Misled by LIFT AND GLOW PRO - help needed

[mrsflatbroke]

Hi, I'm not sure where I should post this but here's a brief outline of how I have been "conned".

 

I saw an advert online for a free 2 week trial of a product called LIFT & GLOW PRO (supposedly a super duper cream which instantly reduces the appearance of wrinkles and lines on its very first use). I only needed to pay £1.99 p&p for a cream that was normally mega expensive and way out of my price range. I completed the form and paid the p&p by debit card on Friday 29th March. As it was easter weekend the product didn't arrive until Thursday 4th April.

 

I was unimpressed the first time I used it - the packaging was cheap and nasty and the pump action dispenser didn't work properly. In a word, it was "crap".

 

On 16th March I checked my by bank account online and saw that a payment of £84.71 had been taken by this company.

 

I contacted them straightaway to query this payment and was told that as it has been a 2 week trial period,

and I hadn't cancelled the agreement, the full price of £84.71 was payable.

 

I explained that I had seen no mention of this on the order form and was told that it was "in the terms and conditions" on their website.

 

I told them I was unimpressed with the product, and certainly not willing to pay £84.71 was something which was no better than a cheap moisturiser.

I also pointed out that I hadn't had a 2 week trial as they took money 12 days after I received the product

to which the lady replied "well it was despatched".

 

She cancelled any future orders there and then (otherwise I would have been sent a replacement product every 3 months and charged £84.71 each time)

and said that someone from customer services would get back to me about my concerns.

 

I phoned my bank to make sure no future payments could be taken!

 

I went straight onto their website and right at the bottom of the page in very small lettering is a link to their Terms and Conditions

which confirm exactly what the lady on the phone had told me.

 

A further search online showed hundreds of unhappy customers who had all been "conned" by this company in a similar way.

 

Some people even cancelled within a couple of days and were still charged.

 

I received an email from customer services on 18th April saying that they couldn't get me on my mobile.

 

I confirmed my mobile and landline numbers. Lo and behold just after I had gone to bed that evening my mobile rang twice,

followed by my landline - 10.30pm.

I told the caller it was not an acceptable time and to call back the following morning. I have heard nothing more since.

 

I am really angry about this and want to take every action possible to get this money back.

 

The money they took was my food, gas and electric money for the entire week (I had to lend money from a relative to feed my kids).

 

I could really kick myself as I have never been tricked by these kind of companies in the past.

 

Can anyone explain whether I have a valid case against this company, as

 

(1) I did not knowingly give permission for money to be taken from my debit card

(2) the terms and conditions were not set out and explained clearly

(3) I had not had a 2 week trial as the product arrived 4th April and I was charged on 16th April.

 

Surely this kind of practice must be covered by some consumer regulation or another?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[ericsbrother]

Tell your bank and they will initiate a chargeback.

Write to the company and tell them that you are returning the goods as not being of merchantable quality under the sale of Goods Act for a refund and that you have cancelled any agreement. If they still claim that you owe them the money tell them to take you to court where you will explain to a judge their business practices.

Dont let your bank fob you off with excuses about needing the supplier to agree to refund, the regulations changed recently and now it is between you and the bank.

[mrsflatbroke]

Thank you so much for this information ericsbrother. However, I received a call from the company Friday morning and they said that I could keep the product and get a 60% discount (no thank you) or return it to them and get a full refund to my debit card within 10 days. I returned it the same day (recorded delivery) and will wait 10 days to see what happens. If the refund does not appear on my statement I will follow your advice.

 

When I first contacted my bank about this they said that although what this company have done is not good business practice, it is not illegal unfortunately. Will keep you informed of developments. Thanks for the help.

[dx100uk]

ALL OF YOU ON HERE THAT HAVE BEEN REFUSED CHARGEBACK

your bank MUST honour your wishes and investigate AFTER REFUNDING.

 

if you get refused GO UP THE CHAIN

 

demand to speak to a SUPERVISOR

 

if this then still fails

taken their name and their position within the bank

and their direct contact number

 

tell them you will forwarding the information to the FCA

 

then ask about CPA detailed below

 

they cannot refuse that

 

read the following:

 

cancelling the card wont work as such follow below:

 

.................

We have been telling people to put a letter into their bank instructing them not to make any payments under any circumstances to these companie

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/- it works!

 

banks MUST follow written intructions from their customers !

This fsa [now the FCA] 11:24 31/05/2013 guide has now been updated:

 

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/consumer_...ghts_guide.pdf

 

Here's the text:

 

Cancelling a regular

card payment:

 

When you give your credit or debit card details to a company and authorise them to take regular payments from your account,

such as for a gym membership or magazine subscription,

it is known as a ‘recurring transaction’ or ‘continuous payment authority’.

