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News and Comment February 2022

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18 February (Part 1) - Scammed

It wasn’t a New Year’s resolution as such but it was around the turn of the year that I decided that I was spending far too much time at the keyboard or doing much the same on the smart phone and I should try to behave more like a normal human being. I contemplated buying a TV licence but paying the BBC seemed to be a step too far, instead I started ordering DVDs and wasting my time watching films.

It started with the new James Bond which I enjoyed and before long more films arrived from Amazon, HMV and Zavvi. Not many from HMV because I really can’t get on with their website but on 19th January I made my third order from Zavvi.

CashbackA neighbour, no not that one, told me that Zavvi were bad news; unreliable and useless if something went wrong but all my discs arrived in perfect condition and in good time but while acknowledging that third order they linked me to a page to say that I qualified for a special offer. I looked at it and instantly decided it was not for me; something about joining a discount club. I don’t even have a store card; can’t be bothered. I simply closed the web page and forgot about it.

At 06:27 on 7th February I received an email from a company called Complete Savings which told me that on the 13th of every month they were going to debit my credit card with £15 as a member of their club. I knew the source was Zavvi because with my first order I set up a unique email address for them only, zavvi@mydomain.co.uk. Complete Scammings had used that email address.

Complete Savings is a Swiss company. Swizz company?

Complete Savings
As invited above I responded at 07:58 the same day to tell them where they could go.

On 13th February my credit card was debited, fraudulently in my opinion, and I phoned the credit card company, MBNA, expecting the worst. I was wrong. Once I had identified myself and their lady was able to look at my account she guessed what I was going to complain about. Complete Savings is well known at MBNA for wrongly helping itself to their customers’ money. It was all very easy, especially as I had refused Complete Savings’s offer within 90 minutes of them making it, and I can expect a refund within two or three days.

The MBNA lady was kind enough to give me the full contact details for the Swiss scammers and recommended I phone them to reinforce my email message. That did not go well. I was asked for my membership number and as I had never joined I didn’t have one. How I was supposed to take advantage of the discount offer without the number I have no idea.

So there you are, it’s a wicked world out there. Zavvi get no more orders, the unique email address is now cancelled, Complete Savings is exposed as an unprincipled foreign company but MBNA as Credit Card provider come up smelling of roses.

For the record I really liked the new James Bond film although I know two people who hated it. I am still avoiding TV but instead managed to get YouTube on to it and having made my first amplifier from valves and things in 1957 I am currently fascinated by videos of old Hi-Fi equipment. I have learned that the turntable I may have paid £19 for more than 60 years ago now changes hands for more than £3,000. And mine is still in its original box up in the roof! (£19 was more than two week’s pay.)

I will be careful climbing the ladder to retrieve the turntable and you should be very wary of the two words Complete Savings.

 

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