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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that mumsnet should protect their product testers?

99 replies

lunar1 · 10/01/2015 09:25

I am one of the product testers mumsnet chose for the weight watchers product trial. As a part of the trial we had to sign up online and provide payment details. We were promised that no payments would be taken but that they couldn't change the system to avoid providing the details.

I used my paypal account and after the first month was charger the full months membership. I checked the feedback thread and saw that this had happened to lots of us.

We were promised that it wouldn't happen again, and wanting to believe the best in people I left it at that thinking is was a genuine mistake which was now rectified.

The product test ended in December and I along with lots of others have been charged again. As soon as people started reporting it in the feedback thread MNHQ closed the thread. I sent them a Pm and started a thread asking what was happening. replied that they were dealing with it so I didn't complain I waited for my refund. Annoyingly it goes back onto my paypal balance so takes me bloody ages to actually get my money.

OP posts:

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 10:52

No, it's not grounds for not testing a product, but the participants should not be guaranteed that no money will be taken, when MNHQ do not have any control over it. WW or any other company can 'assure' MN it won't happen, but MN don't control it, so they shouldn't make any promises to their members.

Thanks to this thread though, I've been reminded to stop 2 that keep going out of my account (£5 monthly and £20 3 monthly, so not as much as the WW one, well, I assume anyway) and check Amazon. I signed up for the free Prime trial and they've now taken £79 for a years subscription. I don't even remember giving them my details?! I'm wondering if they take the details from purchases or if I did In fact have to give them to them to sign up.

Ledkr · 10/01/2015 10:55

chipping as soon as my 3 yr old gives me back my I pad I shall be checking to see if amazon have refunded me too.

BerniceBroadside · 10/01/2015 10:55

I'm appalled by this.

I'm sure one of the consumer/money rights people in the papers would be interested is there isn't immediate repayment (including bank charges) and a sincere apology by the end of Monday. In fact they'd probably be interested in the piss poor response by WW to date.

PrimalLass · 10/01/2015 10:59

Dispute it with paypal. I usually find they are pretty good.

GreyjoysAnatomy · 10/01/2015 11:10

If it's a recurring payment with PayPal you can cancel it yourself!

fascicle · 10/01/2015 11:15

ChippingIn
No, it's not grounds for not testing a product, but the participants should not be guaranteed that no money will be taken, when MNHQ do not have any control over it.

Of course Mumsnet control which products are tested via the site/with their backing. If there's any chance members might accidentally be charged, that's not in anybody's interests and is a clear no-no.

hesterton · 10/01/2015 11:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LadyLuck10 · 10/01/2015 11:24

Get tweeting or fb about it. People need to be warned of this. It's pathetic really. Report to Trading Standards too.

Bathsheba · 10/01/2015 11:42

Re The Feedback thread ebing closed as the feedback had been received...

Surely the fact that the company seems to have very bad customer service/relations and refunds are very hard to get is feedback...!

Viviennemary · 10/01/2015 11:47

I think WW are in quite serious breach of rules governing the taking of money from people's accounts. I hope this is cleared up sooner rather than later.

cdwales · 10/01/2015 11:52

Thanks for the heads up! Will certainly not be signing up for product testing now...

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 11:52

MN are trying to sort it out.

Clearly there is an administration problem at WW end with trying to deal with the testing participants differently than regular members.

Not ideal, but they're trying to sort it out.

It's far too early to start any kind of nasty campaign against MN or WW.

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 11:54

Ledkr. I just cancelled mine via Live Chat. It took less than 30 seconds :). I'll have to remember to check to see if it's actually refunded to my credit card in a few days time.

Sixgeese · 10/01/2015 11:57

I would like to start by saying that the testers shouldn't have been charged, and I am speaking as one of the testers who was charged, but in defence of Mumsnet, while the feedback thread is closed, this was Mumsnets closing message:-

Thank you for all your feedback!

If you would like to, please feel free to continue posting on this thread.

A few of us have continued posting our weight loss/gains/experiences since the thread was closed and another of the testers has come back saying they were charged this month.

The best solution is to find out who wants to continue (I for one do) and charge us, but to cancel and refund the others, I had thought that we were going to be asked at the end of the test who would like to continue and who wanted to cancel.

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 11:58

CD. Very few of the products that MN ask for testers for require you to 'sign up' to anything. Besides, this is a WW issue, not an MN issue. All MN are 'guilty of' is believing WW when they said they'd sort it so the testers didn't go onto the automatic post Free Trial charging system other people do. Obviously WW have screwed this up, but it's not MN's doing and they're trying to sort it out.

YonicSleighdriver · 10/01/2015 11:58

Companies could easily have their own paypal accounts do that something could be put into the firld for tests.

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 12:00

Bathsheba. No, not really. They were testing the product. They weren't testing the administration of people on a Testing Trial being treated differently to those on a regular free trial.

neepsandtatties · 10/01/2015 12:03

I have no comment on how Mumsnet has dealt with this issue (not involved) but I agree that Ann's response "having to give details to take part is not ideal and if we could avoid it, we would for sure. I will discuss with colleagues over the next week or so what we do if this sort of test arises again" is weak.

Mumsnet presumably has a list of terms and conditions for companies who wish to be involved (product is not illegal, product has been safety checked/approved by relevant bodies (kitemark for kid's toys), testers will not be spammed, testers' identities will not be released by the company etc) so they just need to add another one "Testing does not require input of tester's bank details). Pretty simple.

Casmama · 10/01/2015 12:07

Have any of you tried contacting ww directly?

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 12:08

Fascile. No idea why you found my post so difficult to understand, I felt it was very clear. To spell it out for you.

Yes. MN chose which products to test. They have full control of this. There's nothing wrong with tests that require participants bank details if participants are happy to give them out.

No. MN do not have full control over another company doing or not doing something and therefore should not make promises re things they have no control over. In this instance, money not be taken after the product testing period.

They trusted WW to administer this the way they said they would. WW didn't and now MN are sorting it out. No need for all of the nastiness.

Icimoi · 10/01/2015 12:09

If they're guaranteeing not to take money, how on earth do they justify asking for bank details? It makes no sense

ChristmasEva50 · 10/01/2015 12:11

I have been in touch with WW about the issue (also a tester) and found their response to be pretty poor. They haven't responded to my last email. I think they should give us another 3 months free for our trouble!

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 12:14

neeps. I'm sure it's something they will discuss, however, MN needs to generate revenue. Product testing brings in revenue. Companies like WW may not wish to comply to that request, MN might not wish to turn down the revenue.

MN's only mistake here was to guarantee money would not be taken after the testing period, because that isn't within their control. They trusted WW to administer this process as they said they would, they didn't. MN are trying to get it sorted.

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 12:17

Icimoi. WW should have administered this completely separately to their 'Free Trial' process. They shouldn't have used it to 'hook' people. They are at fault though, not MN.

ChippingInLatteLover · 10/01/2015 12:18

ChristmasEva. Yes, they should refund the payments, refund any bank charges and give testers another 3 months FOC. As a bare minimum.

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