Shopper Discounts and Rewards review: Scam 137

I also have had a £10 debit on my credit card. I have already informed them and advised me that my subscription will be cancelled and I will get the money back.

I have had a £10 debit on my credit card. I intend telephoning them tomorrow, and hopefully I will get a credit for the £10 and they will cancel my subscription. I did not agree to any of this. It all started with me using Fragrance Direct. It will be the last time I will.

Hi

I cant understand why Shopperdiscounts.co.uk should be taking £10 from my Bank account. I want them to explain the reasons to me and possibly return my money because I have no business e=with them.

Thanks

promise

Whilst this is not a scam, it is evidently deliberately deceptive. I am usually very aware of the small print involved when dealing with purchases online, but SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK is very clever in the way it entices people in.

I luckily picked up on my charges after the first one and have since called their customer services number on [protected]. I have now cancelled my subscription and managed to organise a refund of my £10 charge. I recommend that anyone who has SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK charges on their bank statements that do not wish them to be there call this number, they are actually very helpful.

According to the customer advisor that I spoke to, the subscription occurs whilst paying for something online. There are a couple of tricks which allows SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK to slip through the nets of those that are usually sceptical of any smallprint and cheeky subscriptions. The first is that SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK is apparently a "genuine" enterprise, but only in the sense that it is technically not illegal. It therefore affiliates itself with big retailers (in my case, Pizza Hut). This is effective, as consumers will generally let their guard down to subversive marketing when it is associated with these big so-called trusted companies. The second trick they employ is that what they are actually offering is a "FREE 30-day Trial" of a service that provides "up to 20% cashback on purchases from big retailers" (whatever the hell that means). It isn't until much later that the charges start without warning. Of course SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK would argue that the warnings were crystal clear in the T&Cs, which is why they remain smugly legal, whilst essentially making money of unsuspecting consumers.

This is another example of companies attempting to take advantage out of people's naiveté to make a few quid and is, frankly, disgusting. What is more disgusting, however, is most certainly how these big enterprises that we could once rely upon for some level of decency, have allowed, nay, encouraged, this to happen.

Unless somebody actually makes money from SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK in this alleged "cashback" concept, or at least CONSCIOUSLY (foolishly?) subscribes to it, I suggest everybody remains vigilant and trust no-one (not even Pizza Hut).

|This is the second time I have been scammed by these people. This time for fifty pounds. First time was via Trainline website and second time was via Ticket master. I rang my bank and they logged a dispute. However having read the information on this page, I then rang The phone number for shopperdiscounts is [protected] option 3 and had monies refunded, they were very helpful, but they should be!

Just realised the scam from shoppers discounts. Why I never picked up on it before I don't know .Purchased from mymemory.co.uk and apparently got on to my shoppersdiscount through them!
Telephoned shoppers discount today.They are going to refund the last last three payments within the next 5 to 10 days. Will wait and see and let you all know the outcome.Just be aware of any "free" discount vouchers offers.It could only be for a limited period, then they start charging you!
gareth.

I have also been caught up in this mess but i am at this time pleased to say that the staff at shoppersdiscount are friendly and efficent more so than my bank surprisingly.
All it took for me to get my money back was to call and advise that my permission was not given 3x £10 will be paid back within 5-10 working days (so keeping a look out for that and they e-mailed me a claims form for the remainder very simple very friendly. Its just a shame that they dont make you aware of what you are agreeing to by taking the £15 further discount.
I guess it really is true. You get nothing in life for FREE! You can bet i wont be caught out so easily next time.

Same problem for me, called my credit card and they said they are unable to stop payment, I have to contact the company directly, luckily, I did get through and spoke to Katie! She said that I made a purchase through Ticketmaster and then was presented with a form for £15 voucher and this is how they get you, I told her I did not sign up for whatever her company's services were but anyway, she said she would close my account and refund to my cc the £30 they had stolen over the past three months, the number I called was [protected].

Thieves!

Hi

I posted last Wednesday (above) and just to let you know that they have now credited my account with all of the money they owed me.

