HUBBERS DOT COM BLOG

I saw this staggering statistic about English public spending in the latest issue of Money Week.

If public spending had only grown in line with inflation since 1997, we could have abolished income tax, corporation tax, capital-gains tax and inheritance tax, leaving the taxpayer £200bn better off.

Governments have gotten very rich in the ten years of financial boom prior to the onset of the credit crunch. In the UK the Labour government has managed to spend it all and nothing was put aside for leaner times like um a global credit crunch.

I suspect people will look back on the UK governments fiscal looseness during the boom and wonder whether they were mad, drunk, on crack or all of the above.

The Prime Minister’s photoshoppers have been slaving away day and night to make her look like everyone’s favourite auntie and not an angry socialist dictator who will do anything for another term in office.

Just after 9am yesterday morning I rode through the intersection of Southampton Row and High Holborn as I do on the way to work every day.

Yesterday the intersection was surrounded by police who had a white tent set up and were filming the intersection. Rather ominously a large white lorry parked half way around the corner of Southampton Row and High Holborn. I chatted with another cyclist about what the likely reason for the white tent was. He suggested it was probably another stabbing as the UK is having an epidemic of them at the moment.

I forgot about it until today when I saw this newspaper banner outside my office in Holborn.

This is the full article form the Evening Standard. Cyclist killed in lorry collision is the second victim in a week

Last year I purchased some business cards from VistaPrint. I assumed they were a reputable retailer because I have received several of their flyers inside packages sent to me from Amazon.

VistaPrint offered quite a good deal on cards but their website was very confusing and offered loads of options to upgrade or purchase double for only a little bit more money. The whole process is really well geared to get you to spend extra money at every step. At the time i remember thinking I did really well not falling for any of the attempts to get me to spend additional money. What I didn’t know was that VistaPrint would sign me up to TWO different “clubs” where they would take £9.95 and £14.95 (later increased to 17.95) from my visa each month without my permission. Just to be clear I never signed up to these services and they have been taking £24.90 from my visa for almost a year (admittedly I should have been checking my statement more carefully). The total amount they stole was £252.05!

This is a sample of the transactions that appeared on my visa statement:

21/07/2008 CLUBPREM.COM 0845 026 1100 GB 9.95
11/07/2008 HIGHSTREETMAX.COM 0845 026 1100 GB 17.95

This is what those websites look like.

A quick search at http://www.geektools.com/whois.php revealed the following information about the company behind these dodgy websites.

CLUBPREM.COM
Adaptive Affinity Ltd
Cavendish House
369 Burnt Oak Broadway
Edgware Middlesex
HA8 5AW
UK
Domain name: clubprem.com
Created on: 2006-06-28
Expires on: 2010-06-28
Administrative contact:
Technical Support
3rd Floor Prospero House, 241 Borough High St.
London
SE1 1GB
UK
44 (0)8704589450
44 (0)8704589458
domain-admin@easily.co.uk

HIGHSTREETMAX.COM
Adaptive Affinity Ltd
Cavendish House
Middlesex
HA8 5AW
UK
Domain name: highstreetmax.com
Created on: 2006-12-14
Expires on: 2008-12-14
Administrative contact:
Easily Limited
3rd Floor, Prospero House
241 Borough High Street
London
SE1 1GA
UK
44.8704589450
44.8704589458
domain-admin@easily.co.uk

I called Visa to get my money refunded but they said I needed to contact the retailer first.

To sort this matter out it looked like I had to call them on one of the premium rate 0845 number above. Luckily a quick search online revealed quite a few people who were unhappy with the nice people at Amazon/Vistaprint/Adaptive Affinity Ltd/CLUBPREM/HIGHSTREETMAX/etc and a few of them had posted this 0800 number I could call instead, 0800 028 8251.

Strangely the call centre that I got through to in Jamaica were more than happy to refund all of my money in less than a week. This didn’t make a lot of sense to me until I realised that if they hadn’t refunded my money then Visa would have been more than happy to refund it for them and probably would have charged them for the pleasure.

Basically they steal as much money as possible and refund the people who kick up a fuss. I imagine most people ask for a refund in the end. But in the mean time they must have tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds of stolen money in their bank, earning interest,  at any one time.

