Latest Complaints/Claims

I recently tried to sort out my debt problems and was looking for a consolidation loans and went through Yes Loans. I was led to believe that I had been accepted for a loan and so paid the admin fee of £69.50. They then put me through to Money Worries and I discovered that I had no loan approved and they were offering me a debt management plan. This caught me off guard and after a rather lenghty call (which cost me over £10) I initially agreed to a debt management plan and to pay £469 per month. When I received the paperwork, I discovered that the first 2 payments totalling £938 were their set up fee and nothing would be going to my creditors and then they would also be taking 15% each month as their fee. This I thought was totally unacceptable and after reseraching other alternatives, I agreed to a plan with Payplan which is a free service. I did not send any paperwork back signed so thought that the agreement was void. I then decided to call to advise that he did not want to go ahead and ensure that no payments were taken off my debit card. I tried on several occassions and was on hold for so long that I gave up and then emailed them. I tried again and eventually spoke to an agent and she advised me that she would cancel the plan and confirmed that no payment would be taken and I just needed to be put that in writing. I did this immediately and posted on 25/06. On 26/06, they took a payment for £469 from my account which unfortunately did not have sufficient funds meaning that I am now over my overdraft limit and accruing charges and interest. I contacted them and asked why they had taken the payment and they advised that I did not give sufficient time to cancel and would now need to apply in writing for a refund which could take 28days!!! So they can take a payment from a verbal agreement but cannot refund unless you write in - totally unacceptable.

I have now been calling every day to see if my letters have been received which they have not - they seem to have a very slow admin team. I have sent another letter recorded delivery today so i know that they have received it.

I asked to speak to a senior member of staff and was told that nobody was available. I am now awaiting somebody to call me back as requested that a senior member of staff call me back by the end of today. I am not going to let this lie - and want my money refunded asap with any charges that I have incurred.

This company is unethical and illegal as far as Im concerned and pray on people in difficult situations. My dealings with money worries have only created stress and further money worries rather than the opposite that they advise.

Please do not use Yes loans or Money Worries as they are incompetent and scam artists praying off people in difficult times.

I,like many others,it seems,had free sample health products sent to me,and payed for the delivery charge up front. A month later, two amounts of £49.91+£1.50 card charges, were taken from my bank account,and a month after that, two amounts of, £53.53 + £1.50 were taken. My bank is currently looking into this. And,again like many others,i cannot contact this company,although they are, boldly,advertising on the internet. How can these people be stopped ?

Hi all.

I'm currently in yet another dispute with Nationwide Autocentre. I'm happy in resolving it myself as I have done it so many times before. However, these problems have been going for over 5 years with several different cars and now I have simply had enough of them so I'm going to do everything I possibly can to advise people to stop using them.

Basically, I would like anyone who has also had a problem with Nationwide Autocentre to post their issue on this thread. I intend to use this as a source of information for the likes of Trading Standards, Health & Safety Executive, Watchdog and the Nationwide Partnering Manager at The AA.

I want this lousey company sorted out once and for all because I believe they are ripping people off and many of these people have no idea what's happening to them.

Anyway. Here's an email I sent recently to one of their Regional General Managers. It's a shocker:

************************************************** *****

Dear Jon,

Thank you for telephoning me earlier and apologies for being agitated on the phone, as I know you do not have all the facts yet about what has been happening, so I will happily update you. Firstly, please do not be put off by the length of this email. Once you have read it, I'm sure you'll agree, that given the detail of what has happened, it is very concise and very important that you are made aware.

I have been waiting for Andy Webb to contact me all week and have been telephoning the head office and have spoken with Donna and one or more of her colleagues on separate occasions, trying to find out why I have not been contacted.

Late last week Andy and myself agreed that an employee would inspect our vehicle to complete an assessment of what has happened. We also agreed that Andy would contact me early in the week so we could discuss a way forward once he had received his report from the employee who inspected the car.

The employee who inspected the car was also called Andy and advised me that the car should not be driven. He advised me that he was certain that the car had been "driven with some considerable force directly into a pavement at a slight angle". This has caused extensive damage to both front wheel rims which he explained would require replacement along with two new tyres.

Andy went on to explain that he was deeply concerned about the quality of the major service, MOT and 4 wheel tracking that had been carried out at the Maidstone branch. His verbal report to me was very detailed, but in brief he explained that the wheel balancing had not been carried out correctly, the coolant system had not been drained and refilled, the oil had an insufficient level in the engine, a rear wiper that had been charged at an additional cost had not been fitted to the car. You will find full and further details in Andy's report.

