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42 Responses to “I GOT SCAMMED BY VISTAPRINT, Adaptive Marketing, Adaptive Affinity Ltd, CLUBPREM.COM, HIGHSTREETMAX.COM and AMAZON!!!”

1. Justin Weaich Says:
   September 21st, 2008 at 8:17 pm

   Sounds like a job for Fair Go if you ask me :-)

2. Cam Says:
   September 25th, 2008 at 8:57 am

   Probably one of your longest blogs but a good read. I knew the story from you telling me but having read it I realised I should give you back the £5 I have been stealing from your wallet every time you come over to my house…….it totals somewhere in the region of £800. I just don’t want you emailing my parents (or Santa) and telling them I’ve been a bad boy!

   Good work though cuz!

3. Phillip Stev Says:
   September 25th, 2008 at 10:53 pm

   Nice work buddy, well worth the read (and your effort).

4. Milan Says:
   October 8th, 2008 at 11:13 am

   Thank you for good investigation story. I’ve had 3 x £14.95 taken of my credit card in the last three months from streetmax.com. As far as I remember I haven’t purchased anything from Vista or any other retailers in your blog in the last 6 months, hence I just called my credit card and reported it as unothorised transactions.

   Makes me really upset to see how some people trying to “earn” money.

5. Shaun Wiltshire Says:
   October 9th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

   Is this rubbing salt in the wounds. I just signed the petition and when the page loaded saying I had done so there was a special offer from Vistprint. Scammed again!

6. John Price Says:
   October 10th, 2008 at 11:22 am

   What a relief to read through your blog. You have done a lot of hard work!

   I have had about 9 months of clubprem payments taken without my permission from my bank account. I read a different blog about a month ago and contacted Vistaprint by email - they insisted they did not have my details although I provided them with my original order for business cards with their reference. I exchanged about 6 emails with them and now they have stopped replying.

   I used a Debit card so I am not sure if I can get a bank refund yet but will proceed to ask my bank to change my card details to stop these payments.

7. John Price Says:
   October 10th, 2008 at 11:27 am

   I have just gone to sign your petition but notice that the text has been corrupted - you need to check this out as no one can sign.

8. Doods Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

   Well done for creating this blog. I was ripped by their Highstreetmax.com scam this year and it took so much chasing and threatening before I got anything approaching satisfaction.

   However Adaptive Affinity are a subsidiary of an American outfit called Vertrue. Despite being dragged through the courts of several US states they seem to carry on blithely as before, making hundreds of millions of dollars in the process, and incidentally being highly lauded by American business pages in the process. Apart from the odd person who got business cards, I see no evidence that they actually have any customers, only suckers. At least the US consumer people seem to have a go : in the UK consumer bodies are underfunded and toothless.

   There has been very little in the non-web media. The Daily Mirror had a crack at them, but they seem too slippery for BBC’s Watchdog to have a sniff at. I don’t hold out much hope. for that any time soon.

   Plus, the credit card companies are pretty hopeless. They (Mastercard) sent me the forms which I filled in and returned and then….nothing. The experience of most victims is that they have to do it themselves.

   So, all we can do is make sure this information is out there in a prominent place. Again, thanks for your efforts.

9. Ian Says:
   October 27th, 2008 at 10:24 pm

   I have been scammed every month since April. As A high user of credit cards and with others using my account I only noticed this month. I googled streetmax and came across this comprehensive explanation and will take it up with credit card company in the morning. It appears that highstreertmax has now become streetmax.com.

10. Anna Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

    i’ve been ripped off for twelve months now and have had to cancel my bank account DO NOT BUY FROM VISTA IF IT APPEARS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT’S BECAUSE IT IS !!! nothings for free ! thanks for the warning glad somebody’s chasing it up wish i read this earlier before i recommended them to friends

11. Tom Riley Says:
    November 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 pm

    Thanks for the great info above… i purchased an item from vistaprint. I have just been checking my visa account details online after a holiday spree(lol) and noticed a clubprem.com transaction for £9.95. As per usual if there is something i’m not sure about google comes to the rescue. Well upon reading this blog i have contacted MBNA and we will be discussing the matter further in the morning (office closed). In turn i will be promoting the problem via my forum signiture’s along with the vistaprint logo so my online community friends don’t get sucked in.

