Stemologica - going to trading standards too

[zaslondon]

I have also had lengthy dealings with this company stemologica also sometimes appearing as stemalogica.

 

I realised within 5 minutes of placing the order that it was a con..i.e. you were locked into a CPA of £97 ish per month.

 

 

As i placed the order late Friday night and the company s closed on a Saturday

they should have been able to cancel the online order immediately but chose not to.

 

I immediately cancelled my bank card and contacted the company on the only form available thus starting a long email dialogue.

 

I tried to cancel the despatch but they would not give me the name of the despatch company

and would not provide any company info - address etc.

But yes it looks as if they are CZECH with an Israeli factory/manufacturer .

They also refused to cancel - and made it very hard for me to do this.

 

the trial goods arrived smashed in a flimsy box (no packaging at all) and i photographed them with my neighbour as witness.

 

I repackaged them and returned them recorded delivery.

 

 

However there are 3 addresses it appears and the one shown on the box listed as returns is false.

 

The address they state to return it to is:

 

Returns Stemologica

Swift Park

Old Leicester Road

Rugby

CV21 1DZ

 

which is where i sent the goods (broken and repackaged)

 

They have told me my account is cancelled and i have further cancelled my bank card and written to my bank.

However the whole process was stressful and ive not yet seen the bill for my calls to their joke of a support line.

 

However I have reported them to trading standards and documented my entire communication with them.

I also threatened them with legal action - at which point they suddenly changed their tune and accepted my cancellation.

 

I will report back on what is uncovered.

It appears they do not trade with Australia (in the countries listed)

which may be that the consumer standards have got wise to them there.

 

It is outrageous they are still managing to continue to trade over here.

 

Incidentally i think they are acting against every consumer standard in UK

in that their terms and conditions are not apparent until you have signed up,

you are misled as customer because there is no mention of this contract anywhere in the text,

they make it unnecessarily difficult to cancel,

there is no mechanism to complain.

 

 

Also i think some of their addresses are fictitious such as the returns address on the box

- when I queried this they said it was because they were using old packaging.

 

 

I think they do this to deliberately confuse the consumer or perhaps so they will give up even trying to return the goods.

 

So I have also learnt the hard way. Thanks for this trail because it really helped me...

 

I'll keep you posted

[dx100uk]

own thread created

 

 

dx

[scarfe66]

does anyone know their email address I need it for trading standards

[Bubblesrising]

does anyone know their email address I need it for trading standards

no I'm afraid I don't .. Only postal address of postbox in rugby !

[Josun1]

no I'm afraid I don't .. Only postal address of postbox in rugby !

 

 

Thanks - This a nightmare... I have had 2 payments taken from my account of £97.50 within 2 days of each other !!! Cellagenta.com and AW*beautemer.com !!! I have tried to e-mail and have written to the rugby address but no response.......

 

Now what. I have spoken and written to the bank (tesco) not very helpful there.:

[dx100uk]

cancelling your card is not the answer

 

 

you need to phone Tesco's and and tell them to cancel and refund under CPA

 

 

the FCA say they must do this.

 

 

see below

 

 

GENERAL NOTES ON CHARGEBACK & Continuous Payment Authority & BACS

.....

We have been telling people to put a letter into their bank instructing them

not to make any payments under any circumstances to these companies

.

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

usually this shuld be done using the numbe on your debit card

.

banks MUST follow written intructions from their customers !

.

This fsa guide has now been updated:

.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_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.

and that CANELLING YOUR CARD WILL NOT STOP THE CPA

.

..

.

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 they 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

.

Also mentioned your displeasure that as whomever took your money had obviously attempted this many times

probably activating your banks own anti fraud software - nobody had the decency to inform my you this was going on.?

.In the FSA's own words:

.

..

What should I do about a payment from my account that I didn’t authorise?

.

Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction.

Money can only be taken from your account if you have authorised the transaction

or if your bank can prove you were at fault –

see below.

Contact your bank immediately if you notice an unauthorised payment from your account.

If you are sure you did not authorise the payment, you can claim a refund.

However, your bank does not have to refund you if you do not tell it about the payment until 13 months

or more after the date it left your account.

.

Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction

.

------------------

.

Your bank may only refuse a refund for an unauthorised transaction if:

.

? it can prove you authorised the transaction

– though your bank cannot simply say that use of your password,

card and PIN proves you authorised a payment; or

? it can prove you are at fault because you acted fraudulently,

or because you deliberately,

or with gross negligence, failed to protect the details of your card, PIN or password in a way that allowed the transaction

.

-----------------------

.

How quickly must my bank refund me for an unauthorised transaction?

.

The bank must make the refund immediately unless it has evidence that one of the above reasons applies.

Your bank may ask you to answer some questions and fill out a form confirming what has happened,

but it cannot delay your refund while it waits for you to return the form.

If the bank has evidence that one of the above reasons for refusing a refund applies,

it may investigate before making a refund

but must look into it as quickly as possible.

If your bank rejects your claim for a refund it should explain why.

If the transaction was on a credit card, the refund may not happen immediately.

But the card issuer cannot charge interesticon or ask for repayment of the amount unless it can prove you are liable to pay

[/b]

[scarfe66]

will the bank that money was taken from still refund unauthorized payments even though the account has since been switched to another bank , does anyone know ?

[dx100uk]

any bank should refund any payments under cpa.

 

 

dx

[CEJones]

does anyone know their email address I need it for trading standards

 

 

 

 

EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL WHO NEED IT;

 

Stemologica [[email protected]]

[CEJones]

Stemologica [[email protected]]

 

 

This is their email address, but they are very awkward, and just keep telling you to pay their charges (£97, etc)

I had to cancel my bank card AND return their "free trial" back to them. It cost me ANOTHER £3.90 to return two products - one of which I did not order. Both arrived in the SAME package - but they charged me P&P for EACH of them!

 

 

The other (unordered) product was called Beautemer.

They operate THE SAME [problem] alongside Stemcella and their email address is Beautemer [[email protected]]

 

 

It is the so-called free trial that they charge £97 for, about two weeks after you receive it. MY bank were vigilant, and stopped the payment, but the tricksters tried again - so I stopped my card. I also "unchecked" the re-order tag on their website. This didn't stop them from threatening me to get me blacklisted for non-payment! I read their terms & conditions (a minute script that you have to MANUALLY call up) and they show a 30 day return policy. Luckily I am only 21 days in, so I returned both items to the return address SHOWN ON THE ITEM'S OWN DELIVERY PACKAGE. I have kept the whole stream of emails because I intend to forward the lot to Trading Standards.

 

 

I am only around £12 out of pocket, and I have learned a lesson!

[flofun]

Hello,

 

Please I fall for this.

 

Please which trading standard did you report to?

 

How do I report to the trading standard? do you have email address or contact details for the trading standard

 

Many thanks

[maroondevo52]

Hello,

 

Please I fall for this.

 

Please which trading standard did you report to?

 

How do I report to the trading standard? do you have email address or contact details for the trading standard

 

Many thanks

 

Hi,

 

You will find your local one in this 'link'.........

 

https://www.gov.uk/find-local-trading-standards-office

[Bazooka Boo]

It is also pointless communicating with this outfit, they only want your card details so they can continue to take

your money.

 

Deal direct with your bank, not only to get a full refund, but to cancel the CPA (continuous payment authority) which you gave the

company at the time of ordering.

 

And I wouldn't even waste your time in trying to send the rubbish back to them, they're not interested!