PLEASE HELP! phone scam, but not sure who.

A question about : PLEASE HELP! phone scam, but not sure who.

Ok, 6 months ago I was contacted by Sapphire Members (part of ME Group, who are apparently terrible). My info had been passed to them after some surveys I had apparently done.

I do a lot of surveys for rewards, cash and vouchers, etc. So it seemed entirely plausible, as often I will get a call from legitimate companies offering me deals.

They wanted Ј1, and I would get use of their services for 14 days and a Ј20 voucher for fuel. Everything seemed ok, so I said yeah. Paid the one pound, and cancelled when it arrived.

They cancelled right away, and I had no issue with them whatsoever... except my Ј20 voucher was Ј10 cashback but other than that they were fine, and seemed pretty professional.

2 weeks ago, I got a phone call. They were offering a free trial of a service, I can't remember his wording exactly, but it was something to do with lowering medical costs. Prescription and such, I believe. I may be wrong.

I was again told I would get a voucher, but was not asked for any money whatsoever. Nothing. After he finished his 45 second speech explaining what they did, I was rushing and trying to end the phone call without coming off as a dick... again, like I said, I do get a lot of legitimate offers and such from proper companies, and had had no real issue with Sapphire so felt no need to be harsh.

After all, no money was being asked for, right?

He then told me he had to read some legal before we ended the call. All the usual, this will be sent out to you, you are free to cancel (cancel what? I got ready to ask) you will enter a contract if you dont cancel (How without my details)

Then the last line was We will take payment from you using your last known payment method for... *name of company*

Before I could say anything, he said thanks and hung up!

Now I've not received anything in the post, so I can't cancel anything because I have no idea who it is with... and what should have been no issue, because I gave no details, apparently will be an issue because they have my details from someone else (or part of the same company)

I'm not sure if it is ME Enterprises or not, because I cant find information on anything they run other than Sapphire Magazine now... but am worried that they will no take out, very soon, a lump sum for a yearly subscription that would be 'detailed in the letter' so I don't even know the price

Again, I gave this man ZERO information for payment. But they're using it from something else, I'm sure that's illegal, but without a name of a company or anything like that I have no way of tracking it down.

Best answers:

• What exactly do you expect anyone to tell you?
• Search this site for me group international- it sounds similar
• Just rang sapphire magazine coz took Ј79.99 from my account!! Received books day before & were soaking wet coz sent in plain white envelope.
  Rudist lady I ever spoke to!!!
  Refused to let me speak to manager - quite conveniently not in!!!
  Have cancelled my account and will be taking further action. Was apparently told on phone I had 14 days from phone call to cancel subscription.
  Absolutely RUBBISH. How can you cancel something when you've not even looked at it????
  Only wish I could find the company the survey was from???
  Perhaps they'd like to refund me???
  COMPLETE SCAM DON'T BE FOOLED THIS COMPANY SHOULD BE CLOSED DOWN & CUSTOMERS RE-IMBURSED !!!
• Unfortunately I was foolish enough to believe the person that rang me saying I could get cash back for fuel,cinema & theatre tickets etc. So I paid the Ј79.99 & sent in fuel receipts. After 2 emails I got back Ј20 (this took 3 months instead of the promised 'within 28 days' stated on the voucher) They said this was due to the Christmas post! I then (17th Feb) sent in 2 more vouchers for fuel & 1 for cinema tickets and 1 on 15th April. As I did not hear anything I again emailed twice with no reply. Then someone rang me to say the details had been sent to the printers for the cheque to be printed. I have heard nothing since. I don't know if there is anything else I can do but I would advise anyone to steer clear of this scam.
• This company took me for the sum of Ј79.99. Their name is:
  P Media S
  Pembroke House,
  Spring Meadow Business Park,
  Cardiff,
  CF3 2ES.
  Their telephone number is: 08445671010
  Good luck with this 'cause even though they broke their contract with me they will not refund the money they took from my account. Guard your bank account carefully because they waited for 3 months before taking from my account. I'd been lulled into a false sense of security by them - I thought they'd given up getting the above amount. How wrong I was. Would really like to know how you all get on.
• I've had a call this morning. Same intro. "You did a survey yesterday" - I do a lot of surveys so that was plausible. Long spiel despite my first question being "what's the catch" and "I've never heard of sapphire magazine and don't have time to read magazines anyway" - and it all ended up with "you only pay a pound for all that"!
  He carefully explained that I could pay by debit or credit card online. I informed him that I wasn't giving anyone calling me up out of the blue access to my financial details. He assured me that they wouldn't be abused! He got a resounding "no."
  At least the time he wasted calling me may have prevented someone less savvy from being conned!
  Thank you MSE Martin - you teach us well.
• https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/d...wayne-phillips
  One of the companies Precision Affinity Specialists limited , has a proposal to strike off.
• Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
  Mrs V. P. writes: Last October I was telephoned by Me Group and offered a new magazine called Me Like. This would be sent with vouchers and other incentives on a 14-day trial, after which I would pay an annual subscription of Ј79.99.
  I received nothing but my bank account was debited. Me Group told me the magazine had not been published as there were problems, and my money would be repaid, but this has not happened.
  Tangled: The Sapphire website
  When the refund failed to arrive, you called Me Group repeatedly but only reached a taped message telling you to try again later. When you finally got through, you were told to send an email. And when this didn't work you rang again and were told there would be no refund as you had not cancelled within 14 days of the original sales call, even though you received no magazine.
  But how could you have a trial period if you never saw the product? And if there were problems producing the magazine, why did Me Group take the money? As a pensioner, almost Ј80 is a lot for you to lose.
  And this is where it gets confusing, for there is no such company as Me Group. There is a website called meclub, which promotes a magazine called Sapphire, costing Ј79.99 a year. Internet records show the site belongs to 'a non-trading individual' who gives no name or address, even though it is clearly a business website.
  The website itself says it is provided by Me Group International, but again there is no such company. However, there is another website, called megroupinternational.com, which reveals this is a telemarketing business and among other things it offers insurance policies through a company called Mefinance Limited.
  More...
  Got a banking gripe: How to complain about financial services
  Need legal advice? Find a solicitor near you
  Looking for insurance? Check the best deals
  This company is licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority, but there is no trace of it at the Cardiff address shown on the FCA's public register. It moved more than a year ago to another part of the city without telling the regulator. At the time you lost your money, Mefinance had two directors.
  One, who has since dropped out, was Noyan Nihat, a London businessman I wrote about in 2011 when he was running a marketing company connected to Vitamail, a French health products firm known for sending mailshots giving the impression you have won thousands of pounds.
  ********
  The remaining Mefinance director is Wayne Phillips. He said Me Group International is just a trading name used by Mefinance to impress multinationals. This is seriously misleading as his website says Mefinance is part of the international set-up, not the other way round.
  Murkier still, Phillips told me: 'The megroupinternational website should have been removed over 18 months ago.'
  He added: 'We currently shouldn't have a corporate website. The website was terribly written at a time when the business was planning a different direction. It should not be accessible.'
  So what about your missing Ј79.99? Phillips agreed the situation was unacceptable, adding that 'two members of my customer service team have faced disciplinary action'. Failure to send you a magazine was 'human error', and you now have a full refund.
  Phillips admits much of his business's public face is misleading. He told me: 'I am working on this immediately.'
  Nonetheless, if I were the FCA I would be monitoring the behaviour of an authorised business that managed to get so much wrong.
  *********
  If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, Room 301, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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• See also
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...me+club+petrol
• I just had a call from them. I never do surveys so I was suspicious from the off. When it got to the 'you pay Ј1 part' I asked how would I pay that? The response was 'I just take the long number on your card and the expiry date. I don't take personal details'. What part of not personal is my card number? I told her no way and ended the call. She was calling from Wales and had a Welsh accent.
  Stay alert people.
• I've been ripped off by this outfit. I cannot understand how when there are so many hundreds of people that are effected by this individual the police can't simply take a ride down to his premises and arrest him. There is enough information on the internet to justify at least a knock on the door. More worryingly the current owner and director Wayne Philips has these companies registered:
  Promotional Media Services Ltd Co Reg 06596260
  address:7 8, Raleigh Walk Waterfront 2000, Cardiff, CF10 4LN
  Harvest The Hope Co Reg No 08926568
  address: Unit G4 Capital Business Park, Parkway, Cardiff, CF3 2PY
  PS Group (South Wales) Limited Co Reg No 08722320
  address: Pembroke House,Springmeadow Business Park,Cardiff,CF32ES
  Partnership Marketing Solutions Ltd Co Reg No 08719890
  addressPembroke House, Springmeadow Business Park, Cardiff, CF3 2ES
  Precision Affinity Specialist Limited Co Reg No 08368450
  addressPembroke House, Springmeadow Business Park, Cardiff, CF3 2ES
  and this one went bust a few years back:
  Safe Marketing Services Ltd. Co Reg No 06304910
  address Suite 1 Lanesborough House, The Laurels Business Park, Wentloog, Cardiff, CF3 2EW
  In another forum there is talk that this outfit Promotional Media Services Ltd. previously known as ME International (though still answering the phone as ME) are registered with the FCA, where are these people, what regulation are they enforcing.
  It comes to something when you can set up organisations that make their living from fraud and the police can't be bothered when complaints are raised, the regulators turn a blind eye or are too busy. Is it any wonder these outfits survive and prosper ?
  I have at least registered my experience on the anti fraud website, reported the issue to my bank and demanded my money back using the consumer legislation that enforces this.
  This is where government should step in, being a vehicle operator and having experienced the new VOSA outfit first hand, government can do it when they need to or they can generate funds from doing so. The road safety partnership is another quango that shows effective regulation can pay. Why can't they regulate the finance industry as robustly.
  signing off
• Their telephone number is not 08445671010. This number belongs to a legitimate business, Tyre Protector Manufacturing Limited.
  Quote:
• Tyre Protector., You need to contact the admin team to post. Otherwise it maybe removed.
• I just received a call from this firm - 08445670460. Supposedly I filled in a survey at 1pm on Sunday. Offering Ј20 fuel vouchers as a reward. I neither did the survey or have use for petrol/diesel vouchers. The call was very noisy - clearly a very busy call centre and boisterous atmosphere as I could hear many chanting 'DEANO, DEANO' at the top of their voice. Deano probably successfully taken someone else's money on a false pretence.
• I was contacted at the end of July by this bunch of robbing bar stewards I have now been waiting 12 weeks for some cash back on the vouchers I sent back to them I have made umpteen phone calls to 08435070707 only to be told the same rubbish ( sorry for the delay sir your check is still with the printers ) I've never heard so much crap in all my life
• Someone from Sapphire in Cardiff just phoned me from 08445670460.
  He told me I'd completed a survey at 3:30 or so yesterday and that as a thankyou they would send me petrol/diesel vouchers for Ј20, and the chance to subscribe to their magazine for just Ј1.
  When I asked him to remind me about what the survey was about, he merely said something about commercial products. I told him I didn't want the hassle of having to cancel any subscription, so I wouldn't. He said something about "you don't want the Ј20 vouchers.." in an incredulous tone, to which I said "no".
  From what many have said on this forum, I'm glad I turned his "offer" down.