12. Harry Says:
    November 4th, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    heyyyy
    i believe i just got scammed too
    under the name of
    streetmax.com
    £19.95 aswell…………

13. Doods Says:
    November 5th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    Check this : the very definition of “chutzpah”.

    Look at this site: http://www.resetcreditcheck.co.uk.

    It says

    “If you are yet to be a casualty of fraud or a scam yourself, you probably know someone who has. The first you may know about this is when you check your account details and it’s too late. Reset Credit Check is the all inclusive package that can help protect your identity and give you peace of mind. ”

    However , if you look here

    http://www.resetcreditcheck.co.uk/shopcontent.asp?type=rccpriv

    You will see that this is our old friends at Adaptive Affinity, home of Vistaprint, Hightstreetmax, Clubprem and numerous others brands, with whom the words “fraud”and “scam” have been widely associated.

    The words “Dracula” and “blood-banks” leap to mind.

    Rather scarily , this seems to be some sort of joint venture with Skipton Building Society. As if the financial sector doesn’t have bad enough a name. Do they know what they are letting themselves into ?

14. Claire Humphrey Says:
    November 12th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    Oh my god, how pissed off am I! Will definitely not be using vistaprint ever again. Clubprem.com have been taking money out of my account for 9 months. Rang clubprem.com who said they would refund 3 installments but I wasn’t happy with this so rang the number you posted (CALL CENTRE JAMAICA)and they have refunded me in full (I hope) so thankyou very much for your help, will cancel my card as well I think to be on the safe side. Cheers.

15. harrison Says:
    November 13th, 2008 at 11:20 pm

    hi
    booked hotel through lastminute but only later found streetmax were taking 14.95 each month lost 50 quid phoned and emailed x2 threatened legal action and was refunded eventually minus the interest accumulated on my card what an absolute rip off how can they get away with this if there have been reports / investigations

16. Ian Says:
    November 14th, 2008 at 4:22 pm

    Hi, thanks for the detailed blog, found it straight away via google. Just found that I have been ripped off following the purchase of Business Cards from Vistaprint - got the cards though and they’re quite good. Anyway, cancelled my card (Visa) at the bank then called the freephone number in your blog and they tell me they are going to refund the 3 months they have scammed from me under “CLUBPREM.COM EDGEWARE GB” and “ADAPTIVE AFFINITY / VISTEDGWARE GB”.

17. mandy williams Says:
    November 15th, 2008 at 6:59 pm

    bought wedding invites from vista 9.95×10 payments later still trying 2 get money back

18. Ravinder Mansfield Says:
    November 19th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    Thanks for this blog, as it has helped me get all my money back from VistaPrint. I bought notecards from them in April and then suddenly I found myself subscriped to their reward scheme, which I had not asked for, and have been charged £9.95 a month since May. I called the call centre on 0800 028 8251 and said unauthorised transactions as I didn’t have any documentation saying I was a member and hadn’t agreed to join. They tried to get me to say I remembered seeing the £10 cash back voucher and the terms that I would be subscriped to their membership, but just say no and resate want money back. They agreed and said the money would be refunded within 7 days and sent me an email the same day cancelling the membership. Low and behold, yesterday (6 days afterwards) I have received a full refund. I had tried cancelling by sending an email and also calling another number but they didn’t work. The number above though does, so ring now!

19. abu Says:
    November 19th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

    i purchased smthng from vista and i paid for it but 3 months under clubprem.com has been deducting 9.95 , first month i taught its smthg i bought but next month again around the same day of the month and i got suspisious and when it happened for the third time i knew it was a scum and i was going to the bank i decided to google it and i found this site

    i called them on the 0800 and they were helpful and ready to refund my payment ,

    but thanks to this website

20. ALASTAIR AKED Says:
    November 21st, 2008 at 4:22 pm

    VERY MANY THANKS FOR YOUR WEBSITE. SO I WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE TO BE SCAMMED BY VISTA PRINT.

