A local resident has asked the Gazette to pass on a warning to take care when signing up for special offers when making a purchase on line.

He told the Gazette that when he purchased an item online, he ticked a box agreeing to receive special offers or discount vouchers in the future.

He also ticked the box to say he had read the terms and conditions, even though he had not actually done so.

Five months later, while checking his bank statements he realised a payment of £15 a month had been taken from his account by the company. When he queried it he was referred to the Terms and Condition where he discovered he had agreed to set up a Direct Debit for £15 per month.

When he spoke to his bank he was told that this is fairly common and there is very little the bank can do because the customer had confirmed he had read the T&Cs.

The Ross Gazette knows of several other victims of this ploy, one person who had bought a pair of shoes was signed up to pay regular amounts to be able to purchase more shoes at a discount rate and another person had signed up in a similar way to a book club.

The reader who contacted the Gazette said: “Five months at £15, Could have been worse.” but he urged other people to take care when signing up for future offers. He said that as it was a relatively small amount this means people don’t get around to checking and cancelling the Direct Debits.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.