I did some further investigation with this site http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/web-sites-on-web-server/ and found that the internet servers hosting http://www.clubprem.com/ and http://www.highstreetmax.com also hosts all of these dodgy websites also owned by Adaptive Marketing.

24assistance.com
24protect.com
24protectplus.com
24protectplus123.com
aaagiftcardcenter.com
adaptivemarketing.com
ahorrossaludables.com
aigedgebenefits.com
aluemax123.com
athome-rewards.com
athomeplus.ca
avantagevoyages.ca
bbsavingsclub.com
bizmaxxgold.com
businessmax123.com
clubgalleria.ca
clubprem.com
clubrecompenses.com
connections123.com
credit-privacy-matters.com
creditadapter.com
creditadaptor.com
creditdiagnosis.com
creditpm.com
creditreportforyou.com
escapesenfamilia.com
essentials123.com
essentials123.com
essentialsgold.com
fasttracksavings.com
freegiftcardonus.com
freepharamcycard.com
freetriple1.com
freetriple10.com
freetriple11.com
freetriple12.com
freetriple2.com
freetriple3.com
freetriple4.com
freetriple5.com
freetriple6.com
freetriple7.com
freetriple8.com
freetriple9.com
freetriplescore10.com
freetriplescore11.com
freetriplescore12.com
freetriplescore14.com
freetriplescore15.com
freetriplescore16.com
freetriplescore17.com
freetriplescore18.com
freetriplescore2.com
freetriplescore20.com
freetriplescore21.com
freetriplescore22.com
freetriplescore23.com
freetriplescore24.com
freetriplescore25.com
freetriplescore26.com
freetriplescore27.com
freetriplescore28.com
freetriplescore29.com
freetriplescore3.com
freetriplescore30.com
freetriplescore31.com
freetriplescore32.com
freetriplescore34.com
freetriplescore35.com
freetriplescore36.com
freetriplescore37.com
freetriplescore38.com
freetriplescore39.com
freetriplescore4.com
freetriplescore40.com
freetriplescore41.com
freetriplescore42.com
freetriplescore43.com
freetriplescore44.com
freetriplescore45.com
freetriplescore46.com
freetriplescore47.com
freetriplescore48.com
freetriplescore49.com
freetriplescore5.com
freetriplescore50.com
freetriplescore6.com
freetriplescore8.com
freetriplescore9.com
galeriadecompras123.com
galleria123.ca
galleria123.com
gotravelsource.ca
highstreetmax.com
homesavingsmall.com
homeworks123.com
homeworksplus123.com
lifestylerewards.ca
lifestylerewardsplus.ca
mainstreetsavings123.com
myathome.ca
mydealmax.com
ncidentityprotect.com
passporttofun.com
passporttofunplus.com
passporttofunplus.com
pbbusinessmax.com
peoplefindersprivacymatters.com
pharmacygoldcard.com
premierhealth123.com
premierhealthplus123.com
primesplaisirs.ca
privacy.membershipme.com
privacymatters.com
privacymatters123.com
privacymattersidentity.com
privacyplus.com
privacyplus123.com
savingsmart.com
secure.dealpass.com
shopping-essentials.com
shopping-essentials.com
shoppingessentialsplus.com
simpleescapes123.com
simpleescapes123.com
simplyyou123.com
susaludplus.com
themarketplaza123.com
todaysescapes.com
todaysescapesplus.com
vedirecto.com
vertrue.com
victoriassecrethome.com
vistaprintpassport.com
vprewards.com
vprewards.com
vprewardsus.com
vsescapes.com
vssportandspa.com
yoursavingsclub.ca
yoursavingsclub.com

The following domains have been added since I wrote this post in September which means that the scam is alive and well.

athomerewardsplus.com
crosscountrysavings.com
foodandflix.com
galleriaplus.ca
idtheftplan.com
mycreditprivacy.com
mygreatdeals.com
myidentity.privacymatters.com
myprivacymatters.com
privacyplus.ca
savingsace.com
thebigdeal.com
valuemax123.com

Have a look at some of these domains and you will see they follow all the same basic format. A very simple site with some sort of vague offer or purpose that isn’t really explained unless you login. There are usually a few logos of trusted high street brands suggesting that the site has a legitimate business to business arrangement with that trusted brand.