    THANKS FOR ALL THE HARD WORK YOU HAVE DONE ON OUR BEHALF

    ALASTAIR

21. sandra mcvitie Says:
    November 21st, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    thank you so much for your info. ihave been scammed by vistaprint they have been taking 25 pounds a month from my debit card under vprewards.com and clubprem.com i am on the phone right now asking for a refund and cancellation of the payments i to never signed any agreement with them. all i did was order some business cards and letter heads. they have just confirmed they will refund all money taken and stop any further payments will see if i get the money back. thank you once again.

22. Stacie Murdoch Says:
    November 26th, 2008 at 11:48 am

    Thank you very much for the very helpful info. I have just called the 0800 number and and they have said they will cancel my ‘ membership’ (which I did not know I had signed up to) and refund me… they could not tell me how long it would take to refund. I told them that I expected it in my account within 7 days or I would be calling back… they seemed unfased by this.

    I ordered buisness cards in august and have since been charged 9.95 a month by CLUBPREM.COM and VPREWARDS.COM.

    It sounds as though no authority is willing to stop this scam and this is very frustrating. I hope more people will check this page and the others around befor ordering from Vistaprint!

    I’m normally quite aware of these things but Vistaprint seemed a genuine website.

    DON’T BUY FROM VISTAPRINT!

23. gary Says:
    November 28th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

    for months taking £9.95 emailed them no reply they dont answer the phone so have cancelled my card and will be getting a new one with a different number

24. craig Says:
    November 28th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    I ordered some business cards from Vista print last June & they have been taking£9.95 for last five months emailed them no reply they don’t answer the
    phone so I have had to cancel my card and will be getting a new one. My credit card company are now investigating & are refunding the money

25. sonny driscoll Says:
    November 29th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    same as everyone -ordered business cards (which never arrived) have gone through my statements and clubprem.com have been taking £9.95 per month since April
    Thanks for the advice/phone number ,will be on to them on monday hopefully get a good result
    will be very wary giving card details online in future as i deliberately avoiding ticking any boxes regarding offers etc so theres no way i willingly signed up for this,so they must have just used my details blatantly

26. anthony weir Says:
    December 1st, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    I’m another who hasn’t noticed the £9.95 on the credit card account…until 5 months later! Unfortunately my card is Lloyds TSB airmiles duo/AMex - not easy either to get refunds from, or to cancel.

27. jacqui tilley Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    Hey
    Many thanks for the research you have done …. I noticed the monthly charges from VPREWARDS.COM when I paid off my credit card nd wondered why I still had a balance. Some work to do now to get my money back!
    Thanks again

28. terry Says:
    December 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    I can see I am one of many that has been a victim of this scam. I only realised after I changed my credit card that highstreetmax.com have been charging me 14.95 and then 17.95 since April 2007. I called them and they said I became a member after I made a purchase through lastminute.com. So thanks to lastminute.com giving away my credit card details. Highstreet max said they sent me a email to say i had 1 months free and then I would be charged if i did not opt out. Obviously I did not get this email. I have called the 0800 on the blog but unfortunately they deny any knowledge of highstreetmax and when i asked to speak to a supervisor I was put on hold for 20 minutes and then I gave up. I will keep trying to get my money back.

29. jane williams Says:
    December 5th, 2008 at 12:59 am

    thanks for this website. i too have had bought from vista print and just checked my statements and yes i have been stung! my statements are usually full of paypal stuff as i sell and buy on ebay so are quite messy, but i never realised this vprewards thing was stealing my money! i’m furious, don’t know how long it has been going out of my account for but i’ll be straight onto it as soon as the banks open.
    can’t believe this is allowed to happen in this day and age. but thanks to everyone for the tips and phone numbers, i will be sorting this out first thing in the morning!!

30. Katie Says:
    December 5th, 2008 at 9:20 am

    after having taken out an order for business cards through Vista Print - £9.95 started mysteriously disappearing from my Amex card every month to a company called Adaptive Affinity Edgware. I am now in the process of trying to cancel this and am appalled that Vista Print should scam people like this.

