Help! I’ve been duped out of £1,000 for ‘free’ anti-wrinkle cream
AFTER filling in an online survey, I was offered some free anti-wrinkle cream. All I had to pay was delivery, so I accepted on behalf of my wife. Creams then started arriving erratically. I tried to stop these even before the cost became apparent — I discovered that nearly £1,000 had been taken from my current account.
I have no idea how the firm accessed my Nationwide account and I, a 70-yearold pensioner, certainly did not sign up for a regular supply of overpriced creams. It claims to have sent 11 sets, but I received only eight, three of which arrived damaged.
I contacted Nationwide, which refunded the money while it investigated. It then decided that I had entered into a contract and the withdrawals were in order.
I am very computer-savvy and did not see any long-term commitment or the exorbitant cost of these creams laid out. J. D., via email. I fear both my laptop and I would spend the night on the sofa if I presented Mrs H with anti-wrinkle cream — free or not!
You have, I’m afraid, fallen victim to an all-too-common scam where a supposedly ‘free’ offer binds you to regular payments in obscure small print.
You wondered where the firm got your account details. Well, I’m assuming you gave your debit card number to pay for the postage on your ‘offer’.
an astonishing 12 payments of £89.95 were taken from your account in two months, between October 8 and December 3 last year.
You contacted Nationwide on December 10 and it raised a chargeback, re-crediting you with £1,079.40. But the merchant then provided evidence that you had agreed to the payments, so Nationwide debited the amount again on January 27.
Nationwide should have examined this more closely. Would anyone willingly sign-up to allow 12 sporadic payments of almost £90 to be taken from their account in just two months unless they had been deliberately misled?
The building society should have smelled a rat and looked at the website. after a nudge from me it listened to your call again and decided it should have considered misrepresentation.
This would have forced the merchant to provide details on the nature of the sale and prove that the contract was agreed. Nationwide says it can’t raise a second chargeback, so the dodgy firm will get to keep the money. But because Nationwide has won similar claims in the past, it will refund your £1,079.40 and has added £100 compensation.
There’s a lesson here for those caught by similar freebie scams: make sure your chargeback application is made on the grounds of misrepresentation. I TRANSFERRED my credit card balance to AA. Due to a late payment I have now been moved off the 0pc rate and on to the standard rate of interest.
While I accept this is usual practice I do feel it is unfair as I hadn’t received any statements so was reliant on my memory for the payment due dates. M. R., London. You provided plenty more detail in your letter but the crux of this issue is that you missed the payment date on several occasions.
aa financial Services went into your complaint in some detail with Bank of Ireland, which administers the credit card.
In the summer, your statements were wrongly addressed. as a result, you missed a payment and a late payment charge was applied. However, this charge was later refunded and aa confirmed that your address was correct.
at this stage, the 0pc promotional rate was continued.
all was well until September, when correspondence was again returned as undeliverable. for security reasons, a block was then put on your account.
Several attempts were made to contact you and you eventually got in touch in October.
You missed that month’s payment, but previous payments had been made. However, as per the terms and conditions, you were taken off the 0 pc rate.
In January you settled in full and closed your account.
I’m not sure why the letters were returned and payments missed but, unfortunately, you did break the terms of the promotional rate and, therefore, Bank of Ireland and aa were within their rights to cancel it. Can I suggest that when taking out any promotional rate, or for that matter setting up a credit card, it makes sense to pay by direct debit. Then you can be sure that even if a statement is lost in the post, at least the minimum payment will go through each month. ON MAY 12 last year, my car was hit by a bus. The driver was trying to turn round after missing a turn and reversed into my vehicle.
The bus company accepted full responsibility but I had to pay a £200 excess to the nominated repairers. This was on June 24 last year.
Since then I have been chasing my insurer, More Than, for this money without success. S. P., Leicestershire. More Than says that when there is an uninsured loss, such as your excess, it will attempt to recover it from the third party’s insurer. This can take some time.
It seems the bus company’s insurer made a clerical error on the payment, making it extremely time-consuming for More Than to locate it. The good news is that you now have your £200.