08712242255

Free & Easy sent me a letter on 21 Jan 2011 thanking me for signing on to their free trial and saying they would collect £99.99 from the credit card details I gave them during our telephone conversation.  I had no such conversation and ignored the letter.  But they somehow managed to debit my credit card and am now seeking redress from the credit card provider.

i too had a letter inviting me to look through this booklet, to be honest i was going to bin it without looking through it, then i googled it and found it was a scam, so thank you all for alerting me,   i phoned the halifax to speak to the fraud team, and  was told to cancel the `membership` of something i hadnt asked for. i spoke to a lady called Angela when i saked her what details she had on me she couldnt tell me,  but seemed happy to cancel it. The halifax have put a note on my account to say i did not authorise it so fingers crossed they dont take the £99,99

My credit card company called me to check a number of transactions including one for £99.99 from Free & Easy. As I had never heard of them I told them it was fraudulent, so it was no loss to me. They also cancelled my card and issued a new one.

I have had the same happen to me after ordering Airganix air purifier from ad in the Daily Mail last Jan.
Notify S.H.O.P.S. Safe Home Ordering Protection Scheme. Pressplay are a member. 01628 641930.
Notify Information Commissioners Office 01625 545745. They are concerned with the Data Protection side of things and know of this scam. I am still waiting for my money back from Pressplay.  Please be aware that companies are obliged by law to destroy your bank card details at the end of your transaction. These people are contravening The Data Protection act by holding onto and passing on your card details to other people.  Notify Watchdog!. Good Luck. This has taken me every day for 10 days to get to the bottom of. The Daily Mail have been very helpful as they don't like their advertisers breaking the law it reflects badly on their paper. So if you ordered goods through a publication get onto them straight away . Good luck again Auntie.

The only way these people can be stopped is via the fact that they contravene the Data Protection Act by holding on to your card details and passing them on so money is taken from your account.  By law a company must destroy your bank details after your transaction with them.  Do persit and do phone Information Commissioners Office 01625 545745. They can't help get your money back but they will check on the data protection side. Maybe we can get these evil people this way . Good luck Auntie

http://whois.domaintools.com/craft.com

They hide their details because they know they're bad boys

Change of address from Barnstaple for the registered office...

1. UK REGISTERED ADDRESS AT COMPANIES HOUSE
PRESSPLAY CALL CENTRE LIMITED
THE OLD COURTYARD 26A
CHURCH STREET
BISHOP'S STORTFORD
HERTFORDSHIRE
CM23 2LY
Companies House Number: 05068744
Incorporation Date: 10 Mar 2004

Previous Company Names

TAW VALLEY TELECOMS LIMITED Changed 18 Mar 2008

People connected with the Company

CAROLE ANN HAILEY Particulars Changed as secretary on 08 Mar 2011 (Document)
JOANNE MOORES Particulars Changed as director on 12 Apr 2010 (Document)
PHILIP COLIN MASON Particulars Changed as director on 12 Apr 2010 (Document)
MR SCOTT JOHN CLEVERDON Particulars Changed as director on 12 Apr 2010 (Document)
MARK WILKINSON Appointment terminated as director on 09 Apr 2010 (Document)
JOANNE MOORES Appointed as director on 29 Sep 2008 (Document)
CAROLE HAILEY Appointed as secretary on 28 Mar 2008 (Document)
MARK ANDREW WILKINSON Appointed as director on 28 Mar 2008 (Document)
PHILIP COLIN MASON Appointed as director on 28 Mar 2008 (Document)
MARK ANDREW WILKINSON Appointed as director on 20 Mar 2008 (Document)

UK TRADING ADDRESS:
Benning Court
Pottington Business Park
Barnstaple
Devon
EX31 1QN
Tel: 0800 051 2121

http://whois.domaintools.com/pressplaycalls.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/pressplay.co.uk
http://who.is/whois/pressplay.co.uk/
pressplay.co.uk

   Registrant:
       Pressplay

   Registrant type:
       Unknown

   Registrant's address:
       Intellnet Ltd.  ---> http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/ishop
       Heath House
       Dane
       Bishops Stortford
       Street
       Herts
       CM23 3BT
       United Kingdom
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/pressplay-call-centre
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/Company/AllDocuments/927621

