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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be angry and upset re: virgin wines

105 replies

bonnieweelass · 29/10/2018 19:54

I've used a lesser known username as I feel so stupid, how could I have missed this?

For context, I have disabilities. I've only recently gotten into digital banking although I use paypal for most purchases. i have a good income and spend too much on clothes etc but have never been overdrawn.

I was looking at my paypal account and I see that for the past THREE years, I've been paying virgin wines £25 a month!

I did not sign up to any subscription. I only bought one case of wine as a present a while back.

I don't know what to do. Can I do anything? I feel so bloody stupid for not noticing and i think this is a wake up call to be more careful with my spending.

I'm in tears. The total over these years is £850!!!

What can I do?

Help me, my husband wil kill me

OP posts:
Tillytrotter123 · 29/10/2018 20:54

Don’t worry we all do things like this sometimes. A £850 refund will be very handy for Christmas! Good luck

Userplusnumbers · 29/10/2018 20:55

The legal stuff
Just as you expected, terms and conditions apply: UK Delivery only. You must be 18 years of age or over to purchase alcohol. Strictly one case per customer. Offer is unavailable to existing WineBank members. By redeeming this offer you agree to try the Virgin Wines WineBank. WineBank uses easy monthly top-ups to save for your wine and rewards you with £1 for every £5 you deposit, plus free delivery on all future purchases. There's no obligation to buy any more wine. Your default monthly payment is £25 which you can change under the 'My Account' section of our website. You can cancel your WineBank membership at any time and withdraw any funds you've added. Wines are subject to availability and may be swapped for a similar wine of equal or greater value at our discretion. Images for illustration purposes. Not to be combined with any other promotional discount or offer.

From the wine bank website - you'll be fine OP! What a lovely windfall.

Feefeetrixabelle · 29/10/2018 20:56

OP it happens all the time. With subscription services like this. I used to work for inter flora and they would have this thing that would pop up saying do you want £10 off your next order when you completed your order. This signed you up for a monthly paid subscription services. I can’t tell you the amount of people who would sign up without realising what it was. It wasn’t that the companies deliberately hide what it is. They just very cleverly display the information that entices you then put everything else in the terms and conditions. Which no one reads.

KitKat1985 · 29/10/2018 20:59

I hope you get the money back OP. x

category12 · 29/10/2018 21:02

Don't stress OP - not having that money hasn't made a noticeable difference over the 3 years, and you'll get it back. So it's like a windfall. Before you noticed it you weren't struggling for the money, now you know about it it's not worth losing sleep over.

Yes, it's a mistake and unfortunate you didn't pick up on it earlier, but these schemes are set up to catch people out like that. It's like blooming Amazon Prime and its tiny "skip this step" button when it's trying to get you to take up a subscription. It's a deliberate ploy of these companies, and people end up doing it by accident all the time. It say nothing about your competence or judgement.

Don't fret.

artemisdubois · 29/10/2018 21:07

Please don't feel stupid - they set their business up this way to capitalise on the fact that plenty of people would forget about (or not notice) the £25 a month leaving their accounts.

I'm sure you'll get your £850 back without too much hassle. Enjoy spending it!

cdtaylornats · 29/10/2018 21:20

Virgin don't do the monthly case type subscription.

If you login to your Virgin account - check you winebank total, adjust it to £0 monthly payment and enjoy what should be £1000 worth of wine.

springmachine · 29/10/2018 21:28

Sounds like you'll have enough to cover a lovely Christmas or a little holiday maybe?

These things happen to the best of us. You don't have to be impaired in away way to get caught out sometimes so please don't feel like it's just you and your fault.
It's really not

BarbaraofSevillle · 29/10/2018 21:29

Lots of companies do this. They rely on people not reading pages and pages of T&Cs. Luckily for this one, it sounds like you should get your money back easily enough, but other companies aren't so good.

There's so many free trials and initial promotions these days, it's almost like you have to look at each one and play 'spot the con' like the Fabletics one and a shoe deal from the same company where they hide the fact that you are signing up to pay £40 pm for shoes or gym gear to be delivered every month and and make it really hard to cancel.

Therefore, boringly but necessary, you have to check all your accounts carefully, to make sure you haven't been tricked.