I used the following email addresses and contact forms to ask those companies if they had any business relationship with clubprem.com or highstreetmax.com:

customer.service@topman.com
enquiries@hmvgroup.com
enquiries@homebase.co.uk
web.enquiries@river-island.com
UKCustomer.Relations@thebodyshop.com
customer.relations@woolworths.co.uk
customer.services@halfords.co.uk
customerenquiries@lasenza.co.uk
customer.relations@whsmith.co.uk
customer.service@topman.com
info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk
nationalbooktokens@voucherexpress.co.uk
jobs@camelotthemepark.co.uk
enquiries@hmvgroup.com
enquiries@homebase.co.uk
customerservices@jjbsports.com

http://www.britanniahotels.com/display_r.asp?page=188
http://www.zavvi.co.uk/contactus.jsf
https://www.mothercare.com/gp/contact/203-6338553-0868724?ie=UTF8&mcb=core
http://www.bhs.co.uk/mall/Infopageviewer.cfm/bhsstore/contactus
https://www.hsamuel.co.uk/webstore/secure/contactus.do
https://comet.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/comet.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php
http://www.zavvi.co.uk/contactus.jsf

This is the letter I wrote:

Recently I purchased some business cards from VistaPrint and a few months later I discovered that they had signed me up to two online services that took £14.95 and £9.95 from my visa without my permission each month. On the face of it it looks like a pretty straight forward case of fraud.

When I went to their websites WWW.HIGHSTREETMAX.COM and WWW.CLUBPREM.COM they have your logo on their site. Does this mean that the service that the illegally signed me up for means I qualify for discounts from your company?

Please can you let me know if you have an established business relationship with either of these companies.

This is a sample of their replies:

Thank you for your email. I’m sorry to hear you have had problems with the two web sites listed below.

Having investigated the issue, I can confirm that neither of the sites are currently on any affiliate programme with hmv, or in any way connected with, or in a relationship with hmv. As such, our lawyers are in the process of making contact with the sites to discuss the issue.

In terms of your payments, I would advise you to inform your card issuer that you did not authorise the transactions. They will then take you through a process to reclaim the monies to your account

Thank you for your patience with our response. I have received responses from our Business to Business Manager and Web Manager. It looks like these companies don’t actually run any affiliates links, they have just chosen a few logos from big high street names to make their site look legitimate. Halfords has no connection to these companies and I have passed the detail onto our Legal Manager in order that she may write to them regarding the use of our logo. I appreciate this doesn’t help your situation immediately but please be assured that this has received our full attention.

Kind Regards
Anthony Hill
Halfords Customer Services

Please accept our thanks for taking the time to share your information on the 2 following web sites HIGHSTREETMAX.COM and WWW.CLUBPREM.COM with us.

After our investigation’s we can confirm we have no affiliation with either of these companies. We apologies we can not assist you any further.

Kind Regards,

Sabrina Hollingsworth
Customer Services,
River Island Home Shopping

So it seems that the are using the logos of household brands without permission to suggest that membership would entitle me to some sort of discount. This is clearly not the case.

Other facts about these scammers

• Their parent company, Vertrue, has been taken to the courts in the USA for their dudgy business tactics, but it hasn’t stopped them!
• The Mirror have run an investigation into them.
• The Observer have published complaints in their letters section.
• The Federation of Small Business have warned against using VistaPrint on their scamwatch page
• There is a class action law suit against Vertrue in Illinois.

Who are VistaPrint?

VistaPrint Limited are a publicly listed company so it is difficult to say who really owns them. According to their website http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/about/management.aspx?xnav=LeftItem&xnid=WhoWeAre&dng=1021345&GP=4%2f9%2f2009+8%3a08%3a34+AM the senior managers and therefore the people who are responsible for their dodgy business practices are:

Robert Keane
VistaPrint President & Chief Executive Officer (founded the company in 1995)

Janet Holian
VistaPrint President, VistaPrint Europe (Joined in May 2000)

Wendy Cebula
VistaPrint President, VistaPrint North America (Joined in October 2000)

Mike Giannetto
VistaPrint Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (Joined in May 2003)

VistaPrint Limited
Canon’s Court
22 Victoria Street
Hamilton HM 12
Bermuda

Some time in 2009 Vistaprint are moving their head office from Bermuda to the Netherlands. Details to follow.

