Have you heard of a firm called Complete Savings, they are a finance firm based in Switzerland? No? Neither had I till one day last week, when I bought some tulip bulbs on line from a firm I have used before. I always check my credit card, when I buy something to make sure it was all ok..... it was fine, except there was an amount of £18 pending, for Complete Savings, with the same date?
I looked them up and was horrified to see it was a monthly fee for a 'cash back' scheme! There was an article by Martin Lewis, the money expert, who explained what it was. Evidently its linked to certain firms when you buy from them on line. Not illegal but sneaky! He's had loads of complaints about it and had taken down their advertisments, however it was still linked to some firms. It offered cash back, but failed to state it had a monthly fee of £18!
Well I certainly hadn't sign up for that, so quickly phoned my CC company to stop it, but because it was still only pending they couldn't block it, but would refund my money and block it should it attempt to take any more money.
I looked up Complete Savings and sent them an email, cancelling and asking for my money back. I had the usual standard reply, they had received my mail etc.. but I had signed my mail C. with my surname and their post said, Dear Christine! That got my back up, because it meant it had my details, how??
There was a phone number so phoned and was really surprised when it was answered right away.. and have you guessed, English was not his first language.. he shot off giving me the spiel of the benefits of me taking their cash back offer. So fast I had to shout STOP! Then said I didn't want it, I wanted my money back, repeating it like a needle stuck in a record groove.
He persisted all very calmly, and politely and quietly.. but I carried on repeating I didn't sign up for it and I wanted my money back. He kept saying it was a good firm, based in Switzerland, so I asked is that where you are speaking from, guessing it wasn't from his accent.. he was in the Philippines!!!
I got it cancelled and my money back, but I did asked when was I supposed to have signed up for it.. July 2025 when I bought some books from W H Smiths! Over a year ago!
So beware and check you CC regularly.. £18 ?? could have been going out of my account every month if I hadn't checked.
Chrisxx
16 comments:
Thank you for that information. I have heard about the scam, I follow Martin Lewis. Stating the obvious here. You can save yourself all that hassle by never buying anything online. I know, it's convenient, getting stuff sent to your door. Your choice.
Thanks for the warning!
Thanks for the heads up. It looks like your persistence paid off, but what a pain.
No I haven't heard of that. Good for you for not falling for it and being persistent in getting it taken care of.
There are so many of these scammers around. We were nearly caught by one when selling our vehicle recently. Fortunately, we learned about it in time. We all have to by so wary these days.
These tactics make me so angry!!!
Hi Chris I am so sorry that you had to go through that. We have a variety of those scams here in the United States too. One particularly cruel one happened to my 83 year old mother in law a couple of years ago. It was from a company that buys "junk debt". After awhile if someone doesn't pay their debts, a credit card company will sell the debt for pennies on the dollar to these unscrupulous companies. Then these companies use strong arm tactics to try and get the money by any means they can. It all started because at one time MIL's adult daughter opened it up a credit card using MIL name without telling her and charged it up to the hilt. We had legally taken care of all this years earlier. Now MIL comes home to find a message from someone claiming to be from an attorney's office and they said if she didn't pay this bill in full now, tomorrow they would be issuing an arrest warrant. She was terrified. She called me in such a dither she was in tears. Thank goodness she called me first. I was able to do some research and quickly found out about the scam. She has early onset dementia and it shook her up for days even knowing it was a scam. These scans are so cruel. I am thankful you got to the bottom of what happened to you! You did a great job!
Wow, good job you check your statements. I do too but so many people dont' get receipts when they pay for things and could miss it.
Thank you for the warning.
All the best Jan
Hi Chris, I tried sending a comment before but it looks like it didn't go through, if you end up receiving two so sorry. :). I am so sorry that you had to experience that. We have a lot of those scams in the United States too. My 83 year old MIL always seems to be a target and it causes us a lot of concern. I am glad you were able to get your money back and were able to fight back. When it happened to my MIL, even though we caught it before it got bad she was devastated by it for days. It just made her whole world feel upside down. The people that do this are really wicked. Thank you for sharing your experience as I know it will help others. I hope the rest of your week turns out to be wonderful! :)
That happened to me with a clothing company. They refunded all they had deducted for 6 months that I had not signed up for. Caught it by accident on my CC bill.
Thanks for the warning, and good for you for persisting and getting your money back. Makes me want to stop shopping online.
That's a good heads up for anyone who doesn't check their bank statements. I know to the penny how much money should be in my account at any one time and I'm vigilant so I'd know if it happened to me. But it shouldn't be happening, should it, it's disgusting how these things are known about and yet it's allowed to happen.
That is shocking.
Thank you for letting us know about this scam so that we can all be aware. I had not heard of this one but they are now in my sights. I'm glad you were able to stand firm and get it resolved quickly.
Goodness - that’s a judgemental response - not everyone can shop in person
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