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

NonGeographicalMan

RuthnJasper wrote: »

I think this issue is serious enough to warrant an MSE or Watchdog/Panorama/Dispatches investigation.

I totally agree with you.

FlyBe were all too keen to pretend that any misleading nature of the Adaptive Affinity products was down to the company selling them and not them when they quite clearly earn large commissions from their sale and when that other company also only manages to mislead customers via a link on the FlyBe website and a further link then sent out by FlyBe in the customer's flight confirmation email.

If somebody could find out how much money FlyBe were actually earning out of the scam this would reveal just how up to their neck in it they really are.:mad:

RuthnJasper

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I totally agree with you.

FlyBe were all too keen to pretend that any misleading nature of the Adaptive Affinity products was down to the company selling them and not them when they quite clearly earn large commissions from their sale and when that other company also only manages to mislead customers via a link on the FlyBe website and a further link then sent out by FlyBe in the customer's flight confirmation email.

If somebody could find out how much money FlyBe were actually earning out of the scam this would reveal just how up to their neck in it they really are.:mad:

My guess (and that's really all it is) is that the "reputable" company gets probably @5-10% of the monthly 'fee' from the 'shadow' shopper-discount/affinity and/or a percentage "commission" from further profit made from each individual who was directed from their site. Very lucrative... if you have no moral compass and couldn't give a rat's a$$ about your company's integrity or your customers' welfare.

NonGeographicalMan

RuthnJasper wrote: »

if you have no moral compass and couldn't give a rat's a$$ about your company's integrity or your customers' welfare.

Given several other sneaky FlyBe policies like trying to opt you in to paying for a hold bag you may not want or need and insurance you may not want or need and then worst of all trying to make you pay extra to be allocated a standard legroom seat when you book (instead of getting one for free when you check in at the airport) it seems pretty clear that its directors have no moral compass and/or are instead trying to out O'Leary Ryanair.

Worst of all is their policy of quoting headline fares when you do a flight search that fail to include a substantial amount of unavoidable airport taxes and charges. Even Ryanair had to throw in the towel on that one after the EU got on their case but apparently FlyBe is too small for the EU to take any notice of or enforcement action against.:mad:

eboseph

Ticketmaster are clearly happy receiving their commission from Shopper Discounts while displaying a lack of ethics. I received the following on 2/8/10:

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

Thank you for contacting us with regard to your membership of the Shopper Discounts and Rewards Offer.

At the end of your Ticketmaster purchase you may recall the Shopper Discounts and Rewards offer. This offer included a 30 day free trial of the Shopper Discounts and Rewards programme and a £15 cash back voucher towards a future Ticketmaster booking. To accept the offer, you were asked to enter your e-mail address twice, along with the last 4 digits of your payment card and to click a ‘yes’ button on the Shopper Discounts & Rewards promotional page.

Here at Ticketmaster, we value our customers and endeavour to give complete satisfaction at every level of the service we provide. Many of our customers have enjoyed and continue to enjoy the benefits of the Shopper Discounts & Rewards. However as you do not wish to continue your membership, we have advised the Customer Service Team at Shopper Discounts & Rewards of your feedback and they will write to you within the next 24 hours to confirm that this has been completed and of what actions they have taken in light of your comments.

We are sorry for any confusion that has arisen with regards to this matter and can assure you that your comments have been noted. Should you wish to contact Shopper Discounts and Rewards directly, their Customer Services Team can be reached from 8am to 8pm from Monday to Friday and on Saturdays from 9am to 4pm on 0808 234 1539 (calls are free from UK landlines) , by sending an e-mail to customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk or at the following address:

Shopper Discounts and Rewards
PO Box 450
Sevenoaks
Kent
TN139HN

Yours sincerely,

NonGeographicalMan

eboseph wrote: »

Ticketmaster are clearly happy receiving their commission from Shopper Discounts while displaying a lack of ethics. I received the following on 2/8/10:

Since the money grabbing directors of many online businesses quite clearly cannot be trusted to act either ethically or care about damaging their own product brand by being association with these blatant scams the only meaningful solution is clearly for there to be new legislation banning the practice of offering a discount on the original product you intended to buy online if you take out a monthly subscription to another service with continuous credit card authority payments at the same time.

marleyboy

As far as I am aware, many companies are oblivious to the dirty tactics SD&R use against their customers, I have to say their are many companies who, as a direct result of the sheer volumes of unhappy customers, have removed SD&R from their sites.