Cheers

On 12 March 2010 I was deducted £10 from my debit card after booking a coach journey on behalf of a third party, im not interested in joining any discount club, nor would i agree to it, and if i did, why wasnt i told they would take money from my confidential card details without informing me. It fraud !
Steve A

Hello:

We want you to know that we’re here to help you. However, it’s difficult to do that in a public forum when we don’t know who each person is or the details of their membership. We can help you better and resolve your specific queries or concerns if you contact us directly. You can do so by calling our customer service team at [protected] (this is a free phone) or you can contact me directly at mary@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk. If you contact me, please reference this forum.

Thanks,

Mary

HAVE JUST CHECKED BANK ACCONT £10 DOWN THIS MONTH AND £10 DOWN LAST MONTH, HAVE PHONED ( SHOPPERDISCOUNTS ) AND HOPE I HAVE STOPPED IT . I DO NOT REMEMBER SIGNING UP TO PAY THEM ANYTHING. "WHAT A SCAM" AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT TO. AND YOU THINK IT WILL NOT HAPPEN TO YOU!

have just checked my bank account, i was £10 down this month and was £10 down last month, i never signed up with shopperdiscounts, think i have stopped it "i hope". you read this kind of thing but think it will not happen to you. WHAT A SCAM . and getting away with it to.

David L.

I was also "scammed" after a purchase through Pizza Hut on line. No mention at all of any fees, big issue here though is Pizza Hut passing details of credit/debit cards without customer permission.
Crazy how the shpopperdiscount site asks for your log in details and password when you dont even know it exists!

Contacted them by phone, agreed cancellation and refund, confirmed within minutes via e-mail. Have to wait 10 days to see if money is actually transferred back.

I am certainly going to complain to Pizza Hut about this.

Ianb

Hi
I just noticed this morning that I have also been caught out by this. After reading various comments I decided to email them to get my money back. I remember clicking to get £15 off my next purchase with Ticketmaster but didn't see anything about the money being debited and I am careful about what I agree to. (No doubt it would have been hidden in the small print somewhere.) I know that I should have picked up on this sooner and I just hope the money is credited. They are obviously expecting these sorts of emails as they got back to me in 25 minutes! It also seems relatively easy to get the money back - here's hoping.

I emailed to customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk:

"Hello

I have logged in to view my credit card statement which I very rarely use and I have noticed that you have debited £10 from my account for the past 5 months.

Under no circumstances did I agree to you debiting money from my credit card so I ask that you cancel this subscription immediately and refund the £50 that you have taken.

Below is my address so that you can bring up my details for cancellation and refund."

They replied with :

"This notice confirms that your Membership in Shopper Discounts & Rewards has been cancelled as of 16/03/2010.

Your cancel confirmation number is: xxxxxxxx.

We have issued a refund of your Membership fee. This refund will appear as a credit to your account within the next 10 working days.

Please let us know if your request was resolved to your satisfaction. All responses submitted will go to our Customer Service Director for review because your feedback is important to us.

If you would like to provide feedback, please click here.

Sincerely,

The Shopper Discounts & Rewards Team
customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk
[protected]"

They then sent me another email saying:

"As you requested during a recent contact with our customer service team on 16/03/2010, your membership with Shopper Discounts & Rewards was cancelled and you were provided a refund of your last 3 charges. It is our understanding that you have asked for an additional refund.

If you would still like to seek an additional refund we request that you complete the claim form available on our website. Please print out a copy, complete all details and either fax or post it to us :

Shopper Discounts & Rewards, PO Box 450, Sevenoaks, TN13 9HN.

Fax: [protected]

To assist you in completing your claim form, your cancellation reference number is: xxxxxxxx.

On receipt of your completed refund request form we will consider your claim and will respond to your refund request by email.

If you need any further assistance, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on our free phone number: [protected] or by email at customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk and we will be happy to help you.

Sincerely,

The Shopper Discounts & Rewards Team."

