To think that mumsnet should protect their product testers?

[lunar1]

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.

So they took two payments in October and nov then refunded on 4.12.14 then in the 9th of this month they have taken another one!
Furious doesn't begin to describe how I feel.

ChippingInLatte, it's not a question of me finding your post difficult to understand. It's a question of me not finding your point logical and disagreeing with your (non) argument.

If Mumsnet have control over the companies/products for whom they facilitate testing, then they can choose not to run tests for companies who request unreasonable information, such as financial details.

Incovenience aside, if somebody is testing a product, it should be separate from any financial arrangement (inadvertent or not). Otherwise where's the credibility in the testing process?

As for nastiness - I see people responding to this as they would any other consumer issue that is not reasonable.

Ledkr. Deep breath. Try live chat.

Fascicle. It's not a non argument simply because you disagree. Not sure why you are saying it's not logical, that comment makes no sense.

MN can control who they test for and what they test. I never said otherwise . What I said was they might not want to turn down revenue from testers who do not want to agree not to gather banking details. It is up to individual MNers to decide whether to participate or not.

MN's only mistake was to guarantee something that they themselves, have no control over the actual taking of the money out if the accounts.

People can test/review a product they have paid for, it makes no difference to the testing process.

Most 'normal' people give a company a chance to rectify the issue before going off the deep end. Some of the courses of action being suggested at this stage are ludicrous.

I find the ww response about it wasn't possible to do it any other way odd as they provide our local weight loss service for the nhs and dont require patients bank details until the free period is up and only if you wish to continue.

colleysmill. I didn't do the test, so no idea what it involved. But if it was testing the online membership it would be different than the 'NHS' membership where I assume you need to go to the actual classes?

A lot of companies are set up like this, so I assume it's a fairly standard membership/payment computer system.

All they needed to do was either automatically cancel everyone on the trial the day after they set it up or ask everyone, towards the end of the trial, if they wanted to continue as a paid member or not and cancel everyone who said no or didn't respond.

WW's administration of this has been very poor. However, they're a massive, massive company and it's probably not that important to them to fix this quickly and efficiently, hence Mumsnet being given the run around.

Referral via nhs to ww includes access to online too (as well as paper vouchers for a meeting) which just cuts out once your time is up. If you want to continue you effectively rejoin as a new member (although my leader counted in weight loss to date) and only batty at point did I have to provide bank details.

So if they can do it for the nhs surely they could have found a way here?

Yes. If the 'nhs' membership is full membership including online, then it seems particularly stupid, or cunning, to have joined the 'testers' up as regular 'free trial' members.

Still not MN's fault though, however, it is down to MN to get it sorted though as they're the ones who guaranteed their members that money wouldn't be taken at the end of the trial.

I think Anns's response of sorting it "over the next week or so" to be really poor. They should refund the testers involved themselves and sort it out with WW in their own time.

MNHQ get your act together.

I didn't realise I could still post on a closed thread! I just presumed closed meant it was locked.

I don't think anyone is starting a nasty campaign against anyone. It's just the response time that has been too slow and had lead me to feel like I was being ignored. It also sounds like ww are not being honest with mumsnet. I don't think MNHQ would have told me a refund had been sent if they hadn't believed it was true.

I think from reading the responses from MN today it will now be taken seriously and felt with Monday. I just wish it had been taken seriously from the start.

I also think MNHQ should get on the case on Monday Morning and promise some resolution. People are having money taken form their accounts because MNHQ asked them to take part ina trial.

I hope they also insist that WW refund ALL Bank charges incurred by the testers.

No lunar it just means your obligation to post feedback is over.

DramaQueen. Try reading what was actually written instead of making it up as you go. That is not what was written.

Obvs this is not what MN or WeightWatchers intended when we launched this product test: 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

We have been working hard to try and sort it out - it's not always very straightforward unfortunately. I know Angelie has been in touch directly with you and we promise to be in touch again on Monday when we can find out what's happened

Has anyone actually updated their recurring payments on the PayPal website?

ChippingInLatte
Still not MN's fault though

It's Mumsnet's choice to facilitate the tests; by association their 'brand' is being used; their members are being recruited for the trial. It's also Mumsnet who has the leverage to sort out issues quickly with the company.

There is no good reason why somebody testing a product should be asked for financial details. Using pre-existing set-ups to capture information is not a good enough reason.

Mumsnet unfortunately are partially culpable since they are 'fronting' the trial. I have no idea why you don't understand this. For comparison, if a consumer buys from a retailer, if they have an issue with their purchase, the first port of call is the retailer rather than the manufacturer.

I don't doubt the intentions and integrity of Mumsnet. But something like this needs to be resolved swiftly so members do not incur any further financial inconvenience.

Oh for the love of little fish fascicle, just stop. You seem incapable of actually reading what I've written and I'm done with trying to wade through your patronising posts to explain things to you.

I would hope that closing the feedback thread is a sign that MN are witholding any more publicity (of any sort) for WW until they properly reimburse their testers. Continuing to allow posts in the thread would keep it in active conversations.

Keep up the pressure until everything is put right. I missed the threads, but it sounds like a bit of a shambles. You'd think a big organisation like WW would have had a mechanism for enrolling people without being charged. All they've given you is the standard free month or introductory fee that everyone seems to get (it's a while since I've done WW, so don't know what they're offering, lately).

I've read your posts Latte, but the arguments you are expressing do not make sense, which is why I've challenged them.

lunar, if you've incurred bank charges because of the payments, ask WW to reimburse you the full amount of those charges (perhaps through MN) and stick to your guns; it sounds like you'd be £60+ out of pocket because of this, and that's not acceptable.

Chipping, being in touch on Monday and actually sorting it out on Monday are two different things. I ask you to stop being so condescending just because other people's views are different to your own.

Hope you get it sorted OP.

yanbu.

They took three payments off me too. January is such a tight month, really could have done without it. It's put me right off doing product tests.

It never occurred to me I might not have my money by Monday. This is a bloody nightmare!

with re-curring debit card payments, try ringing your bank and explaining the situation. I had set up a payment which took a monthly debit from my debit card, the bank cancelled it for me ( I know you didn't actually set u this payment) & when the company again took the money , the bank refunded it. Worth a try?

Hi everyone, just to let you know, all of the refunds have been processed, and the affected testers should have their accounts refunded today. Weight Watchers are also refunding any bank charges incurred, and we have been in touch with all the affected testers accordingly to organise this.

dobedobedo. It's very rare that you need to sign up on this way for a product test, don't let it put you off.

dramaqueen. I wasn't being condescending. I was pointing out that you had your facts wrong.

Angelie. I'm glad you were able to get it sorted out so quickly and organise refunds of bank fees etc. I'm sure the people involved will be really pleased to hear it.