Bank warns over 'free' skin cream that costs £80 a month: Thousands mistakenly signing up to subscriptions after registering for free samples online
- RBS says it receives up to 400 complaints a day from duped customers
- Ended up with costly subscriptions after applying for a ‘free trial’
- Most-complained about companies included Age Renew, Aloe Vera Cleanse, Aloe Vera 4 Diet and Healthy Ketone
Tens of thousands of people are mistakenly signing up to subscriptions for skin creams and weight loss pills after registering for a free sample online, a bank has warned.
The Royal Bank of Scotland receives up to 400 complaints a day from customers who have been duped into costly subscriptions after applying for a ‘free trial’ for beauty and nutrition products.
Customers are asked to enter their card details online to cover a small postage and packaging fee for a trial of everything from teeth whiteners to muscle-building supplements.
But many are also unwittingly agreeing to a recurring subscription if they do not cancel within the trial period – a detail usually buried in the small print.
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Thousands are mistakenly signing up to subscriptions for skin creams and weight loss pills after registering for a free sample online, the Royal Bank of Scotland has warned. File photo
Companies typically offer a 30-day free trial via websites and social media but, weeks later, customers discover a large monthly fee – typically £80 – has been taken out.
In January, the most-complained about companies included Age Renew, Aloe Vera Cleanse, Aloe Vera 4 Diet and Healthy Ketone.
Now Ross McEwan, chief executive of RBS, which includes Natwest, has urged regulators to take action after noticing firms ‘taking advantage of consumers’.
The bank’s fraud department detected this scandal last summer and reported the worst offenders to payment companies such as Visa and Mastercard.
At the time, RBS and NatWest were receiving over 390 customer calls a day on unrecognised payments following ‘ free trials’, although this has now fallen to about 50.
Ross McEwan, chief executive of RBS, is urging regulators to take action after noticing firms ‘taking advantage of consumers’
The ‘scams’ were costing customers over £30,000 per day in fees, the bank estimated.
Mr McEwan said the victims were often unable to find out how to stop the payments or even contact the company. In other cases, they were forced to agree to the terms and conditions before they even appeared on the computer screen.
He has now called on lenders to stop financing companies which extract unauthorised payments from customers’ accounts in this way.
He told the Financial Times: ‘They are making it so difficult for people to actually stop the payment.
‘We are going to work through who are the players, who are the worst at it and to start calling it out with the regulators.’
The bank said that, since June last year, it has helped 37,000 customers stop payments to companies offering free trials.
Terry Lawson, head of fraud at RBS said: ‘Too many of our customers have fallen victim to these scams.
‘We want to help raise awareness so that both our customers, and the wider public, are aware of these scams and look out for unclear or confusing terms and conditions.’
Customers are typically charged £4.95 for postage and packing for a trial product, but the average first subscription fee is about £80.
Banks can ensure that all future payments to a firm are cancelled but give customers a refund for the money which has already been taken.
Since August, information supplied by the bank has led to 1,000 firms being barred from processing payments.
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