When I took on power of attorney for my 89-year-old mother, after she had started to go overdrawn, I then discovered 26 debits for £98 over the last 12 months to a company called the Money Club. I was unable to get through on the phone and there’s no email address. SS, Liverpool
Complaints about the Money Club have been filling my inbox for 10 years. Most are from those who found themselves unwitting subscribers to this cashback and discount website which claims to be the “UK’s premier shopping club”. Potential members are contacted by phone and offered a month’s trial for a fiver. Unless they cancel within 28 days this becomes a rolling membership for £98 a year, but there are no terms and conditions on the website and those who contacted the Observer say that the promised contract never arrived. Over the last four years I’ve heard from numerous readers who have lost thousands because the annual subscription has been debited multiple times a year.
The Money Club director, Graham Knight, originally blamed a computer upgrade in 2013 and claimed it had contacted everyone affected. Each time I forward a new complaint it says the victim must have “slipped through the net”.
Your mother’s case is the worst yet with Knight admitting a total of £5,978 had been debited since 2014.
The excuse is the same: “We thought we had corrected this computer error … she somehow slipped through the net and we are reviewing our files again.”
Your mother will be refunded in full plus £300 compensation, but I fear her case will not be the last.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number. Submission subject to our terms and conditions
