Oh lord, we got scammed!

[Nick]

Before I relate this tale, yes, it was daft and yes it was stupid but it goes to show that if you let your guard down for a second, you can end up in trouble.

So the missus gets a phone call from a company called Skylight Studios, telling her she's won a competition and has 3 free tickets for a makeover, hairdo and photo session.

She knew companies did this cos my mum had one done for her 60th and I know my wife was a bit put out that my mum didn't actually invite her along for that.

Now these 'free tickets' are free but the woman on the phone said she'd need a £45 deposit, which was refundable... the makeover, hairdo and photo session would be free, but she would have to buy the photos although there was no obligation to do so and, provided she turned up, she would get the deposit refunded.

So it all seems reasonable... get a makeover and haircut, then decide whether or not to have the pictures... either way, you get your £45 back as long as you go.

Anyhoo, she's put a bit of cash to one side to go and get her hair done anyway, so she thought it sounded like a good deal and just needing to be resistant to the probable hard sell of photos when they were done.

I've no idea when this convo took place, but it was probably earlier today.

When she comes home tonight, we had dinner, a cup of tea etc and then she decides to check her balance online.

Where she finds that £145 has been taken from her account!

Of course, she's in tears as she feels she's been done up like a kipper and that's a shedload of money gone.

So I'm straight on Google, find some reports about Skylight, find their website and get straight on the phone.

At this point, here's some info for those wanting to complain: never, NEVER go in with the attitude to start off with. Be polite, friendly and reasonable. The person at the other end is a human being, doing a job. So treat them nice and friendly.

Which is what I did with the woman who answered the phone. I explained the shock my wife had experienced at seeing how much had been taken from her account and asked the lady to explain why this was.

And it turns out that the deposit is actually PER PERSON. So I questioned why £145 had been taken and not £135 (which is 3x45) and was told that they had made an error and had already credited the account with the overcharged £10.

So we had a cosy chat during which I told her how my wife was told it was just £45 for the three tickets and the lady offered up a further £90 refund. I politely refused the refund, explained that we'd much rather have a full refund and then get in touch in the future if we wanted to take up their offer.

So that's what's happening. We got a full refund which, I'm told, will be processed tomorrow. Also, she gave me the reference number for the £10 credit they had already made.

She took down both my landline and mobile numbers and has promised to call me shortly after 11am tomorrow to confirm the refund has been made.

Now, whether this happens or not will be decided tomorrow, and I seriously hope it will as we can't really afford £145 to go bye bye.

So the moral of the story... make doubly sure you know the full score and if it sounds to good to be true, it IS too good to be true.

I'll keep you posted as to how we do getting our money back.

[Million]

if it sounds to good to be true, it IS too good to be true

The older I get, the more I agree with this statement - sad but true.

It was very sensible of you to approach the whole thing with a cool head, people underestimate how much easier this can make things. Hope you get your refund, let us know

[how1]

Hope you get your refund. Fingers and everything else crossed!!

[Agent]

Good luck Nick.

One thing to keep in mind is that often you are not dealing with the companies directly (although obviously I don't know if this is the case here), which can complicate things hugely.

One of the best examples of this is in the mobile phone industries. The number of times I've had "Orange" phone me up trying to get me on contract is shocking - yet it's just an Orange reseller. They promise everything under the sun to get you to sign, but when you actually get your contract it's missing a huge number of things.
Ring Orange and they'll tell you "We don't do anything like that" and to go back to your reseller, who will promptly vanish or call you a liar.
It is the reason I refuse to buy a phone online any more, unless it's PAYG.

[Saracen]

Sorry to hear you've been caught by this, Nick, but at least it appears to have been sorted out.


I'd say I'm totally, cast-iron scam-proof by this type of thing. Why? I never, ever, EVER respond to telemarketing calls. Or at least, I never respond with anything more than "not interested" and a hang-up ..... unless it's a persistent caller, in which case they get a more .... erm ..... forceful version of "not interested". If the same person tries it a third time, I figure I get to exercise my command of a wide range of expletives.

