Free gift from PoundSaver: legit or not?
I’ve received a postcard which looks too good to be true. It says, “Hurry! Call now to claim your FREE gift from Poundsaver. As a special thank you for ordering with us, we have a special FREE gift reserved in your name at a value over £100.* … This incredible limited offer is only available to our loyal customers.”
Ah, but what about that * indicating a footnote? All the footnote says is “All you pay is postage & packing”. The phone number to call is 0800 479 0073, which looks a genuinely free number without any premium rate malarkey.
I’m not aware of having been a customer of Poundsaver and though the card also says IndigoStarfish, that doesn’t help much either as I can only recall having purchased (not very much) from them once in the last year or so.
So it looks legit and yet also suspicious. Before I decide whether to take a punt on finding some time to call them and trying to avoid being tricked into anything, anyone else had the card and able to report what if anything is the catch?
UPDATE: Judging by other people’s experiences, the free gift is a set of not very good vouchers that have a face value of over £100 but come with enough to conditions to make their practical value pretty minimal. There is some interesting background on IndigoStarFish over on The Guardian’s website.
Hi, I had the same thing and decided as it was indigostar fish I would give it a punt. What you are getting is vouchers for these can be redeemed for free stays in hotels, the thing is you get the accomodation free but have to pay from £30 to £80 a day for lunch and dinner, which is pretty expensive food… , what they want from you? well you get a card that allows you to get money off in high street stores. The catch? It’s £90 a year, you do get a 30 day trial period in which you can cancel without incurring a charge. I didn’t really see much use in the card for me. Hav just called and cancelled and they said that it is done and I won’t be charged… They have a website poundsavercard.co.uk if you want to have a look. will be back if they take the money!
Thanks for sharing that Andy. I got as far as the phone call telling me it was hotel vouchers and gave up as I suspected it’d be like that. Good (after a fashion!) to have those suspicions confirmed.
Hi. I purchased an electric shaver by phone and specifically told them “No” to their sales talk that I qualify for their savings card. The card supposedly gives you discount on all manner of goods and services BUT they require an annual membership of £89.95 plus admin fee of £1.60. I called their customer services upon receipt and instructed them to cancel my “free” 30 day trial period. I have been promised a letter of cancellation and been assured they will not request the fee. However, I will not rest until this has been received as my credit card company tell me that they cannot refuse a request for payment as a credit card guarantees payment and, of course, they have my details for the original purchase of the shaver. I hope I do not have a battle on my hands with this company!!
Good luck David!
I also received a ‘free gift’ card, rang to claim it (should have known better really) but it was from Ideal World a company that I have dealt with for many years with no problems. As Andy says you have to eat in the hotels and their rates per person are very expensive. I would not use any of the discounts on offer except for my shopping at Asda, for which you have to purchase a voucher through PoundSaver you get a 4% discount so you get £104 for spending £100, but then you have to pay PoundSaver for postage and handling £1.50 so you get £2.50 in every hundred!!! I have e-mailed to cancel my 30 day trial and asked for acknowledgement. I too hope I haven’t got a battle on my hands! Only time will tell.
I agree with all coments i got it for money off shopping !!! you have to phone in advance & get a voucher? from where & how can you estimate your shoppin bill every time ??? what a joke it is !! The free hotel stay well how do we think they get paid buy the food bills !!! e.t.c. Well changes are needed & we trust Ideal World 2 well did !!! I wonder how many elderly people have been conned in to this & I bet they do not cancel theirs so check all you relations !!! E.T.C.
BEWARE !
I am a retired chap who made the huge mistake of buying from a TV shop, 3 years ago.
These thieves POUNDSAVER have taken £289.00 from my account over three years and I am going mad trying to get it back. I have received no vouchers ( I never asked for them anyway ) and am getting constant lies from the company that they have reimbursed me , and then saying its my bank not paying me the money back after they have sent it.
There seems no one I can turn to. JUST BEWARE from ever dealing with POUNDSAVERS or even INDIGOSTARFISH – In my opinion these companies exist to defraud unsuspecting people of their money.