When I collected the car from the Maidstone branch after the major service, MOT and 4 wheel tracking I was shocked at what I discovered. My partner and I were handed an invoice for the works without an MOT certificate, emissions certificate or the service schedule. It took one lengthy discussion with Richard, branch manager, and two additional phone calls with him in order to obtain all of these documents over the subsequent 7 days.

My shock turned to disbelief when my partner, who owns the car in question, asked that I test drive the car as it felt completely different and even felt unsafe. It was clear that
something was significantly wrong with the car and an initial inspection of the car revealed
that several items had not been attended to as part of the said works.

I contacted Richard at the Maidstone branch and we agreed that the car be returned
immediately so that the original works could be carried out. These works were never done and it was only when Andy visited us to inspect the car that he took it to the Strood branch to carry out the works himself.

Once the car was returned from Strood, it was clear that although most of the remedial works
had been carried out, there was still something very wrong with the car that had been there
since it had been at the Maidstone branch. This is what prompted further discussions with
Andy Webb about what had happened with the two front wheels.

The question at the point is why did Andy Webb not only not contact me this week, but did not return any of my calls, even just to say that he was not going to pursue this any further.
This is when he knew full well that we had yet to agree a refund on the works that had not
been carried out, ie. coolant system. Andy provisionally said that he would offer a 50%
discount on our next service. You can probably imagine what my reaction was at this point.

This is where things become deeply troubled; over a year ago I was in discussion with Alan
Stenning who had to step in to resolve an issue I had with the Sturry branch who single
handidly managed to ruin my previous car by incorrectly rewiring it when they replaced the
clutch. The car would not start most of the time for circa 9 months. At first the car went
in to the Strood garage because although I then used to live in Margate, because the car
broke down in Margate, it went to the Sturry branch but subsequently went to Strood because I then worked in Chatham.

The Strood branch were given the opportunity to rectify the damage done to the wiring but
failed to fix it and refused to take any action. After that I had an electrical specialist
discover that the earthing cable had not been fitted correctly to the gear box and clutch
system. A mistake which the specialist described as "amatuer". He was so concerned that he even gave me further contact details and notes so that Nationwide could discuss the issue
with him.

I asked for Nationwide to cover the cost of the new battery that was fitted, time spent on
identifying the fault and the work by the specialist in isolating the problem and fixing it.
Nationwide refused several times over until I escalated the matter to Alan Stenning, who
having had opportunity to examine the facts, was clear in his mind that Nationwide had
delivered an appaling service.

I explained to Alan at the time that I believed he didn't know the half of it when I then
went on to explain how one time when I collected the same car from the Sturry branch after a service my girlfriend and I nearly lost control of the car and crashed because the underside
engine guard had not been replaced correctly by the garage. It fell onto the road and the
car swerved onto the verge.

At that point I was reimbursed by Alan and he gave me assurances that this sort of thing
would not happen again and that I should contact him directly next time I wanted to book my
car in at Nationwide, so that he could oversee the process personally.

Naturally I had many reservations about doing such a thing, until my partner Katie Nichols
asked that she wanted her car to have a major service, MOT and tracking, so I promised her
that Alan Stenning would take care of it. I tried telephoning him but his number was no
longer in operation. I believed at that time that he had left the company.

I have been made to look like a complete fool because of the assurance I passed on to my
partner from Alan. Over the past five years I have used Nationwide extensively and you will
see that I have spent a considerable amount of money for your service and every time I have
been delivered an appaling, rude, arrogant, inadequate service. Every branch I have used has
had problems which have required the intervention of senior management in order to resolve.
5 years later after more failed promises I find myself in an even worse position with
Nationwide than when I was told things would be improved at Branch level.

Given the extreme seriousness of these events I have been left with no choice but to report
Nationwide to the police for theft of money - the refund which has not been provided to my
partner Katie Nichols - and the criminal damage to the car which must have happened when I
returned the car to the Maidstone branch. I know that in whole this is a civil matter which
the police will not themselves investigate, but I will be discussing it with my solicitor in
order to ensure that legal action is taken.

In addition to this I will provide a full and comprehensive report to trading standards, the national and local press, internet motoring forums and do I everything I can to ensure that consumers do not use Nationwide at all.

I now ask for you to check my account of events with both Alan Stenning, Andy who has
inspected the car, the Sturry, Strood and Maidstone branch and Andy Webb, and then invite you to call me and offer a pragmatic solution to this entire mess which has left my partner with a car she can no longer drive. I will later request a written apology to Kate from the chief executive of Nationwide.

There is clearly a lot that you can do to try in someway to rectify this and there is much
that I hope I can explain in further detail about this to you that will help Nationwide in
preventing this sort of thing happening again. Thank you for your time. I look forward to
hearing from you.