As soon as I realise it's a sales call, I go into the above mode, usually before even finding out who it is or what they're selling. So I'm totally immune to this type of call. Of course, I also might well miss out on some genuine bargains by not listening, if such actually exists. But it's a price worth paying, IMHO.

Fortunately, I very rarely get this type of call these days. I guess it's partly because my numbers are ex-directory, partly because they're TPS registered, and partly because I'm very selective indeed about who gets them.

[how1]

Sorry to hear you've been caught by this, Nick, but at least it appears to have been sorted out.


I'd say I'm totally, cast-iron scam-proof by this type of thing. Why? I never, ever, EVER respond to telemarketing calls. Or at least, I never respond with anything more than "not interested" and a hang-up ..... unless it's a persistent caller, in which case they get a more .... erm ..... forceful version of "not interested". If the same person tries it a third time, I figure I get to exercise my command of a wide range of expletives.

As soon as I realise it's a sales call, I go into the above mode, usually before even finding out who it is or what they're selling. So I'm totally immune to this type of call. Of course, I also might well miss out on some genuine bargains by not listening, if such actually exists. But it's a price worth paying, IMHO.

Fortunately, I very rarely get this type of call these days. I guess it's partly because my numbers are ex-directory, partly because they're TPS registered, and partly because I'm very selective indeed about who gets them.

Same here. Except i tell them to get lost in no uncertain terms!

[badass]

Same here. Except i tell them to get lost in no uncertain terms!

I try to keep the time wasting pricks on the phone for as long as possible! Things like pretending the door bell has rang and then leave the phone off hook and check in 10 minutes to see if they hung up. If not, string them along some more....

[Agent]

I try to keep the time wasting pricks on the phone for as long as possible! Things like pretending the door bell has rang and then leave the phone off hook and check in 10 minutes to see if they hung up. If not, string them along some more....

When I much younger we had a "telemarketer" call and ask for a family member. Being young and a smartarse who knew everything, I simply replied with "oh soz mate, they died a few nights back" and hung up assuming they wouldn't bother us after that.

Suffice to say that when the family members bank locked all their accounts because they thought they were dead, they were not impressed. It took a few days to get sorted and they we're pretty unhappy about it. Not that I knew anything about it

[handscombmp]

I try to keep the time wasting pricks on the phone for as long as possible! Things like pretending the door bell has rang and then leave the phone off hook and check in 10 minutes to see if they hung up. If not, string them along some more....

Same! I think the best i've had someone on for is 30mins. I think i was only on the actually phone for 5 though!

[shaithis]

Any time I get the "You have won" or "You have been selected" I hang up.

[Gfinch]

Well played on the phone. That was the right thing to do! So was checking it up on the internet, I had this problem when I bought stuff on the internet, 3 months, £150 less. I got it in the end, as a result of paypal being nice to me.

With all these people doing this, you have to be mighty careful. I get too many emails about Nigerian Doctors, they seem nice chaps...haha

[Blackmage]

Nothing is ever free, everything comes at a cost! Lets hope she gets her money back as promised!

[Lucio]

Personally, I never deal with any company that phones to get your business. Simple fact is if I want to buy something, I'll phone them.

Also, Nick assuming they do process a refund, if I were you I'd cancel that card as well. If a company is dodgy enough to process "extra" payments without consent, their data security won't be that good either!

[Rob_B]

You were lucky, card details were given out to someone who rang out of the blue....be glad it's not cleaned you out with no legit(ish) company to contact!

[Zak33]

did she get called on her mobile?

Did the number come from Facebook? Cos I know the competitions on there need you to put your mobile number in and then, bang.... you get a telemarketer on the phone

[Nick]

I think they got her through Facebook, yeah. She had entered a compo to win a Honda Civic...

Anyhoo, I got a call at 11.20am on Friday, from the office manager I spoke to the night before. She told me the full refund had been made and the money would be back in the account in 4-7 working days.

Turns out it was back in the account on Saturday morning, all £145!

So, a very close call but fortunately one we got away with... and one that'll make us all the more wary next time.