Every complaint accuses it of taking random, recurring sums from elderly customers for ‘club’ memberships they didn’t order.
undefinedPersistent complaints despite fines
Easylife previously told us it wasn’t aware of ‘even a single instance’ of call centre staff incorrectly signing up a customer to a Rewards Club they didn’t want. It even claimed customers ‘forget’ they consent to memberships.
A string of complaints stretching back years - to Which?, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Trading Standards, the BBC and others - suggest otherwise.
In late November, the ICO said it had received 31 complaints about Easylife via its reporting tools in six months.
We suspect these reports match those shared with Which? - existing customers of the Easylife catalogue are being charged for subscriptions they didn’t request, sold by The Rewards Club Limited (a subsidiary of Easylife Holdings, along with Easylife Limited).
These subscriptions are listed in Easylife’s privacy policy as Book Club, Cashback Club, Gardening Club, Home and Tech Club, Mindfulness Club, Motor Club, Perx, Pet Club, Puzzle Book, Rewards Club, My Top Rewards, Travel Club and Well-Being Club.
Chaotic charges for random ‘clubs’
Helen got in touch with us in late August, telling us her father, 86, has been charged for a Motor Club, Gardening Club and Puzzle Book, despite having dementia and a spinal disability.
The payments were a confusing mess; for example, Helen spotted two lots of £76.99 in three days, the price listed on therewardsclub.co.uk for the Gardening Club, although this is meant to be charged annually. Easylife has acknowledged only one payment of £76.99 on 28 May 2024 and another of £65.99 a few days later for the Motor Club. It says he subscribed to its Perx magazine in December 2022 and both the Gardening and Motor Club in April 2024, making no mention of Puzzle Book (although Helen had found a letter about this club).
Fiona had a nearly identical experience upon discovering that her elderly mother, 89, was charged £18.50 in August, September and October 2024 for a Perx magazine subscription she didn’t recognise. She holds power of attorney for her mother's affairs and contacted Easylife about these unauthorised charges but didn’t receive a refund until we stepped in. Easylife claims her mother subscribed to this club in October 2018.
Carmine said her mother, 94, last ordered from the Easylife catalogue over a year ago yet £76.98 was taken from her account in September 2024. She called to query the charge and was told it was for a Gardening Club she agreed to during a sales call. It took another £59.98 later, apparently for the Motor Club (although £65.99 is the annual price listed online).
After we contacted Easylife on her behalf, Carmine discovered that her mother had actually been charged for four subscriptions stretching back to 2018 and costing more than £439 in total.
She said: ‘My mum is elderly, but she is very much aware of scams and if she answers the phone to anyone trying to sell her anything, she always says that she is not interested.’
Is Easylife in breach of data rules?
John, in his late 80s, is yet another disgruntled former customer. He last had dealings with Easylife four years ago when he bought a garden item. He says he was subsequently 'pestered' by persistent organisations to whom Easylife had sold his details, including a cremation service.
It transpires that Easylife's catalogue requires customers to tick tiny boxes to opt out of being contacted by Easylife and having their data shared with its partners. Its privacy policy states that it shares customer data with ‘other businesses so that they can market and sell their products and services to their customers’ but doesn’t elaborate further.
We shared our concerns with the ICO, and while it wouldn’t be drawn on making a formal call about Easylife’s data permissions process, it did say that in ‘simplistic terms’, tick boxes should be opt-in.
In the UK, data rules rightly set a high standard for consent, which must be unambiguous, given freely and involve a clear affirmative action (an opt-in). It’s clear to us that this is not the case with Easylife, and with so many customers complaining about charges they didn’t authorise for so many years, we think it merited a stronger hand from the ICO and Trading Standards.
Pushy sales calls
John discovered that on top of Easylife sharing his data with other companies, £65.99 was taken from his account by The Rewards Club in August 2024.
He apparently agreed to subscribe to the Motor Club during a sales call. Which? has listened to a recording of the call in question and we think it's rather revealing about the way these companies operate.
First, the caller tells him he will shortly receive cashback vouchers and a 'free, 28-day, no obligation, trial to the Motor Club' because he is a 'preferred customer'. After listing the benefits, she quickly says: 'Should you wish to continue after the trial, you will be charged £65.99 for the year, charged to the card provided when making your order'.
At no point does John agree to subscribe. Indeed he says: 'I probably won't want the Motor Club at all as I'm already in a car club' and only offers to 'have a look at this when it arrives'.
The crucial details - that he would need to call or write to cancel this trial to avoid being charged - were mentioned twice but reeled off quickly, including towards the end of the call, at which point he was clearly, although politely, trying to bring the call to a close.
Easylife to scrap club programme
We shared all four of these complaints with Easylife. It told us that in each case, customers agreed to subscribe to its clubs or magazines during either inbound sales calls or outbound sales calls by the telesales company used by The Rewards Club Limited.
However, it has now refunded all payments and removed their details from all systems operated by Easylife Limited and The Rewards Club Limited.
Easylife has also confirmed to Which? that:
How to report Easylife
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/easylife-axes-rewards-club-after-years-of-complaints-aSEin4M2euwp