Hopefully the money will come back soon Smile

HellenaHandbasket · 29/10/2018 21:29

Dh did this by accident a while back, was only £60 or something but they were great, refunded straight away.

birdladyfromhomealone · 29/10/2018 21:38

The same think happened to me.
Bought a case of 6 btls via groupon but the small print signs you up to their wine club whereby for every £25 per month you get £30 to spend. although each case of 12 is over £100.
I found out 3/4 years later and they had taken over 1k out of my account .
They gave me a refund back to pay pal over 3 payments but I had to pay the paypal charges.
You will get a refund don't worry.

steff13 · 29/10/2018 21:46

It's happened to the best of us. Blush I hope you get your money back.

malmi · 29/10/2018 21:53

In the nicest possible way, it's time for you to dial back the drama and start thinking about what you're going to do with the windfall from this investment account when you cash out!

Original poster
bonnieweelass · 30/10/2018 06:24

I don't drink, have never drank, so I don't want them to tell me just to spend it all on alcohol

If I do get the money back, I might spend it on a new carpet or towards the new kitchen....

I spent last night thinking and feel more angry than stupid now. I will push and push for my money back if they say no, but will wait and see first.

OP posts:
SoyDora · 30/10/2018 06:27

All the evidence suggests that they will just give you your money back, so hold back on the anger until they reply. Not worth getting worked up about something that is very unlikely to happen, is it?
Honestly in your situation I’d be thinking ‘yes, bonus windfall for christmas’ rather than being stressed and upset!

ApolloandDaphne · 30/10/2018 06:33

I am sure you will get the money back. Look on it as a nice little saving scheme!

WhiteDust · 30/10/2018 06:40

You really MUST stop telling yourself that you are stupid.
It is a very easy and common mistake to make! You haven't lost anything & this will prompt you to be cautious in future!
In the meantime, you have an unexpected pot of 'savings' to enjoy! 

Ski4130 · 30/10/2018 06:48

They’ll refund you, don’t worry.

I was paying in to Virgin wines for months, then realised dh had been paying into Naked Wines (we usually buy wine as gifts at Christmas, hence using wine accounts) and we preferred them, so Virgin refunded my £250 with no questions.

ineedadvicepleases · 30/10/2018 06:50

As others have said all the evidence points to you getting this money back with no issues. There is nothing to stress about until that doesn't happen 🙄

strawberrisc · 30/10/2018 06:51

Let us know how you get on!

lrh3891 · 30/10/2018 06:51

OP, there is really no need to be angry. Virgin Wines is a reputable company, not a scam operation. Their customer service people are quite lovely- I was a customer of theirs for years before I left the U.K.

You will 100% get your money back. It's basically like you've been paying into a savings account, it's still your money. There is no question or argument here, nothing to be concerned about.

I once paid 2 years of Amazon Prime subscription without realising, after having done the "free month" and not realised it just rolls into a paid subscription. It was only about £150 in total but I was young and poor and that was a LOT of money. They refunded the whole lot, no question. And that was Amazon! So chalk it up to experience, don't let it happen again, and enjoy the little windfall at a very fortuitous time of year. 

Ski4130 · 30/10/2018 06:52

As an aside, I don’t think you need to be angry - you will have (however unwittingly!) agreed to sign up to a winebank account with them, and they’ve done nothing wrong. Virgin wines are very good at resolving issues, so I’ve no doubt you’ll get your money back. Generally speaking, you can’t buy cases of wine from Virgin Wines, Laithwaites or Naked Wines, without becoming a member of their wine club. I’m surprised you’ve never got an email from them though, when I was paying in to them I got a couple of emails a month about the wine club and special offers and they all had my membership details on them.

WineAndTiramisu · 30/10/2018 06:56

They'd no need to be angry or "push" for your money back, they'll refund it no problem. Just think about what you're going to do with the money you weren't expecting Grin

IceRebel · 30/10/2018 06:58

I can't work out why you're getting so wound up and negative about this. As many posters have now told you, you will get the money back. They won't tell you to spend it on alcohol, and there's no need to push and push.

I understand you have disabilities, but you're able to write on here so could have easily sent them an email yourself to sort this out.

Silverservice · 30/10/2018 07:02

You’ll get it back, don’t worry!!