I’ve just received this FREE Gift offer having bought CD’s from Indigo Starfish via Amazon. Having read other people’s experience of this I will keep well clear of it.
PHEW !
Following many , many phone calls and lengthy discussions, being passed from pillar to post I have received my money back !
I cancelled the original card details so no more money could be taken and will never use them again – not that I did choose to anyway.
I guess I was a lucky one.
Eric
i recieved this postcard this morning and i thought it was genuine as i have purchased from ideal world so i phoned the freephone number and gave the gift code to them only to be told that this gift code had been used before so i told them i hadnt used it as id only just recieved it..so he said he would double check and phone me back…i did feel uneasy as it was to good to be true so i did a search and found this site and im glad i did…card is now in the bin..i think we all should take note if anything we recive is to good to be true then its a con..
Beware of PITCH world or PITCH TV, they called me asking me if i wanted free vouchers and i said no. a month later this fraudster from the company called POUNDSAVER took £89.95 without my authorisation and for anyone to steal money they need my Pin number plus extra security questions must be answered before the bank allow any transaction. so how did this idiot managed to get all the info? it was from Pitch TV of course. I have emailed the TV company,CC the fraudster from poundsaver and CC Watchdog too and tomorrow I will contact my bank and cancel my card . I can’t believe this idiot manage to do that to many people without being caught. see below:
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/08001077333
cancel your Card ASP and report POUNDSAVER and PITCH TV to trading standard if that happens to you.
The problems with this system have been well outlined in these comments.
I have just received a load of literature by post, offering discounts at various retailers.
Extra CAUTION
Having read through the opt-out details, I notice that it says:-
“If you cancel by phone, you must actually speak to one of our Customer Services representatives …
For this purposes (sic) leaving a message is not sufficient.”
I will certainly make sure that I do this when I phone them to cancel, and will also get a ‘Cancellation Number’, and will request a confirmatory letter too!
I finally got a refund and a reply to my email and cc ed to watchdog too. pretending that i was the one who ordered the vouchers by given me a security code which i was asked at first when ordering the steamer from pitchTv or when checking out my order over the phone i was also told that the two companies PichTv and poundsaver work hand in hand for years,. My bank (islamic bank of britian ) were great. they quickly cancelled my card and wrote to me and also phoned me twice trying to resolve the issue which they took seriously. I will never shop from any TV channels. what anoyed me is that i bought the item and asked for it to be sent to a different adrress and when i requested a letter to confirm cancellation. i was told the letter would go to the address the item was dispatched to which had nothing to with me.
I too have ordered from Pitch T.V. and today have received a Pound Saver card, with promises of free hotels and discounts from Asda ,Sainsburys, Halfords, Comet ect. Thanks for all your advise, I will now cancel. Cheers.
My mother was a little to giddy in contacting this number yesterday after recieving the post card. I rang to cancel today but was told that the details are not yet on system. Customer Service said he would cancel to tomorrow. I will be ringing every day untill I receive confirmation of the cancellation Representative has given me his ext number so watch this space. Did everybody manage to to cancel.
I too purchased from Pitchworld, and received the obligatory follow up call offering me this “amazing voucher” offer. despite several times telling the person on the other end that i wasn’t interested, the pack soon followed.
I have now been charged the £89.95 for this privilege ( i was away on my hol’s and not in time to cancel in the 30days, i wasn’t away this long, the date on the letter stated 27th April but didn’t arrive until the 15th May (ironically 15+ days in to the trial period)
stay away from “Pitchworld” and any associated company with these sort of offers, as they say, if its too good to be true, it probably is.
the range are giving out leaflets to join poundsaver at the check outs which says poundsaver members receive up to £20 in the range super savings vouchers , and up to 21 FREE HOTEL ACCOMMODATION, i will be staying well away from this offer, its to good to be true.
