Online Scam Website Wii Fit (zavvi impersonation)

update

But my wife paid by visa electron

harliquin85

Url need to contact her bank - it depends on their policy with visa
i would ring protx as well, they might be a third party but they processed a fraudulant transaction (if turns out to be) they might be more cooperative if they think you might report them to ofcom, apart from that your only option to get the money back is to go after them with a debt action - this would involve going through the small claims court - u fill in a form and file it at court and your'll get a court order

lynnwhi35

I too have been conned by Zavvi Direct. Serves me right for being so smug when I managed to complete the order. Capital One have been great about the money. They are sending me a form so I can claim it back.

Last night I managed to order a wii fit from Amazon France. It was really easy and site even had my Amazon Uk details saved. It will be sent next Thursday and was only £10 more expensive. If Zavvi do send me the other one (Some hope) I will sell on Ebay.

Hope this helps those of you who are desperate.

dinah_greek

Again I am sorry I cant contact everyone individually
There have been some new developments in the Zavvi Direct saga. At the moment we can not say that a crime has been committed as the company said it would send out stock today. So we won’t know until around Thursday if anyone has received their order.

However the phones are either switched off or permanently engaged. The emails we have sent have not been answered either and there is no sign of this new website that Zavvi Direct said it would set up

I have handed all the details I have over to Sussex Police and they are liaising with Kent police. This is because I have found a link – albeit slim – and certain similarities between the Zavvi saga and a scam last year with a company known as Best Sports World. I have also talked to a Paul Clayton who would appear on paper to be the person who registered Zavvi Direct and Zavvi Sports. I first spoke to him on Tuesday at his home when he denied all knowledge of Zavvi. I was not convinced but out of the blue he called me back today. He still says Zavvi Direct has nothing to do with him. We have found he is part of a legitimate family business of long standing.

Now while I am not an easy person to convince, some things just don’t make sense if he is lying to me. If Zavvi Direct is legitimate why deny being the director as his real address is given on the registration at Companies House. Certainly it would be rank stupidity to register yourself as a company director with your real address at Companies House if the company is not legitimate. His neighbour is registered as the Company Secretary. Double bluff maybe but it doesn’t add up.

As I told him I am the least of his troubles - if this turns out a crime has been committed the police have his details anyway and would interview him innocent or not. If it is not a scam then he will hear nothing anyway. We told him that if it is not him and his neighbour Stephen McClelland then they are victims of ID theft and to contact the police. The police have told us he has done this.

The link I referred to earlier was found on Zavvi Sports terms and conditions webpage. It clearly used the name Best Sports World in this section. We at first thought that Zavvi Sports had cut and pasted the Ts and Cs of a legitimate site. We soon found out that BSW was never legitimate and a scam being investigated by Kent police. Co-coincidence? Maybe. However I was told by Trading Standards that the two people who were registered as the directors of BSW were interviewed by the police. Trading Standards said the police found that these men were innocent and it was a case of ID theft. Starting to sound ominously familiar??

Anyway I can’t say this is anything more than coincidence – people may get their Wii Fit. I wish if this is going to be the case that the employees of Zavvi would contact me to let me know stock is in and being sent out. They could have given me the address of their warehouse and I would have gone down to check this out.

I will continue to update you as I will continue to investigate, the police will update me and Zavvi (the real deal) said it would let me know if it uncovered anything that it finds. Please let me know if you receive a refund or your order.

Also Sussex police said if people are concerned they should contact their local police and give this crime number: CC1/103413/08

I hope you all have a good weekend

Dinah Greek
News Editor
Computeractive

happydylbob

Has anyone contacted the police about this are they interested?

jawster

I am gobsmacked by Dinah's latest revelations.
(Good job investigating by the way - hope you unravel the whole mess)

I escaped by the skin of my teeth ordering from these guys.
It did seem a legit site, registered company, actual address, t&c's, returns policies etc. etc. all the things to put your mind at ease - at the last minute I decided to calm down from the joy of finding Wii Fit in stock and google for reviews.
I'm really sorry for all who got sucked in.

The fact that these guys may be doing this all by ID theft too (allegedly) takes it to a new level.
If true (and I have to agree with Dinah - the Paul Clayton she talked to seems innocent - why deny knowledge yet send out emails saying everything is fine? Why do a huge scam with your real name and put your long standing business at risk?), it means they have really, really planned and thought about this and that is scary - this was not a 5 minute job.

And if they are fraudulent and managed to get 2000 people to order at an average order price of £60 that's £120k burning a whole in their pockets.
I'm afraid that the whole 'wait 4-5 days for refund' message they're sparodically telling customers is perhaps purely a way to buy time for them to move the money around and let the trail go cold?
The Friday date for stock is also convenient because there's a nice weekend stumbling block for irate customers to get over before they can recommence the chase. Then again '4-5 days for delivery' takes you to next Friday so basically the end of the month before legitimate complaints about non-arrival can be made.

When I googled bestsportsworld (the scam possibly connected to this outfit) I came across a profile of someone who seemed responsible for that website (bestsportsworld ) and gave their location as Thailand!
I suspect if you're going to do this kind of crime - you make sure that you'll be well out of the jurisdiction when it comes to light.

Really hope that that justice is served and people get their money back (or goods).
However the signs ain't good and I have a nagging feeling that they are a few steps ahead and it will be a long road - the bestsportsworld saga started Jan 07 and it's still being investigated?!

Hopefully the scale of this will make the police take it seriously if it does get confirmed as fraudulent - there needs to be an International Internet Police or something for just such crimes so Thailand, Timbuktu or Essex, you'll always be brought to justice.

happydylbob

Has anyone else contacted the police, or had any joy after paying by visa debit? Anyone heard from zavvi direct in the last 48 hours communication seems to have dried up completely.

SianyD

I was told on Monday that I will recieve a refund in 4-5 days, like most overs, 4-5 days have passed and nothing. Zavvi Direct have not replied to my e-mails and calls are not being answered/going straight through to voicemail. Protx have made it clear that they are not going to help so I called my bank, Halifax, to file a dispute but the said refunds can take up to 7 days to be processed and asked me to call back then - sort of middle to end of next week.

As I paid with Visa Debit its not guaranteed that I'll get my £69.99 back, fingers crossed I can see it will be a lengthly dispute and more waiting.

I hate this waiting game, I just really hope it turns out for the good for us all.

Don't think I'd contact the police...to much hassle.

Liquid1904

You would think being a copper I would know better!!!! I think I have been well and truely sucked in! A present for my wife now looks like I'm £70 out of pocket and knowing a police investigation under the new fraud act would be diffcult as if paid by credit card effectively the bank would be the loser and they tend not to request this is investigated. I am waiting however not with baited breath for the wii fit to arrive then will ask for a refund although to be honest expect neither. Next time I will get off the sofa go to the shop and hand over good old fashioned cash!!!

claire99991

i have also fallen for this scam ordered on the 12th june realised it was a scam and cancelled my bank card on the 13th however this was to late for zavvi to take 2 payments of 69.99 even though i only authorised 1 so im 140 pounds out of pocket my bank were pretty usless tryed to tell me this was a ligitmate company (virgin) when i explained it wasnt they just fobbed me off they didnt want to know, they said i have to wait 30 days to dispute this then they will send me a dispute form i said how are you going to dispute i never recieved my product and they took 70 pound more than i let them and they said 'we are a bank we can find anyone' yea right! i can kiss goodbye to that money, again emails are being ignored and phone constantly engadged.