Since 2020, their points of sale have multiplied in France. Hubside.Store is a chain of multimedia object stores in front of which sellers sometimes canvass passers-by in the street. They give them gift vouchers to encourage them to visit their shop.
On the coupon, it is indicated that a product such as a speaker or an external charging battery will be offered to us without obligation to purchase. However, once in the shop, the merchant tries to sell us various services: mobile insurance, assistance service for the creation of a website or even a rental service for all kinds of objects.
We can not only give the external batteries.
A salesperson at Hubside.Store
The multimedia object would therefore not be offered, but obtained in exchange for subscriptions to several free subscriptions for 30 days according to the seller, who ensures that it would be easy to terminate them.
Despite the promises of easy cancellations, some consumers like Elisa Dalbin, a student, say on the contrary that they had a hard time ending their trial offers. She says: “When I called unfortunately it took me a long time to get someone on the phone. Once online, [le conseiller] try to convince us to stay.“
It’s a poisoned gift!
Elisa Dalbin, former client of Hubside.Store
Despite the terminations, she claims to have been debited nearly 200 euros in just a few days. An experience that would be shared by many other consumers. On social networks, videos denouncing Hubside’s controversial practices have multiplied in recent weeks.
Among the customers who feel wronged, several hundred have contacted the Fraud Prevention Department, which has opened an investigation. She blames the Indexia group to which Hubside belongs. The DGCCRF says in particular that it has observed “practices consisting in misleading consumers wishing to stop their direct debits or cancel their subscriptions (…) that their requests for cancellation were taken into account or even effective.“
The DGCCRF has also seized the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Indexia group, its leader and 5 of its companies, including Hubside, will soon be tried by a criminal court.
The consumer association UFC Que Choisir filed a civil action. She viewed our images and said that she recognizes there a sales method that she considers not very transparent and well established.
For their part, Hubside.Store and its parent company Indexia defend themselves in a press release and ensure that they act within the rules: “The group’s sales process and customer service are strictly supervised and are subject to regular checks, in particular by external bodies.”
When it comes to termination, they say go “well beyond its obligations since its customers benefit from a period of 30 days, more than double the legal period which is set at 14 days.”
In the event of debits deemed abusive, UFC Que Choisir advises consumers to call their banks to immediately oppose them.
Among our sources:
– The DGCCRF press release