It has just happened to me also, I received my Credit Card Statement from Lloyds this morning only to find £10 has been taken out without my permission, I am at a loss as what to do or who to contact, is there an offial body out there who can deal with this, This is the second time for me, money was taken out by someone called FeelWell a company in the USA, but again trying to contact these People is a night-mare, about time the Web was policed in someway.
Ken

Dear John,
Thank you for contacting Shopper Discounts & Rewards.
Our records show that you or someone with access to your credit/debit card completed an online transaction with Interflora. After your transaction, you were offered the opportunity to join the Shopper Discounts & Rewards programme with a £15 cash back voucher and a 30 day free trial. Immediately next to the offer, the Offer and Billing Details were displayed. By entering your name, address and credit or debit card details and then clicking on the 'yes' button to accept the offer, you authorised us to charge the monthly membership fee of £10 pounds to the credit card or debit card that was provided after your free trial period ended.
This membership has been cancelled as of the 10/03/2010 and we have issued three refunds of £10 pounds for the membership fees charged. Your refund will be credited to your credit card or debit card account within the next 10 working days.
If you require further assistance, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on our free phone number: [protected] Monday-Friday 8am-8pm and Saturday 9am-4pm.
Sincerely,

Gill
305020
The Shopper Discounts & Rewards Team
customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk
[protected]
This email is from Webloyalty International Limited ("Webloyalty"). Webloyalty is a limited company registered in England, company number [protected] and its registered office is at Po Box 450, Tubs Hill House, London Road, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN13 1BL, United Kingdom.

Hi, I to have been RIPPED OFF by "SHOPPER DISCOUNTS and REWARDS .co.uk" also" MY TIME REWARDS.co.uk"When claiming the £15 discount voucher back after booking a flight with BMI BABY.I have been charged £10. MEMBERSHIP FEE for this months fees by both companys.RING THIS NUMBER [protected], do not choose the three options given WAIT for the customer adviser DEMANT CANCELATION and CREDIT of all fees and membership.They cancelled mine, If you have JOINED! RING NOW .[protected].

I HAD £10 TAKEN OUT OF MY ACCOUNT ALSO, I RANG THEM TO COMPLAIN AND THEY SAID WHEN I BOUGHT CLOTHES FROM M+M DIRECT I HAD AGREED TO JOIN THERE SCHEME .
I NEVER REALISED IT WAS GOING TO COST ME MONEY TO SAVE A LITTLE .
THEY AGREED TO CANCEL MY ACCOUNT AND REFUND THE £10, IM WAITING TO SEE IF THIS HAPPENS I WILL KEEP YOU ALL POSTED

I too have has the same situation with and am disgusted by the whole thing. I noticed it on my fathers credit card account as I was helping him sort his finances out. Can these companies not be stopped?

Reported this to the OFT tonight also as I'm out of the timescale for distance selling etc.

I have just noticed this after making a purchase through Ticketmaster. I rang my bank (who were fab) and have disputed the transactions. I also rang the company involved and they gave me a refund for the three charges. BUT I've had to cancel my bank card - what a nightmare, they should be compensating me for this inconvenience grrrrrrrrr Can't believe this scam is allowed to continue

Don't bother reading over-long long letter, but if your defences were down when you were on the trusted ebookers website, only for ebookers to scam you by sending your credit card details onto another company, you might to tell ebooker's boss what you think of them

Attn Mr Tamer Tamar MD
Ebookers.co.uk
Group Headquarters
5th Floor, Fleetway House
EC2A 4AB London

A complaint of Ebookers abusing my trust in their brand by passing on my credit card details to shopperdiscounts. ebookers have passed my credit card details on to a third party

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

Dear sir,

Please will you post me a copy of the small print that you publish on your website and the procedure that you use on the internet when you allow your customer’s credit card details to be sent to Shopperdiscounts.

I’m sure your small print has been very tightly looked and is technically legal, My annoyance is that I bought an airline ticket from ebookers and you have given all my credit card details to another company.

The ethics of that stinks. You must know from a quick look at the internet that nearly every one of the customers that you scam like this considers your company with distaste. You spend a fortune advertising for customers & then throw them away over a scam worth a few dollars. I suspect that a marketing department within Ebookers is parasiting on your brand name. That department might be making a healthy profit, but at what expense to the Ebooker name.