My details are as follows:
Mob: XXXXX XXXXXX (available at any time)
Address: XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX
Kate's car: XXXX XXX
My previous car: XXXX XXX

Kindest regards
Tom Billingham

************************************************** *****

We purchased Take That tickets on 2nd Feb 09 for this comming friday 3rd July, but have not received tickets, have emailed but no response not any reply to phone numbers. looking at other's comments, we aint gonna get them! were absolutely gutted.

I bought a pair of size 12 'CROCS' from CLOGGIS LTD via their website, paid by debit card.  Shoes arrived, they were size 12 but way too small.  I contacted the company, by email explained that they were not suitable and asked for refund.  The company told me that they do not do refunds but only 'credit notes'.  As the item was the maximum size they provided and there was no suitable alternative, i explained to them that a 'credit note' not only was it not legal but it was useless to me, and insisted politely that they refund my money in full.  They now refuse to acknowledge my many emails on the subject and are hiding behind their illegal terma and conditions which refuse reunds.  They are a very uncooperative and uncommunicative company probably run from a private house somewhere as the email address is a hotmail address.   One to be avoided at all costs.

This company are not honest. DO NOT deal with them. If they can steal your money and not give a service in return they will. They took my deposit, didnt have a vehicle available and now wont return the money.

I ordered 2 laser toners 10-6-09 paid by credit card. i've phoned them 4 times, told that someone would phone or email me but was not given a name. later emailed them asking for a answer then i got a email on 20-06 saying"Thank you for your e mail. I have located your order and will arrange to have this shipped Monday. We will e mail you to confirm this and provide courier tracking details and numbers etc.kind regards,
Sarah Fraser. 24th June emailed back askin which Mon. Phoned to speak to Sarah told not in and the "Boss" was in a meeting but i did get an email saying "Date Ordered: Wednesday 10 June, 2009
The comments for your order are: Dear Mr Burgees,
Thank you for your call. I am sorry I was unable to take your call in
person. We have loacted your order and will arrange to have these shipped
out to you. We will e mail you to confirm this and provide courier details
etc.
We are sorry for the delay and issues with your order.
Kind regards,
Gordon Anderson.
  Today 1-7-09 phoned again was told Sarah not there and Gordo on another call and would call back. 

i spoke to a richard robrts...i was told i was approved for a loan for 5,000, told me my credit was not good, thru, no fault of my own and that he could help....i was asked to send 898.00 for a good faith payment to secure my loan...and i would receive my money in 5 days... that was 4 weeks ago...i have called, all i get is a voice message, and to enter the extention i want..i do a mans, voice comes on and it records my name etc.  i never hear back from these people...is there any way to recover my money????

ordered video professor, they debited my account for 189.00. i called their customer service, was told to just return the cds, and it takes about 21 days for the credit of my account.....sent the ebay starter kit back...then they debited my account a second time for 189.00...for another cd, called again, was told it would be corrected...it never was...i had to close my checking account...so they could not get any more money...

On 7 June 2009 I fell for the "free trial" offer for Acaiberry Detox where all you have to pay is shipping and handling for a 30 day supply.  I did read the fine print that the free trial was really only 15 days from the day you placed the order (I'm sure designed to screw people over) and that you had to call to cancel within that time or be charged for the product ($87.13).  I received the product around 11 June 2009.  Beginning on that day I began calling the Customer Service number listed to cancel.  I spent a huge amount of time each day and at varying times during the day to try to cancel this order and not be charged.  I was never able to reach a service representative or gain access on the automated system to cancel the order.  Low and behold, on 22 June 2009, Expressberry charged my credit card for $87.13.   Today, 30 June 2009, I was finally able to gain access through the automated line after over two hours of trying.  I was never truly able to confirm that my order was indeed cancelled or to try to get a refund of my money since I was NEVER able to cancel within the 15 day period.   I called my credit card company who informed me that this has been on ongoing problem and that I could dispute this charge.   They felt, and I agree, that this company willfully and purposely makes it impossible to be able to cancel this order during the "free" trial period.  What a rip-off.  And to think that Oprah, her beloved Dr. Oz and Rachel Ray lend their names to the huge scam.  They should all be ashamed.   I feel like a complete idiot! 

