Please help - scam?

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Morning mumsnetters. I’m hoping someone here may have had the same experience and can advise…. I moved house in December and contacted the DVLA to change the address on my licence. I have email confirmation from them. I realised yesterday that a company called ‘British drive’ have been taking £39 a month from my credit card ever since. I called them - the man was aggressive and said I’d signed up to their subscription service and should have read it more thoroughly. He said I hadn’t changed my address with the DVLA but with them. I had never heard of them before seeing them on my statement. They have sent me an email ‘proving’ that I ticked some box apparently saying I’d signed up. I informed my bank and the DVLA about it. I see on trust pilot than others have been caught out by this. Is there anything I can do to get my money back? Actually, it’s the principle more than the money which I realise is a privileged position. I’m so angry!

Agree, these are definitely dodgy companies to my mind, I tend to think of them as 'soft scams', they charge money for a service very few would need. But they are not alone, there used to be a lot of ads for mis-sold PPI saying they would check your eligibility for a fee, but not saying you could do it easily for free. Then they started adding that in at the end and selling it by saying they were saving you time or stress or such.
They just want your money!

The DVLA do know, everyone knows but as they aren't doing anything illegal it's caveat emptor

They make their site look like the DVLA but if you look at all the various similar sites they do all say on the landing page that they aren't the DVLA

Send the info to Money Box at the BBC who will publicise it and alert listeners.

It's a good idea to watch some of the YouTube videos out there about scams and how to avoid being duped by them. The other thing is music and theatre tickets. You think you're buying from the actual theatre or venue when it's a more expensive third party. Avoid Viagogo which appears to be legally ripping people off.

Yes, this happened to me too. I have no idea what website I went to, but I certainly don't recognise the BritishDrive one. I DO recognise the Gov UK and DVLA one. So they cleverly redirect you from the government site to their own site somehow.

I was lucky enough that my bank blocked my card as a result of a suspicious payment. I found out 2 weeks later and contacted the bank who asked me to check the payment to BritishDrive. That was the first time I saw their site. That's when I also found their confirmation mail in my junk with reference number.

So yes. I must have given them my card details, assuming DVLA charge for the service. Not at all stupid if you to got a government site you follow the instructions on screen. If it says there's a charge, you pay, rather than google first if this is a legitimate charge.

I was apparently clever enough not to sign up for a contract as on contacting BritishDrive with the reference number they told me I don't have a membership.

My bank refuses to block them as they 'offered a legitimate service' and I received my driving license.

I still think it's a fraud. If I walk into a post office to post a card and I then get funneled through a hallway into a different room that looks exactly like a post office and the people in it are dressed in post office uniforms and then tell me that in fact the postage on my card is wrong and I need to pay double, I wouldn't dispute that if I have no experience with posting cards before.

It's a very clever fraud as technically you paid and got a service.

Yeah so I got well intrigued and cracked it.

None of you were on DVLA website.

See screenshots below, note company which owns all. Last is Britishdrive one. It is not a scam scam because they do have disclaimer, however, it is obvious made to look like it.
So I am assuming Britishdrive looked the same before.

And more concerningly, people behind this moved into law, wills etc😳

It looked like the Government DVLA website, nothing with green like the one you show.

However... I just sent them a message saying I thought it was a fraud explaining the situation and demanding a refund. I also said I would be happy to proceed to the small claims court as I had evidence of the websites I had visited and how they impersonated a government website...and guess what... they have promised a refund immediately.

I hope this helps some others.

Yes, it's very clever and I think it's fraud. I never click on GoogleAds so am pretty sure that's not how I landed on this site. I am not sure the DVLA knows, but my bank certainly does, as they blocked my card after I transferred money to BritishDrive.

When I called the fraud team they said I needed to check the payment.

That's how I found out. I then called the scam department from the bank to report it and they said they didn't think it was a scam. Interesting right?

I am grateful my bank is paying attention though.

And, on the upside, they have updated my address with the DVLA and I had a new license in the post within a week.

The gov websites have green on "continue" "apply" etc.
The top part of pages for these companies is very similarly done.

I fell in to the same trap though I didn't realise till 4 months after paying for my licence. It's bad because you can renew your licence free through dvla so the whole things is a scam. I did a payment dispute through my bank for some of the payments but I was told I probably won't get my money back the dispute should block further payments.

Of course it's a scam. Deliberately misleading people into paying money to fund someone's criminal lifestyle. What else would you call it?

i have been court out on this too . moved hose in january and only just realised my husband and i have both been paying £39 monthly
iv phoned my bank who’s saying we must have signed up to this but paid them thinking it was a government sight and a one off payment of £39
so why are we paying it every month. i think they know when people move home it’s very stressful and know how to catch vulnerable people out
hope we can get our money back 😡😡😡😡
need to get on to martin lewis see what he says

I have also just realized I have been paying this since January. I can almost accept the initial payment as being through my own error but I am furious about the ongoing subscription. I have given 48 business hours notice of intention to go through small claims and report to FCA for being charged a subscription with no service provided and with no clear confirmation from email regarding ongoing payments. Has anyone gone through this route with success?

If this route is not a success, you can always raise a dispute with your card provider.

Submitting evidence will also help the dispute claim if that is what you end up needing to do.

Well so far bank are saying that I have to get any refund from company. I have asked why it was not flagged as suspicious but suspect I will get nowhere from this route so small claims it is as I have been paying since January. If anyone has gone through the small claims process with this company I would appreciate any hints or tips as to how best go about it.

Report them to,trading standards. Or get in touch with Martins money. You can't be the only one who has been caught out

Hi I have the same problem with
British drivers coming ..
They look like a decent company. But they scam you.
They've taken £39. From my account to change my address on my driving licence.
Which was my mistake.
I could have done that for free.
Then they start charging me £39 every month.
Because somehow you have subscribed to their service .which is not true.
If you subscribe to any site for there service. Surely they have to send you an email or text message. To notify you.
But they don't do that. You only realise you have subscribed to there site .when the money comes out of your account every month.
That is a trap.

I got caught out by something similar years ago, when renewing an EHIC card. At the time I wasn't paying attention, and was suckered in by a company offering to process it for a fee. Of course, it should have been free. I was furious, looked up the company to find out the owners, reported them as fraudulent etc. It turned out the same company was also charging people to process passports. But unfortunately you won't get your money back. The biggest concern I had was about giving my bank details to these dodgy people. But nothing came of it.

I had the same thing happen to me they took 4 payments within 2 days