SCAM ALLEGATIONS:
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2010 ... -take-mone.html
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1053949

REPORTING SCAMS:
https://secure.crimestoppers-uk.org/ams.form.anonymous.asp

UK Companies Investigation Branch Reporting Form & Email: enquiry@cib.gsi.gov.uk
http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/complaintformcib.htm

ACTION FRAUD for attempted and actual fraud:
http://www.actionfraud.org.uk

CONSUMER DIRECT for reporting scams via an online form
https://secure.consumerdirect.gov.uk/reportascam.aspx

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE:
Policy:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/privacy_and_electronic_communications.aspx
Register search:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/ESDWebPages/Search.asp?EC=1
Report violations:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/data_protection.aspx

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2010 ... -take-mone.html

How Break4Free might take money from your account

BY ANDREW PENMAN ON MAY 6, 2010 12:00 AM IN MAIL ORDER

Pertinent links
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Break4Free+scam
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=PRESSPLAY+scam
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=SpaceBags.co.uk+Scam

My mother has also fallen foul of this scam.

(From Free & Easy) She received a letter today (11/05) which was dated (11/04) and the postage was stamped (09/05) - it explained that unless she called to cancel her membership as she agreed to on the telephone, an annual cost of £99 would be taken from her bank account.

There are 3 major problems with this:

1 - We have never ever been contacted by this company before today.
2 - My mother (who they claim they spoke to over the phone) has senile dementia.
3 - She doesnt have a bank account.

Curious? Indeed I was. I called the phone number provided and was told by a very nice woman that we had never heard of this, nor had we signed upto it. Whilst she insisted she had spoken to my mother on the phone ("we have a recording as proof" she said) she told me that they "membership" had been cancelled at that no charge would be brought against us at any time.
When I told her that my mother didnt actually have a bank account, she seemed a little bemused and asked me to identify it by its last 4 digits.

Suprisingly, it was my fathers.

The last time my father used his credit card to purchase anything from a catalog was two years ago.

I asked her, very clearly, to confirm that no charge will be brought against the account and she replied "No charge will be brought to the account sir"

However, if she is willing to lie about a conversation she had with my mother (who cant really talk) then she can lie about the intentions of the company she works for.

This is downright astonishing! That companies you do not know can sign you upto an agreement that you didnt agree to, notify you a month later that they have done so and then charge your credit card for doing so.

How is this legal? How is this grossly unfair practice legal?

The country is spinning into debt and companies are allowed to sell on your credit card details and make charges against them? There is something very wrong with the law if this is allowed to happen.

All the card companies and banks have to do is provide and automated transaction number. ie you go onto your online banking and input the sellers details, the amount and date (like a cheque) then validate this with a transaction code. Enter the card details and transaction code to the sites payment page (which all online traders will need to adapt)  The banks will then only paid authorised amounts. Wont this stop a lot of such cases or even overpayments.

I have had that done to me too.  The bank are investigating it and it will go to the fraud department.  In the meantime I have got the inconvenience of cancelling my card and closing my bank account and opening another one.  I am already depressed because my husband has been made redundant and we are struggling for money.  This hasn't helped!  Good luck and sorry to everyone else this has happened to.

As with others I today 21 May - received an unsolicited letter advising me that following my recent mail order purchase they wished to offer me a free 30 day trial of their membership club and offering a FREE ONE WEEK OF HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION to be selected for the brochure they enclosed
( worth approximately £600 DOH!! ).
They even allocated me a membership number.
They then stated that at the end of the 30 day trial period they would process my debite/credit card details for payment of the annual fee of £99.99.
I immediately rang the number given in their letter to complain advising that what they were doing was illegal. The cheeky little Madam who took the call was adamant hat what they were doing was NOT illegal.I advised them that I had received no telephone call and asked which mail order purchase had they gotten my details from. They claimed that they did not have that information . I asked them how thye got my deatils and who gave them my debit/credit card details. They immedately agreed to cancel my putative membership and not make any claim for payment.
This is an evil organisation and should be closed down - I do intend to report their activities to the regulatory authorities and other bodies as referred to by other contributors on this forum.
I have, of course, alerted my bank and they have made a note on my account and asked me to let them know immediately of on unauthorised debits on my accounts.

really?! You wouldn't be an employee of Free and Easy by any chance..?!!!!