31. jane williams Says:
    December 5th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    i’ve just got off the phone to vprewards. took me over 40 mins to get through though, luckily i have loudspeaker on my phone so don’t have sore ears!
    i spoke to ‘camille’ who has promised me a full refund and cancellation of my account. she didn’t even question me or try to tell me i’d joined up! just ‘ok and we will cancel and send your refund’.
    the cynical side of me expects this not to happen, but i’ve had the cancellation email confirmation now and will be keeping an eye on my bank statements from now on (even if/after i do get refund).
    i definitely will not be buying anything else from vistaprint!

32. michelle frazier Says:
    December 8th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

    i too have been scammed by vista. had 3 payments of 9.95 taken fro vprewards so far. despite emails they tell that i signed up for this (i did not!) and that they will refund however still have not had refund. i am on benefits so this money is a big deal to me and on one occassion resulted in me going overdrawn and being charged by my bank

33. Stacie Murdoch Says:
    December 9th, 2008 at 11:33 am

    HI this is an update on my previous message… I have now received the full refund from them by calling the 0800 number given on this page only once on the 26th of November and it has just gone back into my account today. It has taken several weeks but I do have it back. Good luck to others. Kind regards Stacie

34. Katie Says:
    December 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    Hi, Just an update on my previous mail. I emailed vista print on their ‘contact us’ option on their website. They eventually replied by email saying that they have cancelled the ’subscription’ and I will get a refund. Today, however, someone from VP rewards had the gall to phone me to say that as a gesture of good will they would refund only 2 months worth! I, naturally, hit the roof!
    It might be worth noting that Visa Print were dissolved by Companies House in 2007 - so shouldn’t be trading at all.
    Amex have frozen the money and I have cancelled my card. They said that if it isn’t returned to me, then their legal team would chase it up. Here’s hoping….

35. tim Says:
    December 19th, 2008 at 7:58 am

    Well I’m not a vista print man. But I got it good from the adapter site, via another credit site. I signed up for a credit report on a site like the freecreditreport site, not that one but another just like it.

    A three credit report for 19.95 a month http://www.free3bureaucreditreport.com/. This site mentions nothing of being transferred to another site in the terms of service. Nor does it say anything about being signed up on 2 other programs at the same time. I have called all the 800 numbers to get out of the programs. I will have my card canceled tomorrow.

    Apparently the definition of fraud is to use these sites to not be in identity theft. They don’t tell you that there stealing your identity by signing up for the services via another site , without your permission. How ironic.

    There needs to be laws against piggyback sites and high prosecution for the operation of such site.

    Thanks for your listing this site as one of the many sites from this company.

    you might want to add 24protect to the list also because I am sure its one also because I got the same automated woman to unsubscribe.

36. hubbers Says:
    December 19th, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    Thanks Tim. it seems that free3bureaucreditreport.com is also owned by Adaptive.

    On the Free 3 Bureau Credit Report privacy pilicy page https://www.free3bureaucreditreport.com/19330/privacy.aspx they say the following:

    The Personal Information that is collected may also be shared with other groups within the Adaptive Marketing organization, and with Adaptive Marketing’s affiliates and /or marketing partners, to bring you additional information and special savings offers.

    Later on they add:

    By using our Web site, you consent to the collection and use of information as it is disclosed in this Privacy and Security Policy statement. If you do not agree we ask that you do not use our site. Thank You.

    Making a site that offers to check your credit and then stealing from you which may damage your credit rating has to be the lowest of the low.

    I did another search on http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/web-sites-on-web-server/ and found that 13 new domains have been added to the server since September proving that the scam is alive and well.

37. Dawn Says:
    December 20th, 2008 at 8:09 pm

    Much thanks for this page. I noticed a payment on my card to ADAPTIVE AFFINITY / VISTEDGWARE GB.

    I found your page, read a little, then stopped my card. They have only taken the 9.95 once and I will be calling for a refund. They will have to send me a cheque though as my cards have been stopped and I will not be handing over my bank details.

