclaim your money, ALL OF IT, because their is definately something dodgy going on by someone, its far safer to pay off the ones who discover them, than have them scream louder attracting attention from those still "unaware".

The scam is just as popular across the Ocean http://believablelies.blogspot.com/2...sshoppers.html

How do they deal with unauthorized access in US https://www.member-center.com/Forms/...34816DA1B1B87C

Money-saving expert Martin Lewis is more forthright. "The way these type of companies market themselves is distasteful," he says. "It looks like you are getting a great deal but it can end up costing you a lot. What I don't understand is why big companies deal with these firms. The income they derive from such deals can't be worth the negative impact these offers have on their brands."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010...ts-and-rewards

To obtain the card data, the marketing firms paid nearly $800 million to 88 e-tail stores, including Orbitz, Buy.com, Travelocity, Barnes & Noble, Pizza Hut, and Priceline. While some of these stores have otherwise established solid reputations, the material disclosed by Senate investigators indicates these retailers sold their customers' financial data to third parties--something that experts say many consumers are unaware of and would likely find abhorrent.

Sen. John Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate committee wants Visa, MasterCard, and American Express to answer questions how marketers were allowed to buy consumer credit card information from top retail sites.

The sheer number of retailers accused of betraying customer trust and the scrutiny now being focused on Visa, MasterCard, and American Express is turning the situation into an unprecedented scandal for the e-commerce sector.

The reason that the commerce committee may be turning the focus onto the credit card companies is that they were in a prime position to halt the deceptive marketing practices long ago, experts say.

To understand what responsibility the credit card companies may have had, you have to know how the controversial marketing practices worked.

First, a consumer who is finishing up a transaction at a Web store would be presented with a pop-up ad. An offer for a cash-back reward of, say, $10 is written in large print. Customers are informed, again in bold text that they can get the reward if they enter their e-mail address.

Further down and written in much more obscure text are the full terms of the deal. That's how customers are notified that by entering their e-mail address they will effectively be agreeing to join a membership program and allowing their retailer to turn over their credit card information so it can be charged monthly, perhaps as much as $20.



For this reason, the three marketing firms and their retail partners say the whole thing is legal and above board. All the terms are there in the fine print and it's not their fault that consumers don't read them.


Congressional investigators turned up documents, however, that showed they were well aware of the potential deception. Investigators presented internal e-mails from the marketing firms that illustrate how they purposely employ tactics to mislead consumers while staying within the letter of the law.


According to members of the commerce committee, it's a classic loophole play. In addition, documents show that the marketers told retail partners that they were much more likely to make money if the retailers gave them their customers' credit card information rather than to having to ask for it from the cardholder.


That's where American Express, Visa and Mastercard come in.
Had the big card companies followed their own rules, these dubious marketing tactics would have failed long ago, said Ben Edelman, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School who focuses on electronic marketplaces.

Visa, MasterCard, and American Express require that only a cardholder, not any intermediary or merchant, provide a credit card number to complete a transaction.


This is key as many consumers are completely unsuspecting that an e-mail address is enough to authorize a purchase, according to Edelman, who offered written testimony during last month's committee hearing held on the marketers.


"Consumers naturally expect that if they don't type their card numbers they won't be charged," Edelman said. "That's a good rule of thumb, and it's true almost everywhere, but not at these tricky sites."

Another question that Visa, MasterCard, and American Express must answer is why they appear to have ignored what appears, according to the government's report, to be a large volume of customer complaints about Webloyalty, Affinion, and Vertrue.

The card companies have rules in place to boot merchants off their systems who have too many customer complaints or "chargebacks," the term used to describe the refunding of money to a credit card owner who has been charged incorrectly or fraudulently.

The Senate committee has indicated it will hold another hearing sometime after the start of the year and intends to call to testify the CEOs of the marketing firms and many of the Web stores. Perhaps, the chiefs of Visa and the other card companies should be there as well.

"Credit card networks have hundreds of pages of rules detailing every requirement of banks, retailers, and credit card users," Edelman said. "The rules exactly prohibit these practices. But what good are rules when they are not enforced."

http://news.cnet.com/media-maverick/?keyword=Pizza+Hut