Shopper Discounts and Rewards .co.uk: bunch of scamming gits

[Zak33]

My missus booked some tickets for a Billy Connely gig for my Christmas Present, via Ticket Master and she's been signed up to something called www.shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk and she's been billed £10 for the priviledge.

Twice.

Having googled it a few other people (who used interflora) also got signed up for it.

Anyone else been shafted by this, cos she's got no idea how she signed up to it at all?

[Zak33]

Tesco finance (her credit card company) are dealing with this now, and have had loads of calls on this subject.

Because it's a Credit Card Continuous Charge set up it cant be killed off with a phone call and requires the credit card compay to get her to sign andf return a form, by snail mail.

Meantime we have to contact the scamming thieving thwaites and get through on their free phone number.. and we did.. and it asked for our credit card number... which Tesco finance told us NOT to put in.

Because of snow there offices are closed now!

Hmmm... so... £20 down and at least a week to sort it by deletion of the continuous charge on the card.

[Zak33]

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=819869

they're popular aren't they?

[Zak33]

Membership Fee: Member will be charged a monthly, bi-monthly (every two months), quarterly or annual membership fee. The amount of this fee and its frequency is explained to Member at the time that Member joins Shopper Discounts & Rewards (the "Membership Fee"). The Membership Fee will be billed automatically to Member's designated payment vehicle, which may include credit or debit card, ISP account, DDA account, debit account, mortgage account, and/or other or charge account(each a "Billing Device") during the initial membership term and each renewal term. WL may from time to time change the Membership Fee during any renewal term (but will not change the Membership Fee in relation to the initial term). Member will be notified at least twenty eight (28) days in advance of any revised charge applying.

thats hard to do as she never spoke to anyone.

[Zak33]

found an FAQ on Ticketmaster's site

http://ticketmaster.custhelp.com/cgi...ted=1253024239

[jim]

They're real nasty ones those recurring payments... I know the government is currently looking at outlawing them, and they certainly should do - they're virtually built for scamming.

[Phage]

Bad luck. That looks like the standard very-small-checkbox-in-very-small-print that is easy to miss. On the bright side, it does look like you can get a refund.

I thought that there was a law that such schemes had to be Opt-In, rather than default. If you can prove that you may have a case that could go beyond a refund.

<Paging Saracen>

[TheAnimus]

it speaks volumes about the companies that actually use them.

if ticketmister didn't have a total monopoly they wouldn't be able to get away with such things.

But the moral of the story, buyer beware, actually READ the form you submit.

[jim]

Bad luck. That looks like the standard very-small-checkbox-in-very-small-print that is easy to miss. On the bright side, it does look like you can get a refund.

I thought that there was a law that such schemes had to be Opt-In, rather than default. If you can prove that you may have a case that could go beyond a refund.

<Paging Saracen>

I've had something similar done to me in the past by having a tick box that went on about terms and conditions.

It later transpired that the Terms and Conditions weren't for the transaction, but a secondary service that I obviously didn't want. So I had "opted-in" unintentionally.

I think the problem is that they're so lengthy all the time that I just don't bother to read them. Obviously it's not smart to ignore them, but they're so common that it's normally not worth bothering. And if I trust the website - say Tesco for example, I'm not going to read the terms and conditions because I highly doubt that they'll say anything contentious. So when a reputable firm sneaks junk like that in - as far as I'm concerned, it's just a con, even if it is painted with a veneer of legality.

[Whiternoise]

Amusing that you can't see which amazing stores will give you discount until you sign up.. this just screams scam.

Care to give us a list Zak?

[Salazaar]

I would have thought that Ticketmaster have a bad enough reputation as it is without stuff like this.

I suppose it just shows how little customer service counts for when you've got a monopoly (or in the case of high street banks, when everyone else is just the same).

[Zak33]

having had a good check through the credit card bills, she ordered some tickets from another company for a Noel Fielding tour, and he cancelled the entire tour. So.... we lost the booking charge on those too. (a tenner in total) and having rag them they keep it even though the tour was cancelled before tickets were printed or posted. Woman on phone agreed it was badly worded on the website, but we lose the booking fee. Expensive week.....

[tiggerai]

Beware - I got caught by expedia doing the same thing about a year ago... Won't use them again.

[Zak33]

Amusing that you can't see which amazing stores will give you discount until you sign up.. this just screams scam.

Care to give us a list Zak?

allegedly we get Cash Back on virtually every shop you could imagine. But we can't see hw to use it.

3% on PC World apparently, but it links straight to PC world's main page... no way of actually claiming it.

[Funkstar]

you can get that through Quidco as well Zak

http://www.quidco.com/pc-world/

So we are all agreed we don't like it when companies bundle extras onto the transaction without asking us?

[peterb]

you can get that through Quidco as well Zak

http://www.quidco.com/pc-world/

So we are all agreed we don't like it when companies bundle extras onto the transaction without asking us?

I think I know where you're coming from!