Watch out for rip-off ‘checking’ services
WHILE the pandemic has decimated many industries, one sector that has been thriving is the property market, which has seen a huge increase in demand and a corresponding surge in house prices. However, this has also seen an increase in so-called “third party processing agencies” who offer their services to process government applications. One of the most common applications during the pandemic has been changing address on your driving licence following a house move and, as Jo’s story demonstrates, it is an area where you can easily be hit with unnecessary costs
Reader Jo, from Devon, moved in June. On her to-do list was changing her address on her driving licence. Jo did what we all now do in situations like this, she took to the internet to look for help. At the top was a website titled “DVLA applications” so she proceeded to make an application. Jo says the site was easy to use and the application did not take long. At the end, she was prompted to pay a fee of £54. But Jo then discovered this was not the official DVLA or government website, it was a third-party processing agency billed as a “checking site”. Had she made her application via the official DVLA website, an address change would have been free.
The site Jo used was not a scam – her application was indeed put to DVLA – and, when you read the fine print, the site explained it was not part of DVLA. However, in my experience many consumers do not trawl through websites reading the terms and conditions and it is therefore very easy to be misled into thinking you are dealing with an official government website. When making any form of government application – in relation to the likes of DVLA and the passport office, only use the official websites ending “gov.uk”.
If you’ve lost money to misleading adverts or websites, and you paid by credit card, you can make a Section 75 claim to your bank or credit card provider if the amount is more than £100, or a chargeback claim for amounts of less than £100. If an advert or website is suspicious, or masquerading as something it isn’t, report it to Action Fraud and Trading Standards.