http://blog.photobox.co.uk/shopper-discount-rewards

Shopper Discount & Rewards: ENDED 13th Jan 2010

ENDED 13th Jan 2010 - SEE BLOG UPDATE FOR MORE DETAILS: We’ve received some feedback and in some cases, specific concerns regarding our partnership with Shopper Discount & Rewards. It’s significant enough that I thought I’d post on this specific topic.
For those of you not familiar with Shopper Discount & Rewards, we (like a lot of sites these days) invite our customers after checkout to take a look at partner offers which we think might prove attractive. This particular partner offers a subscription service, giving access to exclusive discounts with many high street and online names in addition to a £10 cash-back offer for further purchases on PhotoBox. The proposition involves a flat monthly fee for potentially unlimited shopping discounts.
The feedback we’ve had has expressed surprise in Photobox partnering in this way, some negative feedback in respect of the experience once you click, and some references to website forums ‘shaming’ this kind of service.
We take our customer’s feedback seriously, hence this post, so I’d like to specifically respond to the points raised.
First, we try hard to be very selective. We very rarely promote any third party on our site. Of course we get paid for introducing business to these guys, but we think we make it quite clear it’s a partner offer, and we genuinely attempt to choose what we think are good deals for you. In this case, £10 cash-back on PhotoBox when most transactions on PhotoBox are in this price range feels quite compelling.
Second, we have quite rigorous processes to make sure that partner customer experience is as fair and transparent as our own. This includes original signup which, in this case and contrary to other offers on the market (some of which have led to legal proceedings in the US), involves the customer explicitly entering his credit card details and agreeing to paying the subscription fee after the initial trial period; and after-sales issues like cancellation which we believe are handled on a “no quibbles basis” in this case.
Finally: there’s a lot of forum stuff out there about badly behaving websites – you’ll find most sites ‘named’ if you try hard enough – but we feel comfortable that our particular partner is acting honourably and that our integration is appropriately transparent. In fact the amount of problems we hear about, compared to the number of total signups indicates to us that the vast majority of you are happy, and continue to be happy that you joined.
As ever, post here if you agree, disagree, or if you just want to contribute and suggest potential improvements.
Mark Chapman
Managing Director, PhotoBox

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/7722464/Web-discounts-be-on-your-guard.html

A spokesman from Debenhams said: "We did have a relationship with Webloyalty for a short period of time, however all ties were severed in July 2009 following on from a review programme and feedback that customers were dissatisfied with the service."



A B&Q spokesman said: "We removed the website Shopper Discounts & Rewards from our affiliate network in February 2009. We were grateful that the matter was brought to our attention and we apologised to our customers who had been inconvenienced through using the site."


EasyJet and Expedia said that they were no longer affiliated with Webloyalty and "would not comment on the business".

In the case of Ticketmaster, lets just say it is not as if they are unaware, as many customers have boycotted them as a direct result, yet they are still happy to endorse it, whilst washing their hands of any blame.

What Ticketmaster dont realize, is the amount they are making in commission, isnt even loose change when compared to the amount of customers who have boycotted them as a direct result. These companies have had numerous opportunities to address the situation, especially compared to the amount of their customers who have complained to them about it, yet still they play the ignorant card, more the fool them as each and every day, more and more of their customers affected by this, drop off one by one and shop elsewhere.

NonGeographicalMan

marleyboy wrote: »

In the case of Ticketmaster, lets just say it is not as if they are unaware, as many customers have boycotted them as a direct result, yet they are still happy to endorse it, whilst washing their hands of any blame.

What Ticketmaster dont realize, is the amount they are making in commission, isnt even loose change when compared to the amount of customers who have boycotted them as a direct result. These companies have had numerous opportunities to address the situation, especially compared to the amount of their customers who have complained to them about it, yet still they play the ignorant card, more the fool them as each and every day, more and more of their customers affected by this, drop off one by one and shop elsewhere.

So are Rewards First and CreditRatingMatters schemes operated by Shopper Discounts & Rewards?

Also I would assume that the directors of FlyBe are probably more than well aware of the scam nature of the inducement to subscribe to S D & R that is offered on their website (i.e. £15 cash back off your Fly Be flight contingent on sending in a copy of your flight booking confirmation to S D & R with a membership number that S D & R also carelessly fail to ever send you in the welcome email they never send you) but simply don't care a damn given their own numerous other unethical website tactics like not quoting an upfront fare that includes airport and passenger departure tax (as EU regulations supposedly require them to) and then trying to opt you in to baggage and insurance unless you opt out and then finally trying to charge you to book an ordinary legroom seat unless you manage to work out how to opt out of the seat they have automatically selected and assigned for you.:mad:

marleyboy

When you think about how much money they rake in a month, regardless of how many spot it and reclaim it, the interest alone makes it very beneficial.

So are Rewards First and CreditRatingMatters schemes operated by Shopper Discounts & Rewards?

Oh yes, there are many other names they go under, I did include a list but by now will be lost in the thread.

maznal

I just noticed £10 taken from my Visa debit card. Rang Shopperdiscounts 0800 731 9935 and didn't put in details as the automated response requested, just kept waiting until eventually a person spoke to me. He immediately agreed to cancel my 'membership' and refund the £10. He said I had signed up to it by a link from Trainline - I remember clicking on to a link for a discount off the next rtian ticket purchase but am certain I didn't agree to join anything or pay any money!
Within seconds I received an email confirming my cancellation and refund (though I may have to wait 10 days to see the refund in my account.)

NonGeographicalMan

maznal wrote: »

Within seconds I received an email confirming my cancellation and refund (though I may have to wait 10 days to see the refund in my account.)

They always refund anyone who complains pronto as they know that Trading Standards and the Police will only investigate in cases where a scamming company refuses to refund the complaining customer. So by always refunding those who spot the scam (even if they only spot it months later) they continue to avoid any action by Trading Standards or the Police while still managing to scam the lazy, complacent, stupid or ignorant who don't ask for a refund.:mad:

I wonder why it is that life isn't quite this easy for shoplifters or fare dodgers with only those who refuse to return the goods they were lifting to the store or who refuse to buy a full train ticket when caught being prosecuted. Whereas of course in reality even those who are contrite when caught are still punished for these offences.