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09/02/2015
RBS Warns Customers Over 'Free Trial' Scams
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is helping to raise awareness of consumer scams impacting its customers.
RBS and NatWest were receiving over 390 calls a day to complain of charges of around £80 a month being applied to customers' accounts that they don't recognise.
In a statement RBS said: "Clever advertising and pop-ups on social media websites lure customers into what they believe to be a free trial of a cream or tablet. They are asked to enter their card details to pay a small fee to cover postage and packaging. In reality, by providing their card details and entering the free trial they are agreeing to a recurring subscription, if they do not cancel within a trial period.
"Customers receive the goods but don’t know about the recurring costs associated or that they have to stop the trial.
"Subscription details and charges should all be laid out in the terms and conditions of the agreement but the bank has found instances where the T&C’s only appear after the customer has agreed to them, where they’re hidden at the bottom of the page or where they’re greyed out making them near impossible to find."
The bank estimates that at its peak this was costing customers over £30k per day and over £2.9m in fees since June last year.
RBS and NatWest have raised the issue with Visa, MasterCard and Cards UK and have provided them with the details of merchants causing regular complaints.
RBS and NatWest were receiving over 390 calls a day to complain of charges of around £80 a month being applied to customers' accounts that they don't recognise.
In a statement RBS said: "Clever advertising and pop-ups on social media websites lure customers into what they believe to be a free trial of a cream or tablet. They are asked to enter their card details to pay a small fee to cover postage and packaging. In reality, by providing their card details and entering the free trial they are agreeing to a recurring subscription, if they do not cancel within a trial period.
"Customers receive the goods but don’t know about the recurring costs associated or that they have to stop the trial.
"Subscription details and charges should all be laid out in the terms and conditions of the agreement but the bank has found instances where the T&C’s only appear after the customer has agreed to them, where they’re hidden at the bottom of the page or where they’re greyed out making them near impossible to find."
The bank estimates that at its peak this was costing customers over £30k per day and over £2.9m in fees since June last year.
RBS and NatWest have raised the issue with Visa, MasterCard and Cards UK and have provided them with the details of merchants causing regular complaints.
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