Ordered a 2 week free trial offer only  to paying for shipping for shipping at $3.95. It stated if you cancel within two weeks you will not be charged any additional fees. I cancelled a week after ordering the product. Thought why not try it if Oprah and Rachael Ray like it must be pretty good. I open my bank statement today and to my surprise I had been charged $88.00 for a product that I had cancelled.  I want my $88.00 dollars back from a fraudulant company. Do not do business with this company if you do they will rip you off too.

this company promised to pay off all my creditors in 5yrs, they took £320 from my bank as a S/O every monty for the past two and a half years ,whenever i spoke to them they assured me that all my creditors had been paid even though i was still getting phone calls and lettersfrom them. carter and carter said that the creditors do this as they want to try and get more money from you, so as they were assuring me i didnt think anything of it , until i tried calling them , spent nearly 90 mins on hold and then cut off ,tried phoning again to find the phone lines dead then i went to pay a visit at their offices at mansion house to find that they had just vanished.i am just devastated to find out they only paid a few of my creditors small  amounts andpocketed the rest.has anyone else had this problem?? have reported to police , trading standards and watchdog.

I paid a deposit on an engine I bought from Engine Warehouse.  The old engine was returned on 22 April.  Since then I have currently telephoned 27 times to ask to get my refund.  Each time I am given excuses or they hang up.  I have been told there is only one person who can do refunds - he is either ill, gone to hospital, on holiday, just popped out, only works Thursdays or agrees to refund the next day; which of course has not happened.  They have many times put me through to a line which no-one answers.  When you ask for someone's name they give you the name but when you ring back and ask for that person the person who answers does not know anyone of that name.  I believe they have no intention of refunding my money.  I went to my local police station and they said it was Internet Fraud and they could take up the case if I wanted.  The policeman said he thought they had been on Watchdog.

I bought 2(two)train tickets-one day return,london to sheffield but missed my way to the train terminus and in the process missed the train.i was unable to get a refund,not even the return journey from sheffield to london which was still 41/2 hours away.i believe that was unjust enrichment on the part of national rail

Trial sample ordered 6/1/09, received 6-/12, & cancelled by phone the same day because it was opened and pill bottle tampered with. TripleupHerbal's (QualityHealth's) customer service vowed to email instructions for returning within 24-48 hours and credit my account $3.95. A second phone call with the same results made 6-15-09. Instructions still did not come. Called Bank of America 6/17/09 to inform them of this & asked the charges be removed. Told I needed to wait 30 days. I expressed concern about Tripleuherbal proceeding with charging my account $79.95 plus foreign transaction fees if Bank of America did not put a stop to it. Told I would have to cancel directly with Tripleuherbal. Catch 22: company is unreachable.

Called & emailed numerous times since then. All calls either not answered, busy or right into ‘Hold mode', with my staying on the line for over 20 minutes each time before giving up.  "Contact Us" on the website erases the fields as soon as I press "Submit Query".
There is no return address on the package. 6/29/09 the post office attempted to find a return address via the bar code on the package with no success. Post office will not return without one & Bank of America will not process dispute without proof of efforts to return. Another Catch22! 

Which brings me to another complaint. There are thousands of these scams posted on internet. The credit card companies MUST be well aware of who these scammers are, & continue to put their customers through stressful and tedious process of dispute. 

The only correspondence received from this company was an email dated 6-21-09 (10 days after I cancelled by phone), stating, "As you have not emailed us that you would like to return us the unused portion of the pills at the end of 15 days, we thank you for the acceptance of our product and we have now charged your order VRZ-303-0134407641 $79.95 for the product received." I immediately replied, and again, have not had any response.

I had ordered Resveratrol for the .99 trial offer an now have been charged $87.13 which I don't have! I have finally got through and I'm screaming on the phone! The man (i had asked to talk to a supervisor) said his name was Jack Lawrence Jr., he said their address was 314 E. Dania Beach Blvd. Dania, FL 33004, I could hardly understand him. Hope this helps!!!

You can't get anyone on the phone to cancel your subscription or to find out where to return a package you don't want!

odered a 15 day free trial at the end of the trial accept or not. The product did not arrive until day 21 or so. $79.00 was taken out of my account on day 16. numerous attempt to contact by phone andemail only get run around

I ORDERED THE BRIGHT TEETH WHITENING KIT IN APRIL 2OO9 AS PART OF A COMBINED TRIAL OFFER WITH EASY WHITE TEETH WHITENING.  I WAS ABLE TO FIND THE DETAILS OF WHEN TO RETURN THE EASY WHITE KIT AND RETURNED IT WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS.  I WAS NOT CHARGED ANYTHING.  BRIGHT TEETH DID NOT MAKE CLEAR HOW LONG THE TRIAL OFFER WAS  AND CHARGED $78.00 FOR THE INITIAL KIT AND SENT OUT ANOTHER ONE CHARGING MY CREDIT CARD ANOTHER $83.00.   WHEN I CALLED RIGHT AWAY TO RETURN THAT KIT I WAS TOLD IT WAS TOO LATE MY CARD HAD ALREADY BEEN CHARGED AND THEY WOULD NOT REFUND IT.