Complaint Review: TLG Trilegient Group Affinion Group Liv Well Great Fun 1800Flowers Nathaniel J. Lipman - Norwalk Connecticut

Here's the RIPOFF: Bogus Credit Card charges and unwanted signing up to "discount clubs" which start monthly billing if you don't respond to cancel! Full story of how this happened to us below...

Apparently this is not the first time this company has been in court over this very type of scam! I just found this article!!!

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/ ca_trilegiant.html

Also, here are tons of complaints here on RipOff Report:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp? q5=great%20fun

(Look under "Great Fun" or "Liv Well")

These predators MUST be stopped for good!

They have a "C" grade on the BBB website:

http://www.bbb.org/connecticut/business-reviews/ buying-clubs-and-group-purchasing-service/affinion-group-inc-in-norwalk-ct-41001179

And if anyone does a simple web search, they can see hundreds of complaints regarding the exact same thing: unapproved credit card charges.

They state that I provided a password and security information when I ordered from 1800Flowers.com, but if that is true, it was only for the purposes of the initial order and NOT to sign up for any discount program.

Here is how I think they run their scam, and I would appreciate it investigated further.

1800Flowers.com (or any other of their affiliates) sends out a confirmation email which shows what you have purchased, and the shipping and billing information. The customer has already entered in their information in to the 1800Flowers database. When the confirmation email arrives, there is (and this is true, because I have the email to prove it) a small link at the bottom of the email which reads:

"Your purchase is complete. Click here to claim $15.00 Cash Back on this purchase! Click For Details"

No where does it mention anything about a third party offer on this link. It just looks like 1800Flowers has an offer for instant $15 "Cash Back".

Well... once you click on the link, it opens an entire new page from "Liv Well" or whatever their name is, and it asks you to sign up for this service, which I NEVER WOULD DO. I was immediately frustrated that this was an offer and not "instant savings" so I must have closed the website and never thought of it again.

Little did I know that somehow, they must have taken the information from 1800Flowers order and "signed me up". When I called them and asked about this, I was told that an email from "GREAT FUN" is sent out when you visit that promo site, and if you do not respond within 30 days, THEY AUTOMATICALLY START BILLING YOU MONTHLY!

First of all, I never signed up for their program. Second, how many email programs are going allow an email from "GREAT FUN" past the spam blocker? And even if it got through, how many people would open it? Most (and I'm sure they are counting on this) would just assume it is spam or even a virus, and delete it anyway.

Then they get their next account billing after 30 days and make interest on the funds until they are found out (if ever). Imagine all of the senior citizens who have no idea about these scams. It makes me sick. (And they were in court over this very same thing about 5 years ago!) They conveniently changed their company name, and it looks like they started the same scam over again.

There are SO MANY OTHERS with this same story of how they discovered charges on their bank statement that they never signed up for. I believe the company does this on purpose, and agrees to giving people their money back, because they are counting on most people not noticing right away, or at all, and even if they do, they have had their money in an account earning interest for that time anyway.

Add this up over hundreds, thousands, if not tens of thousands of accounts, and that is A LOT of interest for profit.

I would like to see a real investigation into the HTML code that is used on those links in the emails as well as the pop up ads they say they also use.

Somehow, they are illegally data mining and signing people up against their will.

I'm not sure what the total amount exactly should be. I asked for a refund (which isn't even the right word really, since I never signed up for this in the first place) and I would like the sum charged to my account returned PLUS any interest they made on it while it was in their bank account for the past year.

When I spoke to these people on the phone. Everyone I spoke to there sounded very nonchalant about it as if they we VERY used to getting these calls from people upset about fraudulent charges.

I hope the BBB (and FBI) cracks down on this one. These guys may offer a successful "service" - because they don't shut up about how many "happy customers" they have, but I think their real business is based on fraud and scams.

By the way, the BBB gives Affinion Group a "C" grade and has hundreds of complaints. This rating represents the BBB's degree of confidence the business is operating in a trustworthy manner and will make a good faith effort to resolve any customer concerns.

[Government Actions]

(This is taken from the BBB website (Better Business Bureau):

"In December 2006, the State of California's Attorney General in cooperation with fifteen other states' attorneys general reached a settlement with Trilegiant and Chase Bank which addresses claims that the companies used deceptive solicitation practices to get consumers to pay for membership programs that purportedly provided discounts on car and home repair, shopping and other goods and services. The settlement requires Trilegiant and Chase to pay the settling states a total of $6.175 million to cover civil penanties and to recoup costs and fees associated with the case.

For detailed information, copies of the Complaint for Injunction, Civil Penalties and Other Equitable Relief, as well as the (Proposed) Permanent Injunction and Final Judgment may be viewed on the following Web pages:"

http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/cms05/05-054_0a.pdf

http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/ 2006-12-11_Trilegiant_Settlement_Judgment.pdf

Please write in to your local BBB website, Attorney General website, and write an article here on RipOff Report to help stop these guys. Hope this helps stop these predators.

Here are their other "Additional DBA Names":

Elite Excursions

PC Safety Plus

Everyday Values

Trilegiant Corporation

AutoVantage Gold

Buyers Advantage

Shoppers Advantage/Net Market

Privacy Guard

Travelers Advantage

Complete Home

Great Fun

Just For Me

HealthSaver

Great Options

Hotline

Clever Clubhouse

National Home Protection Alliance

NHPA

Small Business

ID Secure

Everyday Privileges Gold

Wellness Extras

Affinion Group North America

Identity Secure

AD&D

Hospital Accident Plan

Hospital Indemnity Plan

Accidental Protection Plan

Simple Issue Term Life

Affinion Group Holdings, Inc.

Autovantage

Card Secure

Cheap Tickets Gold

Citishopper

Everyday Guest

Autovantage Enhanced

Credit Alert

Credit Alert from Privacyguard

Creditupdate

Datafrog

Deal or NO Deal Club

Deals and Destinations

Digital Protection Plan (dpp)

Discount Shopping Club

Discount Travel Club

Everyday Values Gold

Fifth Third Identity Alert

F.Y.E. Backstage Pass VP

Hot-line Credit Card Bureau of America

Identity Force Gold

Identity Theft Protection

Identity Theft Protection by Privacyguard

Interval International Preferred Shopper

iWatch

iWatch Pro

Live to Save

Livewell

National Card Registry

Netmarket

OurCompleteHome

SecureAll

Select Identity Theft Protection

Shell Advantages

Small Business Central

Today's Homewoner Values

Wallet Security

Wallet Security Plus

Watch-guard Preferred

Watch-guard Protection

Wells Fargo Hotline

And here are their other "websites":

www.affinion.com

www.ourcompletehome.com

www.justformeonline.com

www.pcsafetyplus.com

www.nhpaonline.com

www.privacyguard.com

www.travelersadvantage.com

www.eliteexcursions.com

www.greatoptions.com

www.shoppersadvantage.com

www.netmarket.com

www.mymembersmarketplace.com

www.idsecure.com

www.identitysecure.com

www.nationalcardregistry.com

www.completehome.com

www.creditreportplace.com

www.autovantage.com

www.buyersadvantage.com

www.trilegiant.com

www.everydayvaluesclub.com

www.everydayprivilegesgold.com

www.cleverclubhouse.com

www.greatfunsite.com

www.healthsaver.com

www.small-business-central.com

* Some of what is posted above is speculation as I do not have proof of everything that is suspected.

Werenotgonnatakeit

Loa Angeles, California

U.S.A.