These are often confused with direct debits, but do not offer the same guarantee if the amount or date of the payment changes.

In most cases, regular payments can be cancelled by telling the company taking the payments.

.

However,

you have the right to cancel them directly with your bank or card issuer by telling it that you have stopped permission for the payments.

Your bank or card issuer must then stop them – it has no right to insist that you agree this first with the company taking the payments.

Be aware, though, that you will still be responsible for paying any money that you owe.

.

see: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...-Viewing)-nbsp

.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/consumer...ng/index.shtml

and

Attach the following to your claim and in the interim period write to your bank and attach the following (Keep a copy)

Regulation 55 of The Payment Services Regulations 2009:

 

55.—(1) A payment transaction is to be regarded as having been authorised by the payer for the purposes of this Part only if the payer has given its consent to—

(a)the execution of the payment transaction; or .

(b)the execution of a series of payment transactions of which that payment transaction forms part. .

(2) Such consent—

(a)may be given before or, if agreed between the payer and its payment service provider, after the execution of the payment transaction; and .

(b)must be given in the form, and in accordance with the procedure, agreed between the payer and its payment service provider. .

(3) The payer may withdraw its consent to a payment transaction at any time before the point at which the payment order can no longer be revoked under regulation 67.

(4) Subject to regulation 67(3) to (5), the payer may withdraw its consent to the execution of a series of payment transactions at any time with the effect that any future payment transactions are not regarded as authorised for the purposes of this Part.

 

This means that you can simply ask your bank to refuse the payments, it is also good practice to let the lender know too.

 

So, if you would like your creditor to stop trying to take a payment all you need to do, in theory, is to inform them that you remove their authority. It's probably better to do this in writing and via recorded delivery - if possible.

 

You can learn more about your rights via the following fsa guide :

Ending recurring payments from credit cards

57 Recurring payments, is the term used to describe transactions for which a client has granted written permission for her/his credit or debit card to be debited for recurring goods or services, for example, club membership subscriptions, insurance cover or payday loansicon. The card may be debited annually, monthly or at other regular intervals.

.

58 In most cases, recurring payments can be cancelled by telling the trader taking the payments. However, a client has the right to withdraw consent by simply telling whoever issued the card (the bank, building society or credit card company) that s/he does not want a payment to be made. S/he can tell the card issuer by phone, email or letter.

.

59 The card issuer has no right to insist that the client ask the trader to stop taking the payment first. The card issuer has to stop the payments if the client has asked them to. The client could point out to the card issuer that they should follow the FSA guidance available in the FSA know your rightsicon booklet which is available on the FSA website at www.fsa.gov.uk.

.

59a If money is still taken from the client's account, it will be deemed to be an unauthorised transaction, and the card issuer must give her/him an immediate refund. The card issuer will have to cancel any interest and charges added to the her/his account because the payment was taken. It is not up to the client to prove that s/he told the card issuer to stop taking payments. Instead, the card issuer would have to prove that s/he did not tell them to stop making payments.

.

60 The client should make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service when all the internal complaints systems within the company issuing the card have been exhausted.

I hope this information is of assistance

 

New june 2013

 

Regulator orders Banks and mutuals to review complaints about not cancelling recurring payments from November 2009.

 

Consumers who have set up a regular payment from their account will now be able to successfully cancel that arrangement by contacting their card provider, the Financial Conduct Authority said.

 

The FCA has been examining how easy it is for customers to cancel Continuous Payment Authorities (CPAs) due either to payday lendersicon or for other regular payments such as subscriptions or gymicon memberships.

 

CPAs, which are also commonly called recurring transactions or recurring payments, are relatively easy to set up but can be hard to cancel, causing problems for consumers trying to manage their finances,the FCA said.

 

Now, following the FCA review of how the largest high street banks and mutuals process requests to cancel CPAs,

they have agreed that they will ensure that when a customer asks for a recurring payment to end,

that will be sufficient to cancel the arrangement.

 

They have also confirmed that should a payment go through by mistake following cancellation

by a customer the customer will be refunded immediately.

 

In addition to securing this commitment, the largest banks and mutuals have agreed to review every individual complaint t

hey have received about the non-cancellation of a CPA and to pay redress where payments have continued

to be made despite the customer cancelling the arrangement.

 

This applies to all complaints since November 2009 when the Financial Services Authority,

the FCA’s predecessor, began regulating banking conduct.

 

Clive Adamson, the FCA’s director of supervision, said:

 

“It’s important that consumers are confident that banks are meeting their everyday banking needs. Today customers can be confident that when they ask for a Continuous Payment Authority to be cancelled – it will be cancelled - and that it can be done easily.

 

“We recognise that historically this is an area where some customers have struggled but the banks

and mutuals have responded positively to our work on this issue.

 

From now on we expect them to be getting this right. In addition, they have committed to review past complaints.”