I've had a letter from Free and Easy Lifestyle. I almost binned it as I thought it was junk mail, or a telephone scam, and because I knew I had not asked for it or agreed to pay anything like that My husband and I are pensioners!
I can only think, having read the pages and pages of reports on here about this, that it was through Craft4 that they got my card details. I ordered some craft items a few months back for a relative, and a couple of weeks ago got a call asking if I'd been happy with the order, had it arrived OK, etc. I only replied that I had, and when offered a craft magazine, said I did not want it.
Then this letter arrived 20th May - dated 3rd May! no doubt this is part of the scam too..over half of your 30 day trial is gone before you even get the letter!
I've reported it to the local Police, Trading Standards, advised my Bank and am about to write to them confirming I have rung them today and if this transaction comes out of my account, it is fraudulent. I've also done a live chat with Lisa at BT to find out how much a call to 08712242255 would cost and she told me 11p a minute. Doesn't matter which BT scheme you're on, as they don't cover 0871 numbers. So I've just got off the 'phone to Free and Easy Lifestyle, who say they will cancel my membership. No arguing when I said I didn't agree to anything, although as I told her I'd seen a lot of info online about them, she probably knew not to bother!!
I've also sent a report through to the BBC - the Watchdog email addy isn't working for me for some odd reason, so had to send it through and ask for it to be forwarded to Watchdog...although if they think it's a good idea for a prog. they may put it out some other way...referered them to this site if they want to read the many many reports about these companies under Pressplay...so fingers crossed!
Thanks so much to you for providing this area of info, and to everyone who has reported their experience. It wastes a lot of time being hit by something like this, and causes so much stress, upset and worry. Something should def be done about this, even if it is only publicity!
Thanks again,
Rita

I got my Lifestyle and Leisure brochure delivered these weekend and promptly phoned Free & Easy to ask what it was all about as I have never registered with them. They conformed that they had phoned me and I was interested in membership (they did not and I am not) and that unless I cancelled my membership £99 would be taken from my card. I asked them what card they had of mine and they told me the last four digits. I asked them how they go this and they confirmed they got it through 'market research'. On checking on this site, it's clear it came from Spacebags who I ordered from a month ago. Actions? I phoned my bank's fraud department and cancelled the Visa debit card they have the number for, which they did and assured me nothing could come out of it from now on. I told Free & Easy to remove me from their mailing list and delete all my info which they said they well (we'll see...) and I also contacted Spacebags and told them to remove all my customer details from their database because they have proven unreliable, unsecure and probably illegal. Not sure what more I can do...

I received the letter from Free& Easy Lifestyle today 2/6/11 got on to this site and was stunned by the amount of people this company is scamming. I purchased a product on the internet from a TV ad
and about a week later received a phone call asking if I was pleased with my purchase, I said no it was not what I expected the lady said sorry I could always return it and she would send out a brochure no obligations which I did not want. when I went to get the address to send the item back I found there was no return address.
I phoned my bank today and they said not to phone Free & Easy but keep an eye on my account as they can not do anything until they take the money from my account.
I am angry that my bank details were passed on without my permission, don't think I'll buy on the internet again.

My mum, now aged 88 had £99 debited from her account last year by this company. She complained and it was easily refunded but this year she hads received a letter again saying if she doesn't cancel her free trial £99 will be debited from her account. She has no idea how they obtained her card details and I am lucky she spotted the paragraph in the junk mail.

FREE AND EASY LIFESTYLE

I have also received documents from this company and DID NOT receive a telephone call before said brochure and letter arrived. It states my bank account will be debited after 30 days trial.

I received a letter today from Free&easy Lifestyle offering Free 30 day menbership trial.
They said they would take £99 for the annual membership from my credit/ debit card after the 30day free trial !! I phoned to cancel this immediately, calling SPAIN !!
I am also making my bank aware as I believe this was possibly through a company called SPACEBAGS when I made a purchase from them. After my purchase I took part in some kind of survey and it is possibly through this, but I am not sure !
Beware if you don,t cancel £99 will be taken from your account !!