Variety of Leisure Club - Miss Sold Membership **BANK REFUNDED**

[flexeh]

Hi All,

 

I'm here again, as its something to do with my other half.

 

 

She has been doing some surveys and stuff on the phone recently and got offered a "free" 10£ fuel voucher.

all they asked for was postage fee and that's it, she paid the fee over the phone by card.

 

We went away before christmas and returned late 23rd and found a letter saying she had enrolled into an annual membership.

I queried it with her and she said the advisor never said nothing about a membership

and she confirmed only payment that would be taken would be the postage cost.

Company shut till 4th Jan.

 

Even though they miss sold this membership they Also they seem to be breaking their terms of the product also,

in reference to payment being taken after the cooling off period.

heres the site their terms are listed below http://www.volclub.co.uk/

 

spoke to CAB about it today and have wrote this.

Dear Variety of Leisure Club,

 

I am a bit upset that I’ve had to contact yourselves about this, as I feel one of your representatives has misled me and miss sold me a product I did not agree to.

 

I received a call on the 14th December at 16:20 saying that I was entitled to a free £10 fuel voucher for participating in a survey.

During the call I was asked for my card details as there would be a £2.78 charge for postage.

I queried with the advisor that no additional funds would be taken, and they were not signing me up to anything,

they advised that only the £2.78 would be taken and they would send me a few leaflets out also.

 

On 23rd December after returning home from visiting family for the week, I

opened my mail and found a letter from yourselves dated 14th December advising that I had been signed up to a membership plan,

that would cost £78.22 per annum, and in the terms it said that we had a 14 day cooling off period before a membership fee was taken.

I spoke to my partner’s brother who was staying at our house who advised the letter arrived on the 17th December.

I tried to get in touch the next day but it advised you had shut down for Christmas and did not return to work until 4th January.

 

Also on Christmas Eve I noticed that my bank had £78.22 deducted from my account,

which was without my permission and against your terms which states under point 7.

 

Full membership payment is due after the 14 day cooling off period ends, providing you have not cancelled your membership during this time.

Annual membership begins at the point of sale.

This product is provided at the annual price of £78.22.

Payments that fall on irregular days, bank holidays and so on will in most cases be collected on the following working day.

These fees are inclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT) where applicable.

The postage and packaging cost of £2.78 will be charged to the payment card registered to your account at point of sale.

If you have any questions regarding payments, please get in touch with our team.

 

The membership fees for the service I’ve been miss sold has come out the account 10 days after the phone call where my payment details have been taken.

Whereby you advise that membership payment will only be taken after the cooling off period of 14 days, which breaches your own terms and conditions.

 

As you’re closed until 4th January, that would take it well beyond the 14 day cooling off period

however I would expect you to honour the cancellation of membership

and also refund to my account due to the Christmas period and Bank Holidays.

As the letter was received to our household on 17th I have been advised by the CAB

that the cooling off period would start from 17th December as this would be when we received our correspondence with yourselves.

If you disagree with the date received,

I can only assume that due to the Christmas post the letter was delayed,

but even if you did expect the letter to arrive next day (15th) today would be the last day of the cooling off period.

So please cancel my membership and refund money taken without my permission.

If there is any confusion on the date from your part,

please look at the letter addressed to me, I

also have the call logs to show when contacted by one of your advisor's.

 

I have spoken to the bank this morning and instructed them that there’s a possibility that we would need to complete a chargeback

depending on communication with yourselves, as money has been taken out of my account without my permission.

I advised them that I gave consent to £2.78 for postage and packaging for a Fuel voucher, but not to a membership fee.

After reviewing the account, my banking advisor is concerned you will try and take further payments each month.

He has put a note on the account to monitor and to block any further transactions.

 

If there is any issue with cancelling my membership and returning my £78.22,

can you advise me on where to send a Subject Access Request,

so I can obtain all details you hold on me including the call,

your advisor advised is recorded.

As then I will look to lodge a complaint with the Financial Conduct Authority, Trading Standards and the Information Commissioners Office.

I then will also instruct my bank to go ahead to recover the money for your company.

 

To Reiterate:

 

• I did not agree to a membership you have set me up on.

• The advisor confirmed only £2.78 will be taken out my account, nothing more.

• No membership or opt out was offered to me.

• Payment of £2.78 taken 16th Dec and Unauthorised membership payment taken out my account 24th December. Despite terms on letter stating 14 days before a membership fee taken.

• You have breached own contract about when payment is taken.

• Currently in cooling off period and would like cancellation and full refund.

• CAB state that cooling off period starts when pre contractual information is sent to customer – Date received in household 17th.

 

I look forward to hearing back from you on 4th January. With a full explanation on what action your company will take on miss selling to customers, and sorting out my cancellation and full refund.

 

Regards

 

Is what CAB are telling me right? and how long should call recordings be kept should they refuse refund?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[fkofilee]

Cooling off period is good and also you can do a chargeback with the bank

[dx100uk]

actually id go ring your bank up again

and do that chargeback and also get them to cancel the CPA attached to the account under these fleecers name.

 

 

dx

[flexeh]

is the letter ok as well guys? whats a CPA dx100uk

[flexeh]

also sorry if not allowed but found this also. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4777791

[citizenB]

is the letter ok as well guys? whats a CPA dx100uk

 

CPA = Continuous Payment Authority.

[dx100uk]

sorry the link didn't post

 

 

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 should be done using the number on your debit card

.

banks MUST follow written intructions from their customers !

.

CANCELLING YOUR DEBIT CARD DOES NOT STOP CPA'S

.

This fsa guide has now been updated:

.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_guide.pdf

http://www.fca.org.uk/news/continuous-payment-authorities-your-right-to-cancel

.

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.”

.

.

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 interest or ask for repayment of the amount unless it can prove you are liable to pay

 

 

 

dx

[flexeh]

Hi Guys,

 

Bank was being awkward and didnt really seem keen.

 

Had to push to get them to help they classed it as a retail dispute instead of a fraudulent transaction.

 

In the end wrote in to CEO office providing all evidence including how this firm have breached their own T&C's that we didnt sign up for.

the £278 being the point of sale and then 14 day cooling off period.

POS was 16th and membership funds taken 24th.

 

CEO office were very good.

Email sent at 16:30

phone call next day 10:30 apologising that the bank havent been as helpful as they should of been.

They have refunded the money plus a bit more to say sorry.

 

Would be a bonus if the VOL refund the money as well now

because the email i sent them was advising they breached T&C's and i was going to FCA

[dx100uk]

hey well dome

[citizenB]

Excellent news

[belebele]

Hi flexeh,

I have simmilar problem, and would like to get you advice, but I can't send you a private message.

 

Here is my thread...

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?460997-Miss-Sold-Membership

Edited March 7, 2016 by Andyorch
Link to thread added

[AndyOrch]

Hi belebele

 

I have added your thread link to the above.flexeh will be aware that you have posted here by way of a notification and may respond...either here or on your thread.

We require all advice to be kept on the thread rather than by PM.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[belebele]

Thank you Andy