We recently took delivery of some books from Amazon, with those came a couple of vouchers. One of them was from Vistaprint which offered “free” stamps. Their targeting was spot on as we just thought about ordering some stamps so we went ahead and ordered the “Free” one and another one from their range. Two weeks later the stamps arrived and it was all looking good.
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But.. a month later an unidentified charge appeared on our bank statement, it was a payment of £9.95 with the reference clubprem.com. We had never had anything with them to do so we called the bank and they told us this was a charge from Vistaprint and of course the charge was irreversible. So we called them and right enough when we ordered the “Free stamps” we had to pay for postage with our credit card and apparently there was some very small print there stating that we agreed to subscribe to clubprem if we ordered these stamps. Certainly we did not see any of these small prints and we have got nice big computer screens..
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It makes us wonder how big companies like Vistaprint are allowed “lure” customers into these traps, it also surprise us that Amazon being on the forefront of e-commerce engages into business activities with dubious companies such as Vistaprint.
We can imagine many people don’t even take notice of such a small charge, luckily we did and manage to cancel the subscription. It definitely teached us a lesson so people beware of these stunts from Vistaprint or others that are offering “good deals”
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Here at USB Company we would never engage in such activity, we believe in honesty and straightforward communication. Imagine luring our customer into a subscription for promotional Usbs now that’s silly….
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This is definitely a scam. My wife ordered business cards from these rogues, then found out she was signed up to the clubprem.com scammers, who took £9.95 from her account every month until she noticed it. I wouldn’t touch Vistaprint with a bargepole, and whenever anyone brings up the subject of internet scams I also tell them obout the vistaprint thieves.
Hi Steve,
Many thanks for your comment on our Vistaprint story, seems like there is a lot of complaint about them when you do a search online. We actually managed to get refund from them, i suggest you do the following:
1. Call them on this number:
The whole thing is run by Adaptive Affinity, and has a UK operation “Adaptive Affinity UK”
Email: info@adaptiveaffinity.com
Tel: +44 (0)870 143 2343
Fax: +44 (0)870 143 2444
Who can also close the account and credit some of the payments.
2. Tell them you have not recived any email confirming the subsciption, most likely it has been marked as spam by the ISPs cause thats what it is.
3. Report them to the fraud team at your bank, our bank are receiving tens of calls every day about clients that are scammed by vistaprint. Also tell Vistaprint in a nice way that you have spoken to fraud team and may need to report them
4. Be honest with them and explain in a kind way what has happened and that you never intended to subscribe to this service and believe you have been mislead.
5. Request a cancellation in writing from them. And make sure they have not shared any data with any other of their affialiate companys.
Like many people I have been “scammed” by VistaPrint. They are saying that I didn’t check or uncheck a box for a Reward Scheme and that they notified me twice that they were going to take monthly amounts out of my account of between £9.95 and £11.95.
I confess I do not check my bank statements thoroughly, but that still does not give Companies the right to take my money without my consent. Also, like many people, I did not check or uncheck the box and any notification probably went into my junk mail account. They certainly carried on regardless of any permission. The sum total over 16 months was £169.20.
Having read the comments on various web sites I adopted one lady’s approach. I bombarded everyone who dealt with them by email and copied them on each one (80 mails in two days!). Most of these emails were to the Directors and Members of the American Small Business Development Centre Network of whom VistaPrint is a Bronze Supporter. I also emailed companies who are participants on the Rewards Scheme, Curry’s and Nationwide Autocentre being two. I could not find any others although I believe John Lewis may be one. In addition I wrote personal letters to them at 69-391 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware, HA8 5XZ but this was returned by the Post Office marked “No such address”. I then wrote to their President in Bermuda and to my MP and to their MP in Edgware. My MP who is also the Deputy Speaker is taking the matter up with the Minister for Trade and Consumer Affairs and with Trading Standards. I have also filed a “Fraud” report with the Metropolitan Police.
After receiving an email promising a full refund last week only £39.80 was paid into my account. I then wrote to Adaptive Affinity Ltd., Cavendish House, 369 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware, HA8 5AW and to VistaPrint Rewards at P.O Box 587, Edgware, HA8 4DX. I sent the letter Recorded Delivery and Recorded Receipt and said I was instigating action in the Small Claims Court (I had sent for the court papers that day!).
In two days I have had several personal emails and phone calls promising the full refund. Today I have checked with my credit card company and in fact and despite all, this has now been paid in full.
For every person who goes to great length to get £169.20 back there will be perhaps 17 who can not get £9.95 back because mainly the effort outweighs the reward! This is where they make their millions and VistaPrint in the USA are worth in excess of 105 Million Dollars as at January 2008!
DO NOT LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT! PURSUE, PURSUE, PURSUE!
I have just signed up for a Vistaprint web site, which on the face of it seems to be ok, just £4.98 a month. Does anybody know of any problems related to this??
Hi Stuart,
We dont know about the website service they offer, but considering they way they have frauded other clients i would double check with them that there is no hidden subsciption and also maybe check your spam filters if they have sent you any emails.
Kind Regards
USB Company Team
VistaPrint got me as well. In total they stole £252.05!!!
I have done quite a lot of research into who is behind VistaPrint’s websites and what else they are doing. What I found out is published here http://www.hubbers.com/blog/index.php/i-got-scammed-by-vistaprint-and-adaptive-marketing-and-adaptive-affinity-ltd-and-amazon/
If you can find out anything else like email addresses or names of the managers or owners of these dodgy companies please let me know.