I’ve no problem that ebookers should try and make more profits by transferring it’s customers to a third party. I would not mind too much if some personal details leaked out. But if a financial commitment is being made to that third party direct from your trusted website, I think ebookers should be ashamed.

I expect that ebookers would make sure that my credit card details would need to be re-entered onto this new company’s website. If I then decide to pay a discount club £120 a year membership it’s up to me and I can’t blame ebookers for it. If this was not a scam, I’d expect shopperdiscounts to ask me to pay my new £10 monthly subscription straight away.

Shopperdiscounts’s product is an quite open & blatant scam. A quick net search shows I can get the same or better discounts completely free from many other discounts companies.

I’ve added my complaint to the growing file at the Office of Fair Trading. The Information Commissioner's Office have asked me to send them your small print. While they agree with me you are doing is probably technically legal. They would like to consider if the rules can be amended, to make abusing customers in this way illegal.

I don’t know what you gained from this tacky scam, I hope it was worth it, as I won’t be buying more long haul tickets from ebookers again. My holidays are too important and too expensive to trust them to a company with the ethics of ebookers, who are prepared to scam me for a few pounds with their small print. I’m annoyed, I trusted you, I was on your internationally known web site and my normal ‘anti-scam internet defences’ were down. I trusted your small print to be open & fair, you abused that trust.

Please send me the details requested above

Seems it was Ebookers that passed my credit card details over to ShopperDiscounts.

They've got a few quid profit out of me, but I'll not use Ebookers again.

You can leave a message telling ebookers your opinion of their scam on thier feedback form on
http://as00.estara.com/surveys/survey.php?survey=ebookers5016
you don't need to fill in the form (unless you want to award them blanket negative comments). Only tell them they've destroyed their reputation & lost you as a future customer in section 7 & push send

just got a £10 scam charge & feel a mugged mug.

Not sure where I got contaminated with this, perhaps Ryanair? Seems SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK collects all your credit card details from the trusted company that you have just bought something from, so you have no idea that you are purchasing something else.

Everything that ShopperDiscounts offer are available for free on other discount sites, so it's an outright scam : The main criminals are the sites that use the goodwill of their name to allow this firm to parasite off of their customers. Presumably they get a large chunk of the money stolen.

I've passed complaint to OFT

On the plus side it seems at least this parasite makes it easy to stop future payments. Takes 2 minutes on automated system phone [protected].

If you got scammed, please leave a message, the more complaints the better

The last post on this was over two months ago. I've just found the same deduction after ordering some flowers from Interflora. How on earth can a major company like Interflora compromise its reputation by getting involved in this sort of thing?

complain to the OFT to stop this [protected]

I too fell for this on ebookers site. All I did was tick a box and enter my email for a further discount with ebookers if i booked again within 30 days. I did not give my credit card details to shopperdiscounts.co.uk, I was unaware that ebookers would pass on my credit card details I used for my booking onto shopperdiscounts.co.uk. shopperdiscounts.co.uk then deducted £10 per month until I realised.

I have since contacted the Office of Fair trading which I advise everyone effected to do...[protected] they have told me they will refer shopperdiscounts.co.uk to trading standards if they receive enough complaints.

Lets stop this from happening again!

complain to the OFT to stop this [protected]

I have had similar problems but the telephone system is now working and a very helpful lady has cancelled my subscription and refunded my payments. Choose the 3rd option when you call. As they have my credit card number I must have signed up for the 30-day free trial but then forgot to cancel it. I was unaware that they would deduct £10 per month. I found their offer on the Ebookers site but did not purchase anything there.
John R

I also made a purchase online with Ryanair and after a while got charged by £10, due to Xmas period I didn't paid enough attention to it, but after a short investigation I realised that other people had fallen under the same trick. I went to the website and requested a cancellation of the service, they have given me a ref number and said that I will get a refund shortly. Will keep you posted!

Same hapeened to me and can't get hold of them due to weather. Joke and should be illegal!

i Have made a purchase from a reputable on line company wizz air, I have just noticed 5 charges to my account from shopperdiscounts,

I have just noticed 2 charges to my account from shopperdiscounts and mytimerewards but have no idea how they have got my details or i have joined their 'scheme' as the only site i have bought anything off is ebay!

