Hi,
I just checked my bank account today and Naked Wines had taken $40 from my account and turned it into store credit as a 'monthly fee'. I really had no idea about this, now I read the terms and conditions and it does say there is a monthly fee there. I bought wine from the site assuming as a one off thing. I will give them a call tomorrow as they are closed now. Do you think I'll be able to get the money back? Anything I should do?
Thanks
Damn..
I got this email after my first order:
Hello ,
Sorry for coming on too strong
Thank you for your order. And sorry for jumping the gun…
We invited you to be an Angel at the end of your order - but you probably want to try the wines first and decide whether we're right for one another.
We've popped $30 in your account for your feedback
We'd love to hear what you think - so please visit your Naked Me page once you've tried them, and give them a simple 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down'.
With a few clicks, you can help launch the career of a talented, upstart winemaker!
And to say thank you in advance, we've popped a $30 voucher in your account, valid against another case of your choice (apart from a handful of exceptions).
Cheers
Luke
MD, Naked Wines Australia
I think that might be the reason.. I'll try give em a call and sort it out
Thanks
It's not clear that you are signing up to a $40 debit, their process is either a poor design or a sneaky attempt to join you up to what is essentially a wine club even though they pretend it isn't. It happened to me when I placed my first order and I got a popup button to click if I wanted $50 credit in my Naked Wines account - no mention of becoming "an Angel". After I clicked it - why wouldn't you, I was then congratulated for becoming an Angel and that $40 every month would be debited from the credit card I'd used to but my one case of wine. Poor form and regardless of whatever offers they spam me with, I won't do business with them again or recommend them.
Yeah.. It's really sneaky… They should make it far more obvious that you do need to pay a monthly fee…
How did u go? did u get your money back
Yup!
Don't you just cancel the fact you're an Angel(Might have to by phone) and they refund your money automatically?
It's sneaky but I don't think the money is stuck on the site.
FAQ -
What happens to my money?
Each month you top-up your account with $40, yours to spend whenever you like. This isn't a membership fee and we'll never send you unsolicited wine the way most wine clubs do. Your money builds up until you want to buy some wine. Or get it back if you don't.
Yup! I emailed and got it sorted, they refund the contribution
Was about to make a new post for this but thought I'd just add onto this thread.
I got a box of wine from Naked Wines a couple weeks ago via one of the deals posted. I was quite happy with the speed of delivery and lack of fuss associated.
Maybe starting last week, however, I noticed they were sending a lot of 'free $50 credits' my way and noticed there was a minimum spend attached. I just ignored it. Today though, I got a call from one of the people there that talked A LOT about their Angel program which (he couldn't tell because he was too busy talking) I was not interested in.
I could have sworn from my replies of 'being a casual wine drinker' and 'cannot benefit from the program' that I didn't want to join. Right? I got an email not too long ago today which mentioned some stuff and worded as if I was an Angel member. I ignored it and then got another email stating congratulations. Congra-WHAT? I then checked my account and saw that guy put me down for the program without my permission for $20/month. Pretty pissed actually.
So I went straight to Paypal and disabled any access they could get to charge me and cancelled the membership via the NW site. Anyways, point is, if you get calls and are certain you indicated you are not interested, check your account anyways please. Don't want to see anyone here have to deal with getting back money from them.
Ps. Sorry for the rant. I just really dislike people doing stuff without permission, especially when it comes to business.
Wow, strong stuff. Thanks for sharing. Have you considered telling the ACCC? https://www.accc.gov.au/contact-us/contact-the-accc/consumer…
It's not sneaky - you clearly did not READ the commentary written on the page when you signed up. You can cancel the Angel deal at any time. Angels get reduced prices and free bottles and the monthly $40 goes into your account to spend at any time. Or you can cancel at any stage and get back the value you have saved. It was very clear to me when I signed up and I am more than happy with the Angels offer. If you have it and don't want it, don't rant, call them or send an email. The team is great to deal with.
I got dupe as well, just noticed $40 being taken out of my account.
Going to call them on Tuesday.
You can cancel online
I agree very back handed tactics - they also make it difficult to unsubscribe online but I found the best way was to use the search function.
Log in search 'cancel angel' it will take you to a page that you can cancel online. They will refund any money paid into the account.
Then search 'update credit card' this will take you to a page that will let you remove your card from the system.
The pages are nearly impossible to find in your account.
Yes I did a search from the site for "cancel angel" and managed to get myself removed from the Angel waiting list (that I didn't know I had signed up for).
Thankyou dis4vow for your info. I tried the cancel angel option search at Naked Wines and they locked me out of the website immediately. They still had my credit card details. According to their terms and conditions which I printed out before they locked me out:
Terms and Conditions No 5: From time to time We may vary the Terms and you must accept the terms on each occasion You access the website.
Well, if everyone who you purchased over the internet from did this we would all be very broke. It can't be legal. What really worries me is that as part of the marketing ploy you can send an invitation to others to get the same great "deal" and one of my friends did just this and now that person is out of pocket too. Morally I have to pay them the money taken by Naked wines poor thing.
My bank recommended I cancel my credit card as with this term No. 5 the company can do anything they like with my credit card if they so chose. I have put a report in to Scamwatch.
Look, wine tastes are a purely subjective thing. In my 2 orders I found some lovely wines and some that I would not buy again. I thought their best wines were the more expensive ones which I cannot afford to buy every month under their regime. To gloss the whole thing over with lots of feel good marketing and emails is a strong psychological ploy. To someone who can afford to lose $40 a month (which they can vary if they want) and be forced to buy these wines on a monthly basis….it may not be too bad. But for me as a budget conscious pensioner I cannot afford that amount every month.
I honestly thought that as they did not explicitly tell me they were going to debit my card $40 a month after the initial purchase that I could go back and buy as I wished at a time of my choosing.
Wow I am the latest one to be hit with this direct debit. I messaged them via facebook and no reply. It has been 2 days.
Does anyone have suggestions apart from me changing my card number. I have numerous direct debits from that card.
They don't force you to buy every month, and I've found they are quite happy to refund whatever amount is in your account at any time.
This is similar to Westpac insurance a while back where the selection of insurance is by default in the fine print and is not obvious.
The charging description is not upfront and obvious.
It requires some efforts and searches to reverse that.
My bank account too was deducted by Naked Wines for $40. I dont remember signing for Angles unless they had somewhere not so visible and check marked by default.
Strange how can they do such things .
Thats negative marketing .
I have sent them email and then thereafter many reminders to refund me the $40 but no response.
Will give them a buzz and see where we go .
There is no option to cancel the credit card as well.
updates
Go to their website
Log in
under search type cancel Angel
then click on any reason which comes up
Then click on refund and cancel angel in red.
and then keep fingers crossed for the funds to arrive.
Cheers
How did you go with the refund??
I too got $40 taken out from my credit card.
Just email them and lets see.
Sounds like u chose the Angels option when you signed up.
You can switch to a standard member, which means u only pay if and when u place an order.
Naked Wines Angels