Friday, October 26, 2007

Vista Print Warning





Back in September, I checked my bank statement and was flabbergasted to discover that two online sites called:

vprewards.com

and

clubprem.com

had both taken unauthorised payments of £9.95 from my bank acccount.

I just didn't get it as I hadn't signed up for anything and hadn't even heard of either of them. I checked out the links and didn't recognise them as any sites I had recently visited.

On closer inspection, I realised that both sites had connections with vistaprint.com


I had ordered large postcards, fridge magnets and business cards from this company a couple of months previously and had been satisfied with both the quality and the price. However, what I hadn't bargained for was that Vista Print had passed my details on elsewhere without permission. This appears to be happening everywhere at the moment. All you need do is Google the words Vista Print + Scam to see what I mean!


Anyhow, I tried contacting both Club Prem and V P Rewards [which I later discovered stands for Vista Print Rewards] and fair play, I heard back from Club Prem and they refunded the amount taken. However, V P Rewards did not, nor did they answer any of my e-mails.

I visited my bank who assured me that if my debit card was changed, the problem would stop. It did not. The following month the same thing happened, so I took another trip to the bank. This time the girl phoned head office to put a stop on the company taking any more money. End of story, you would think. But no. Vista Print were at it again the next month. So I rang them and spoke to some foreign guy who sounded totally disinterested and who appeared to be reading from some script. He told me the money would be refunded to my account within 7-10 days.

When I asked why it was taken in the first place, he informed me I had taken an online survey. I had not. I know that for sure as I hate those kinds of things.


The upshot is that the money was never refunded and so yesterday, I called to my bank, yet again. The account was closed down. I only lost £30.00 overall as I spotted it quickly . Unfortunately, many are not so lucky and lose hundreds of pounds before noticing these unethical withdrawals.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Same happened to me. "Vista Print Rewards" charged 14.95 for five months on my credit card until I caught it. They said I clicked on a pop-up banner and sent a confirmation e-mail. Criminal in today's economy.