What happened to Abdel has just happened to me. I looked at my bank account and saw a payment for £99.99 had been taken which hadn’t been authorised and alarm bells started ringing. I looked up Poundsaver and realised the ref. no. next to it was their tel. no. I caled their customer services straight away and she told me that Pitch tv had passed on information after purchasing the Eco steam master. She had the nerve to ask me if I wanted the membership at a reduced rate!! I told her in no uncertain words what I wanted and told her that she was just as much to blame because she worked for the company. I todl her that I wanted a full refund and she actually said that she had just refunded it back on to my card as we were speaking but it would take 10 to 15 days. I called my bank and stopped my card and was told by ‘Pamela’ it would go back into my account. I’m fuming because it is totally illegal for Pitch to pass on my card details. Watch this space.
Hi Maureen, my mum has been ripped off by this lot via pitchTV……do you happen to have the phone number by any chance?
I too have been duped by this company. Have just had bank statement and found they have took payment of £69.95+£1.60, as it is 12months since i had dealings i stupidly got rid of all bumph i had, puzzled by the fact it was paid by debit card so how is that possible without my pin? Think i need advice on this one, would be grateful if anyone has contact number. Joyce
Thanks very much for all the above – just cleared up a very annoying bank statement query – card now cancelled ! This is disgusting and should not be allowed to happen!!
I purchased some CDs from Zestify (avertising on sky ) was told i would be sent a book of shopping vouchers. After telling them i did not want any vouchers i was then told they would be sent without obligation. i recieved the vouchers within 5 days but after paying for special 5 day delivery on CDs they arrived after 3 weeks. I complaind and was told by Zestify that i would recive a refund for the special deliver- i didnt.
What i did recieve was on my bank statement i have had £39.95 and £89.95 tanken by Classic Living & Pound Saver, Both Companies Connected to Encore Card Marketing
my transaction was with Zestify, so i will be in touch with my bank as this must be illegal
yes ive just got ah statement from the bank and moneys been taken out of my account so I'm on to the bank just glad I saw this post thank you whoever you are stuart herriott.
Glad to help! Hope you get things sorted out ok.
thanks mark im getting my money back they had no right especially when i didint order anything idf it was an old body the y would gladly take it and say nothing cheers
Here you would have bought something because the only way they can get your details is when u give them to dem u door knob
Hi I was on the phone to my bank and the told me use took money out of my account and I don't know y
Ive had what seems to be from other posts an admin fee taken off my mastercard unauthorised.Recently bought Cds off BNL media and they said about me being a valued new customer and a free stay in a hotel then vouchers.Im now ringing my card issuer and getting poundsaver.co.uk blocked or a new card issued…
Good luck. I refuse to let them take money off of my card ever since I joined a gym in college. When I was diagnosed with cancer, even after showing the appropriate paper work, they kept charging me…
I too have ordered CDs from BNL medid. Low and behold unauthorised amounts have also been taken from my account. Be sure I will be contacting my bank's fraud department, asap. Thieving b……
Hi, i was on the phone with my bank and I was told you took out£69.95 from my account. I would like this to be return back to my account. thank you.
Hi Sumbo,
I'm nothing to do with Poundsaver; this is just a blog post about my own encounter with them. So it's best if you contact them direct,
Mark
Am sorry.i was able to get them this morning.thank u.
hey I have recently been looking for a loan and on secure that loan I entered my my details and then it went to searching for lenders and whilst it was doing that I message on the page sed now you have entered your deatils money will be taken out of your bank for 14.95 for the poundsavercard :/ its my mums account because I was doing it for her and I'm not sure if it will take it out as I went back a page and took all the details out and didn't carry on with the loan? will you be able to help me thanks.
and it also sed I had a membership but I have not even signed up for it.
Don't touch them with a barge poll. Rip off scam!!!
Same here as I have had various amounts taken out of my account unauthorised, and have already contacted my banks fraud department.
I have spent no less than 3 1/2 hours this morning on the phone to my bank and classic living regarding the total of £184.65 that has fraudulently been taken from my account by this company. I purchased an item by phone through the shopping channel Thane Direct who have passed on my debit card details illegally. I have not subscribed to anything at all. I have asked my bank Halifax to investigate both of these companies and will be persuing this matter.
Absolutely outrageous!
E C