    I had ordered from Vista Print and will be warning all to stay away for them.

    I can’t thank everyone enough for sharing.

    Dawn

38. Lynne Says:
    December 24th, 2008 at 8:26 am

    Hi, I recently purchased some calendars from Vistaprint. This month my credit card had 2 unauthorised payments from Affinity and VPrewards. I e-mailed them at cancel@vprewards.co.uk and got the following reply:

    “Thank you for your email.

    The charges you are referring to are related to two memberships you had signed up for: (1) VistaPrint Rewards & (2) Premier Club.

    We have processed the cancellation of both membership as of 16 Decembre 2008, and we will forward your credit to your bank within two business days. Please note that you will see your refund on one of your next two statements, depending on your billing cycle.

    We are available from 7-11PM EST Mon-Fri and 8AM-5PM EST on Sat. Please feel free to reply to this message if you have additional questions or concerns.

    Thank you”

    I haven’t had the refund yet but it was only Friday when I rang.

    Lynne

39. Dee Says:
    December 29th, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    I was also recently scammed! I made an order for business cards on 19th March 2008 via http://www.VistaPrint.co.uk, and was then automatically subscribed - against my wishes - to a discount service known as ClubPrem. A few days later my credit card was charged £9.95, and has continually been deducted this amount monthly until I recently noticed the transactions this month and managed to trace it back to ClubPrem. Who in turn have advised me that they are a sister company of VistaPrint.

    I did a search on google and found this site in addtion to numerous other complaints about this “covert” scaming dating back as far as Dec 2004!

    I’ve since reported this incident to Watchdog and the Trading Standards (Office of Fair Trading). https://secure.consumerdirect.gov.uk/reportascam.aspx or 08454 040506 (UK).
    I seriously plead with those of you based in the UK that have been affected to do the same thing so that it can be taken seriously and stopped. The higher the volume of complaints the more likely we have an impact. I don’t know about you, but I work hard for my money and don’t appreciate being stolen from…………..

40. Doods Says:
    January 4th, 2009 at 1:37 am

    If you go searching about the internet for the many, many horror stories on consumer sites about Vistaprint you will see the following message:

    “Hello, I’m Jeff Esposito, an employee in VistaPrint’s public relations group, and I saw your blog entry on our rewards program and wanted to reply. On behalf of VistaPrint I am sorry you feel you’ve had a negative experience with our rewards program. VistaPrint believes that the vast majority of our customers who sign up for the program really enjoy the benefits, but if you are not happy, please click here or copy this link into your browser window http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/vp/ns/customer_care/partnercancellation.aspx. After filling out the form, we’d be happy to process a full cancellation and refund.”

    Leaving aside the replies, mostly about how they might get a full cancellation but not a refund, if you look about these sites you will see The Exact same form of words has been used by Mr. Esposito each time. This made me suspicious that is an invented name by Vistaprint to try to fob off their disgruntled customers with a standard reply.

    However…it seems he might be real. If you go through Wikipedia you will find entries in the history of “Vertrue” by “Jeffespo20″ who seems to be our friend Jeff Esposito, who says he is an employer of Vistaprint and since his previous job were in PR we must assume he is still in that game.

    It seems to be Mr. Esposito’s business to put his finger in the dyke, trying prevent the massive sea of complaints crashing on to Vistaprint. Further, in the Wiki history he keeps changing the entries which say that Vistaprint is owned by the notorious Vertrue Inc. Who knows, this may be strictly speaking true in the US, but it is downright murky in the UK.

41. Doods Says:
    January 4th, 2009 at 1:57 am

    Further to previous

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jeffespo20

42. jane williams Says:
    January 5th, 2009 at 12:08 am

    hi everyone just thought i’d update you (wrote back on 5th Dec). i have now had all of my (6) payments refunded! didn’t have to hassle or threaten legal proceedings, just rang the number given above and payments were returned to my account a couple of weeks later.
    thanks for the info guys, i wouldn’t have realised for a long while what was going on till i found this and other sites like this.

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