If you were ever a customer of this famous company, you should check your bank accounts now…
Several months ago, the case had already caused a stir. The insurer Indexia (formerly Sfam) had in fact been accused of “deceptive commercial practices” by thousands of consumers, victims of abusive bank withdrawals. Most had taken out insurance following the purchase of a telephone or multimedia product. After numerous complaints and investigations, the Paris Commercial Court ordered the liquidation of the group and several entities last March. Despite the court decision, other undue withdrawals have persisted since then under a completely different company, belonging to Indexia and which is still in business.
Anne, 56, unfortunately paid the price this summer. While she was on family vacation near La Rochelle, she noticed when looking at her current account on her banking app that a strange withdrawal had been made. “I saw a charge of 49.99 euros which didn’t mean anything to me at all”, she told us. Looking more closely, she discovered the label attached to it: “Press Info”. At the time, Anne was even more surprised, because she did not understand what it could correspond to. One of her daughters, who was with her at that moment, asked her if she had not by chance subscribed to a magazine recently. This was not the case…
Panicked at the thought of having her bank details stolen, Anne tried to find out where this charge could come from. She quickly contacted her bank advisor who gave her some information about this creditor. She then remembered that a few years ago, in 2015, she had taken out a subscription to a women’s magazine. She had since unsubscribed. But like other victims, Anne was resubscribed without her knowledge by Info Presse. And she received no letter, email or phone call to warn her. “I was charged money without my consent, it’s pretty crazy,” she told us.
To oppose this and future direct debits, Anne asked her bank to take action. The bank revoked the SEPA mandates with Info Presse. The mother also plans to send a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to the company to terminate the subscription in due form and obtain a full refund.