 

 

http://www.ftadviser.com/2013/06/28/...J/article.html

[loveanimalsann]

Well I got all my money back from the bank, but now that company took another £89 62p so thats it going to close my bank account I spoke to the consumer advise and they have informed the trading standards they are looking into it for me

[renegadeimp]

Make sure you report your bank. Dont let them get away with this, as i guarantee you arent the only person they are doing it to.

[livewire1]

I had to wait 45 days (an International debit card agreement on chargebacks).

 

 

This evil company, coming under different names, is well known to high street banks.

 

 

They have to refund the money taken immediately they receive a complaint from a customer.

 

 

Then they get in touch with the merchants bank to get a refund from them.

THEN they get the name and address of the company from their bank and pursue a dispute with the merchant.

 

 

If the merchant has not contacted the complainants bank within 45 days. the dispute is over.

 

 

In my case this merchant didn't do that and therefore they lose the dispute.

 

 

However, I have heard that this wicked company have tried to get money from a bank account by using different names

even though the debit card may have been cancelled and a new one issued.

 

 

My bank said that they will be monitoring my account, just in case.

 

 

However, that still leaves a bit of uncertainty so i intend to close my account and open a new one with a different account number.

 

Hope everyone who has been connned by this compnay will be successful.

 

 

Remember the bank should be on your side and have to do what you ask them to do.

[dx100uk]

Well I got all my money back from the bank, but now that company took another £89 62p so thats it going to close my bank account I spoke to the consumer advise and they have informed the trading standards they are looking into it for me

 

did you not cancel the CPA?

 

 

dx

[loveanimalsann]

did you not cancel the CPA?

 

 

dx

Think the bank did that for me, it is now closed I have a new one but this morning another cream came in the post the sender was EUROBASE FULFILIMENT, CZECH REPUBLIC, LIHOVARSKA, CZ, +448081890494 now what do i do with this one im spending no more money on posting it back

[livewire1]

I would check that your bank DID, in fact, cancel this authority to take money out of your account. I certainly would not send the stuff back if they sent it without your permission. The best thing to do is to change your bank, if convenient, and certainly close your debit card and have a new one issued.

[loveanimalsann]

I would check that your bank DID, in fact, cancel this authority to take money out of your account. I certainly would not send the stuff back if they sent it without your permission. The best thing to do is to change your bank, if convenient, and certainly close your debit card and have a new one issued.

 

I closed that account and got a new one, I wont be sending this cream back if they want it back they can come and collect it I think you need to close your account to stop it all just so glad i got my money back, but i did have to go mad with them, and demand my rights

[livewire1]

You have done the right thing. But it goes to show what evil companies are at work out there. What really stinks abou this company is that 1. they have so many names they use to take money from you 2. It is impossible to try out a product, get results and return it within a fortnight. 3. You can't read the terms and conditions until you sign up for a product.

[loveanimalsann]

Your right there Livewire, just added my new card to pay pal but it said i should wait aweek before using, i will be donating then thanks for all the help

[loveanimalsann]

just made a donatoin thank's Dx

[dx100uk]

thank you!!!

 

dx

[silverfox1961]

Just found this in their terms and conditions.

 

Reversals and Charge backs

 

We consider charge backs and reversals as potential cases of fraudulent use of our services and/or theft of services and as such will be treated. We reserve the right of filing a complaint with the appropriate local and federal authorities to investigate. Be advised that all activity and IP address information is being monitored and that this information may be used in a civil and/or criminal case(s) against a client if there is fraudulent use and or theft of services.

 

The only thing i can say to that is, "Tough" They take money when they are not supposed to but when a customer does a chargeback, it's fraudulent.

 

Makes you laugh!

[loveanimalsann]

your so right silverfox1961

[Nathaly Seyfield]

Tell your bank and they will initiate a chargeback.

Write to the company and tell them that you are returning the goods as not being of merchantable quality under the sale of Goods Act for a refund and that you have cancelled any agreement. If they still claim that you owe them the money tell them to take you to court where you will explain to a judge their business practices.

Dont let your bank fob you off with excuses about needing the supplier to agree to refund, the regulations changed recently and now it is between you and the bank.

 

My advice is to call them first, it is better or send them an email as once you initiate a chargeback, there is no guarantee that you will get your money back as they will frozen your account. So better talk to them beforehand.

[renegadeimp]

Frozen whose account? Your bank does not get frozen when you issue a chargeback.

[Nathaly Seyfield]

Call the company and explain the situation, they are humans like us , so they will probably solve this and refund the money

[Nathaly Seyfield]

Not the bank, but the account of the products and then you cannot get your money. It is way faster when you directly contact the company and explain the situation

[stu007]

@ Nathaly Seyfield are you in the UK?