08712242255

I have since found out that it was probably space bag company that gave my details. I had a call from them in late October offering more bags. I declined the offer but they must be the link in all of this.

Jean, which web site gave away your bank details? Whoever it was almost certainly broke the law and should be made to pay.

I fell victim to the same scam via the Space Bag Company. I purchased some space bags in October and received a call several weeks later advising that I had been given free membership to Free and Easy and that I could cancel within 30 days by following instructions in the brochure they would be sending out. I never received a brochure from this company so had no option to cancel the membership. On December 15th they charged me £99.99 for the membership. I phoned Free and Easy the next day on 0871 2242255 and they answered within seconds and the lady was very helpful. The call lasted 2 minutes and she said she would refund my credit card for the £99.99 within 7 days.........watch this space!

How did they take the money if you did not give them your details?? I have also received a letter and brochure, but do not want it!  Is there an email address for them, as I can't get to phone them during their office hours.

I have today received my Barclaycard statement (23/12/2010) and it has an item on it for £99.99 Free & Easy. I am an elderly pensioner and have not ordered this. I have telephoned Barclaycard and also Free & Easy and they said they will sort it out. Barclaycard must be aware of this scam and should not have paid Free & Easy. I believe CRAFT4 must have passed on my details to Free & Easy as I purchased from them in October. It is a well-planned scam as it is just below the £100 limit. With items above £100 you have equal rights against the seller AND the credit card company under Consumer Law.
I shall not pay this £99.99 under any circumstances and, if necessary, I will take out a County Court action for Negligence against CRAFT4, for passing my bank details to a known scam. Also against Barclaycard for paying out of my account to a known scam. Finally, if they do not sort it out, I will report Free & Easy for fraud.
We must all take action against these scams

John thank you! I have noted all the relevant sites to report these people and have contacted my bank.
I think my contact came via Simply Home Entertainment who needless to say will not be getting any more custom from me.

The link seems to be Space Bags and they seem to pass on personal card/address details to these people who then take advantage of unsuspecting customers.  The problem is that they should get your approval before passing details to others.  In this case, my wife purchased some Space Bags, she did not get a phone call, but we did get a letter and brochure from Free and Easy today (dated 15/12/10), but alas there isn't anyone answering the phones to cancel the "membership" (which we did not want or ask for).  Also, customers should consider whether to buy from firms like Space Bags, who seem to be free and easy with clients personal information.

Just before Christmas I recieved a brochure and a letter telling me of the benefits of Free and Easy membership. As I could not recall any telephone call or any other form of contact I thought it best to check them out on the net. Thank goodness I found this site, and may I thank you all for posting your comments.  I don't know how they got my card details and I should be able to stop any payments before it's to late, but how inconvenient to have to go through this, and how ever can we trust what we assume to be secure web sites again when buying online.

Phoned Free&easy today and told them to cancel my membership. Got straight through and the woman could not have been more helpfull, so thinking this is to easy I phoned my local consumer advice centre. They're lying she told me, they'll just put the phone down and deny ever having had the call and the next thing you know the money will be removed from your account.
Her advice was to send a letter recorded delivery, this way someone at the other end has to sign for it, so you have proof it reached it's destination. Then if they still remove your money you can take legal action. Also to be sure I cancelled a debit card at 1 bank, another bank left my card active but told me as long as I have proof of the letter reaching it's destination their fraud office would take steps to recover any money.
As I have been put to all this inconvenience it is now my intention to tell anyone and everyone who will listern about the scum and crooks who operate this scam, starting with Watchdog.
Would any of you crooks at Free&easy care to comment

Roy don't waste anymore time and money sending recorded letters. The spanish address they give is just a mailing house, the address in Devon would reach them but don't bother. They will cancel your 'membership' (if they do take money they will also give you a refund usually within 10 days). They do this so as to try and not get into any legal trouble. They rely on people not phoning to cancel, then they hope they won't notice the money has been taken. If they do take money they have had it in there account for about a month getting interest before people become aware, then when you phone for a refund they have still made a few pennies!

OK Many thanks Steve.

I have had the same done to me. I found a payment to  Free& Easy on my bank statement saying £99.99p had been took. In shock I went to my bank and said I don't know who these people are. I don't buy anything on line and I'm with and nether have been with any catalogues. The bank cancelled my debit card and I gave permission for the police to be involved as I want to know what scum has done this to me. I'm disabled so It's low to do it to anyone but I'm living on benefit. Spending a while on the computer I see that Space Bags(pressplay) have done it to people. I had storage bags off them in July 2009. They phone me as they have the rest of you asking if I'm happy with my bags and I said yes. Then I thought it was odd she asked if I was with the same bank and I said yes why was there a problem with the payment as it was about 1 1/2 years ago. She tried to sell me more stuff and was pushy. I said I wasn't interested and the holiday thing is no good to me as I'm disabled and can't go away anyway. With that she said can I send you a leaflet and booklet to look at in your own home free to browse. I said if you want to but I don't want nothing else and I'm running late I have to go. SCAM SCAM SCAM. If you have been affected please report it don't let them get away with it.