Who are Adaptive Affinity?

Adaptive Affinity
Cavendish House,
369 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware.
HA8 5AW. United Kingdom
t: +44 (0) 8701 432 343
f: +44 (0) 8701 432 344
contact@adaptiveaffinity.com

The parent company Ventrue has Gary Johnson as Chief Executive Officer

How much money do they make from this scam?

According to the Washington Post this negative option selling scam earned Ventura $650 million in revenue in 2006.

What to do if you have been ripped off by Amazon/Vistaprint/Adaptive Affinity Ltd/CLUBPREM.COM/HIGHSTREETMAX.COM/etc

You should take the following steps.

1. Contact your card supplier and have the card cancelled immediately.

2. Contact Adaptive Affinity Ltd on this FREE number 0800 028 8251 and ask them for a refund. This is what I did and they had the money back in my account in less than a week. I think they do this because Visa would have refunded me eventually and if Visa are forced to make the refund then they would probably charge Adaptive Affinity Ltd for the pleasure. I am not sure if I would have been as lucky if I had used a debit card since debit cards offer much less consumer protection. But you never know.

3. Complain complain complain. It would have been easy to forget about this once I had my refund but Adaptive Affinity Ltd would carry on doing this to more people. I have forward this complaint to the following people:

Amazon Directors http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-govmanage
MPS/MOL public.enquiries@sfo.gsi.gov.uk
watchdog watchdog@bbc.co.uk;
major papers financial help services help@ft.com; weekend.money@thetimes.co.uk; talkback@the-sun.co.uk; news@standard.co.uk; letters@mailonsunday.co.uk; editor@thisismoney.co.uk; cash@independent.co.uk; capital.letters@guardian.co.uk; investigate@mirror.co.uk;
martin lewis Martin@moneysavingexpert.com
visa phishing@visa.com
bank fraud departments phishing@hsbc.com; servicequality@hsbc.com; internetsecurity@barclays.co.uk; privatebankingenquiries@lloydstsb.co.uk;
office of fair trading enquiries@oft.gsi.gov.uk
Police fraud.alert@met.police.uk.
consumer direct ib@consumerdirect.gsi.gov.uk
other corpcomms@apacs.org.uk; enquiries@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk; complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Can anyone suggest anyone else to complain to?

4. Join this group and GET ACTIVE!

Sign this petition!

I have also set up an online petition stating that Amazon should stop circulating advertising material for VistaPrint. Hopefully if we get enough signatures Amazon will stop doing business with these scammers and we will get them where it hurts the most … their bank account!
Please click the link below for more information and sign if you can.

http://www.petitiononline.com/stop1111/petition.html

Get involved in a class action law suit against Vistaprint

There is a class action lawsuit against Vistaprint in the USA. Use the link below to join this action.
http://www.abingtonlaw.com/vistaprintclassaction.html

The British archeology show called Time Team are digging across the road from my office on Chancery Lane.

Phil Harding was at the dig site on several occasions but there was no sign of Tony Robinson (Baldrick).

I asked one of the crew what they were digging for and he said “old buildings”. Well that is certainly a surprise then usually they just look for broken pots.

Last Friday I had the honour of being best man at my Kiwi mate Bundy’s wedding to an English girl called Laura Clark. As part of my duties I had to read the telegrams from people who couldn’t make the wedding. One of them included this cracker paragraph referring to the current very unpopular New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark:

First off, my apologies that I couldn’t make it up there to talk you out of it. You see, Helen Clarke likes my money. So you can blame her for my lack of funds, and the need to bypass time off so I can work even harder to get my own share of the pie. Vote National.

You know people are really feeling it when they start giving voting advice in telegrams to be read on the other side of the planet.

What was even funnier was that the bride’s mum’s first name is Helen (for her last name see above). The Kiwis in the crowd were pissing themselves.

I’ll write more on the wedding and add some photos in the next few days.