I have set up an online petition stating that Amazon should stop circulating advertising material for VistaPrint. Hopefully if we get enough signatures Amazon will stop doing business with these scammers and we will get them where it hurts the most … their bank account!
http://www.petitiononline.com/stop1111/petition.html
hIYA JUST READ WITH INTEREST YOUR INFO ON VISTA PRINT WE GOT SCAMMED AT WORK LAST WHEN ORDERING OUR BUSINESS CARDS IT TOOK US A WHILE TO FIND OUT WHAT THE D/D COMING OFF OUR A/C WAS FOR, WHEN WE TRIED TO STOP IT THE BANK SAID THEY COULDNT AS WE HAD AUTHORISED THE PAYMENT, EVENTUALLY I GOT THROUGH TO VISTAPRINT AND IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS TOLD THEM THAT WE HAD NEVER AGREEDED TO THE SUBSCRIPTION AND THAT THEY OWED US 8 LOTS OF £9.95 (2 A MONTH) gUESS WHAT THEY ACTULLY REFUNDED THE MONEY WITH IN A WK AND STOPPPED THE SUBSCRIPTION. i HONESTLY THINK PEOPLE DO NOT REALISE WHEN THEY SIGN UP FOR THE REWARD SCHEME THAT IT INVOLVES A CHARGE EACH MONTH (I CERTAINLY DIDNT) JUST THOUGHT IT WAS SIMILAR TO NECTAR CRD OR THE LIKE. HAVE RECENTLY ORDERED MORE CARDS AND MADE SURE I STAYED WELL CLEAR OF SURVEYS OR ANYTHING ELSE ON THEIR SITE APART FROM MY ORDER.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL THOSE CHASING PAYMENTS KEEP AT IT XXX
Hello, I’m Jeff Esposito, an employee in VistaPrint’s public relations group, and I saw your blog entry on our rewards program and wanted to reply. On behalf of VistaPrint I am sorry you feel you’ve had a negative experience with our rewards program. VistaPrint believes that the vast majority of our customers who sign up for the program really enjoy the benefits, but if you are not happy, please click here or copy this link into your browser window http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/vp/ns/customer_care/partnercancellation.aspx. After filling out the form, we’d be happy to process a full cancellation and refund.
They are clever, i ordered some business cards /for free ofcorse/… but then i was paying 9.95 every month. I couldnt understand for what, all in my statement was ADAPTIVE AFFINITY/VIST EDGWARE. I couldnt remeber anything i bouht… but when i read this website , i immediately undestood . So many thanks, now i will try to cancell this scam.
I bought notecards from them in April and then suddenly I found myself subscriped to their reward scheme, which I had not asked for, and have been charged £9.95 a month since May. I called the call centre on 0800 028 8251 and said unauthorised transactions as I didn’t have any documentation saying I was a member and hadn’t agreed to join. They tried to get me to say I remembered seeing the £10 cash back voucher and the terms that I would be subscriped to their membership, but just say no and resate want money back. They agreed and said the money would be refunded within 7 days and sent me an email the same day cancelling the membership. Low and behold, yesterday (6 days afterwards) I have received a full refund. I had tried cancelling by sending an email and also calling another number but they didn’t work. The number above though does, so ring now!
I have also seen on another blog that one person contacted several of the shops that are shown on the Club Premier website and they have said that this reward scheme are not affliated to them and unware of the company. The person has posted his email responses on his blog. Read it as it also gives other useful info. on how to get your money back.
http://www.hubbers.com/blog/index.php/i-got-scammed-by-vistaprint-and-adaptive-marketing-and-adaptive-affinity-ltd-and-amazon
Regarding the post by Jeff Esposito above, his post appears on consumer sites wherever people report being ripped off by Vistaprint/vprewards/clubprem. Please note his wording carefully: when he promises “a full cancellation and refund”, you will certainly recieve a ‘full cancellation’ but not a full refund. They make their money by ripping many thousands of people off and offering partial refunds to those that notice they’ve been ripped off (many never notice or give up trying to contact the company because they make it as difficult as possible). All of these companies are part of Vertrue, in the states, who have been sued successfully in the past and told to cease the business practices through which they have made a fortune (it’s called “negative optioning”, a very unethical way of making money). They haven’t ceased the practices and are being taken to through the courts again. If you want to read more, it’s here:
http://www.lakinlaw.com/CM/NewsFlash/Vertrue_Class_Action_Article.asp
They are a vile company and people shouldn’t go anywhere near them.
I have used vistaprint for a number of years and have had no problem until now. On my latest credit card statement I noticed a debit of £9.95 paid to Adaptive Affinity/vistedgware. After a lot of searching I traced it (via USB ) to Visitaprint. I checked my account with them and read the dtails of the loyalty scheme, where it states that unless cancelled a charge is made after 30 days. I did sign for the scheme to see what it was all about, decided it was of no use and cancelled it, on-line. I have just spoken to them on the ‘phone and when I said I wish to cancel, I was told that it had already been cancelled, she could not say when this happened, nor was able to say when I had signed for the scam, sorry, scheme. She did say however, that she will pass the details to the billing department and will get a refund. I wait and see. In the meantime, my bank has been informed and will not entertain this firm again.
Have been caught by this scam but have had my money refunded. However I have been to the various websites , such as this, to suggest that people contact the BBC consumer programme Watchdog, I have done so already but if everyone affected by this scam does the same then maybe some action will be taken.
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