Oh and by the way the way my bank were great and cancelled the card, new one coming in 2 days and they said the money would be put back in my account in 24 hours. I have been with my bank over 25 years and never had a problem before. I'm low risk or so I thought. I will never buy anything off shopping channels again. Who do you trust these days?!!! Now need to check every statement to make sure they haven't done it before. Good luck everyone and thanks for this site. I would have been up all night trying to find out who Free&Easy are!! Now we know there scammers, lowlife SCUM.

Please report them all of the people who have been affected. I had space bags 1 and a half years ago and they done it to me this December 2010. I can't sleep with anger and can't wait to go to my bank tomorrow and say "I know who did this to me and others." I had nothing sent to me or I could of rang and asked what they were playing at. We have to stop them as quick as possible so others don't go through what us and our family or friends have. We need to try and get it on TV so everyone knows what there doing. So please all start the ball rolling. I am and will keep you updated on this site. Good luck and let's stop this evil fraud. Please keep the posts going so we can update each other.

My elderly mother has just had the same problem - she received her bank statement today to find £99.99 debited from her account with the name 'Free & Easy'.  When I phoned them, they assured me they would refund her, and I assured them I would be checking up on that!!!  
We've traced it back to my mother ordering some items a few months back from www.craft4.com, who it seems, are just another part of this Pressplay Ltd.  Not long after receiving her order, they phoned and asked if she was happy with her order, and would she consider using them in future.  She said yes, she was happy, and she may use them in future - that was it - no exchange of card details, no permission to use her existing details - nothing.  This is illegal.  My husband and I have done a wee bit of research tonight, and it seems to be a common problem with this company.  
I am going to be contacting them again tomorrow during office hours, when I'm told someone senior will be there (I won't hold my breath though!!); I'm also reporting them to Trading Standards, and will also be contacting the newspaper which carried the original advert.

Had a phone call from my local Trading Standards Office, who had the information passed on to them via Consumer Protection. They took details of what Free&easy had done and also their phone number. They told me they werw going to investigate to see if any crime has been commited, will keep you posted. Keep up the good work.

They will tell you that she was told through the phone call about the £99, and that she would have received a brochure and a covering letter explaining she needs to cancel within 30 days. They will say all calls are recorded and they will listen to the call. They will refuse to let have a copy of the recording ( although I think that through the data protection act by law they have to supply a copy if a written request is made by your mother they will deny this) they may also ask you to write to the Spanish address, this is rubbish as it is all run from the UK. calls are recoded and held at the Devon call centre. They may also refuse to talk to you about it as it is in yours mothers name, if possible have your mother there so she can tell them it is ok to deal with you. Good luck

Thank you so much for keeping me and others updated. I went to my bank today and they had put money back in my account(the bank put it in not Free& Easy) I told them I had been on the internet and found out who Free & Easy were and how they had used details from a year and a half a go to use again to rip me off and about all the rest of the poor victims on this site. They told me to wait for the fraud forms to arrive and then put this site down and lucky for me I still have the paper work from my order for space bags from all that time ago. Every one I have spoke to today I have told, not just friends but strangers as well!!! I will fight this all the way. I have my money back thanks to my bank. Waiting for the fraud form to fill out and new card to arrive as old one cancelled to stop them doing it again. The bank don't seem shocked by it as I expect they see it all the time. I will not stop until they are shown up for what they are. Nasty,deceiving,rip off scum. I'm very poorly and this has really upset me. I hope they are proud of themselves. If any one has any other numbers I can ring I would be grateful. My phone company has advised me not to phone them in case they can put money on my phone bill. PLEASE tell anyone and everyone you can. The sooner this is common knowledge the sooner we can save others from going through this. My thoughts are with you all and I pray you get your money back and justice is done to this nasty people. Keep fighting as I am even though I got money back I will keep fighting for others.

This morning (07/01/2011) I checked my bank statement on-line and found that a payment had been made to Free&Easy for £99.99, something I knew nothing about.  When I queried it with my bank, they agreed to refund the money back into my account.

In your message you mention Craft4, a company from whom I bought my sister-in-law's Christmas present.  After the gift had arrived, I received a phone call from Craft4, asking if my order had arrived okay.  At the time I thought that it was very considerate of them to check that my order has arrived safely, but now I am having second thoughts, and wondering what exactly were their motives for phoning me.

I would be very interested to hear about your progress, and if you need any moral support regarding any action you take against Craft4, please let me know.

I got scammed by these guys. Do remeber the phone call. Was in regard to a purchase with Space Bags.

I NEVER recieved a catalogue either.

I'm sseriously fuming because this money doin a walkabout from my account has caused two direct debits to be returned, meaning I get charged about £30 by the bank. Plus one was for a personal loan repayments, so I also get a missed payment on my credit report and a charge from them.

Also who knows how long it will take for me to get the money back to pay the loan company so I could well get a default or something. Absolute shysters!