Is it time to stop this?

PLEASE HELP STOP IT

I have been reading over this after noticing SHOPPERSDISCOUNT.CO.UK on my statements.

I think it is time it was stopped and that means that means it has to break through public awareness so that no one using any of the respectable feeder sites will click on them and that no respectable website will associate with them or with any new incarnation.

I propose that a lot of people take their statements, their bank cards and anything with the names and logos of the companies that introduced them to SHOPPERSDISCOUNT.CO.UK and go and calmly queu up togather at their offices* after inviting the press. Remember how dramatic the Northern Rock pictures were?

I think their address is Sevenoaks in Kent so there must be hundreds of people close enough to that who have been conned.

If you think this is a reasonable approach please pass this sugestion on to anyone you know who has been affected and ask them to do so. It is one of these things that if one person passes it on to two or three others and they too pass it on to two or three others each there could soon spread.

If it seems worth a go then please make sure it happens.

I will set up a blog site or something to gather responses. I want to know how many tenners these people have been getting every month for nothing, how many they might get from Christmas shoppers and travellers, and I want them remembered so no-one is stung again.

I believe they manage to operate by being reasonable to those who notice it and ask for their refunds with one hand while fleecing plenty of new cusotmers with the other so it is time to stop the new customers.

Contact Us -
Mail: Shopper Discounts & Rewards
P.O. Box 450
Sevenoaks, Kent,
TN13 9HN

Phone: Customer Service
[protected]
Mon-Fri
Sat
8 AM - 8 PM
9 AM - 4 PM

*PS it looks like their physical address is less easy to get so a queue of hundreds holding letters to post st the Seven Oaks GPO might be the next best image.

I too, booked my flight tickets via Rynair and noticed a £10 charge on my debit card. I rang SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK [protected]) and explained that I did not subscribe to a membership. I was told that a £15. cash voucher had been sent to me as a 'thank you' for subscribing to their membership. I explained I would not pay £10 pm. They were, I must say extremely helpful after I said that I was looking at this sight and agreed to refund me three of the five months I had paid and that the payments would appear in my bank account within 10 days. So watch this space. Good luck everyone in reclaiming your charges.

I have also been caught out whilst buying from a reputable company, i have asked my bank to cancel the card i used and send another so that no more transactions can come out of the one they have targetted. The Bank are now investigating on my behalf. I also tried to call shopperdiscount.co.uk and they ask for your credit card number in order for them to cancel with them, do not give them your details i have a very horrible feeling more money will be taken if you do.

Sally

I have just noticed £10 debited from my credit card, and checking back I have discovered that they have done it 8 times! So I have been charged £80, without my consent, and for what? And how did they do it? I read everything very carefully so it is a very devious and fraudulent trick. I will pursue all the avenues recommended by previous posters to get my money back. Why doesn't someone do something about this? It just can't be legal to obtain money from people by trickery!

I was also conned into signing for a £15 off the next order, and found that i had been
charged £10 on my credit card.I never agreed to this charge, and i think that Trading Standards should take note of the number of complaints that this company are fraudulently debiting.

Happened to me when I purchased an item through Misco. What a scam. I think the affiliated companies that allow it are no better...Ryanair, Misc0, interflora etc..Disgrace

I have just spoken to SHOPPERDISCOUNTS.CO.UK after noticing a £10 charge to my credit card. They said I had agreed to this after buying airline tickets with Ryanair. They went on to say there have been 3 charges made on my card. I told them I did not knowingly join their scheme. I have asked for a full refund and cancel all future charges.They have agreed and said confirmation of the refund and cancellation would be sent via email ( I got a reference number for the cancellation verbally just in case) . No email as yet but if it isn't here by the end of the day I will raise a dispute with my credit card company.

This has caused me no end of aggro. I cannot contact them, their number says "cannot accept calls from your area...". I have had to cancel my card and am in the process of changing my card details with about 10 of my suppliers...BIG headache! The better news is, I'm working about 200 yds from their office next week, so a little visit will be in order.