A|ex
Tyrone,#2Consumer Comment
Sun, December 02, 2007
it took me about a year to find out that the $10/month payment was bogus. i thought it was something my wife subscribed to until i finally asked her about it. with that many online shoppers, i fear that many haven't noticed the extra charges on their accounts. it's only a matter of time before they are all exposed. and yes they will eventually refund the money. by doing so, they delay the inevitable (government intervention). -a|ex
Kimbill123
Montclair,#3Author of original report
Sat, December 01, 2007
Alex, I don't think that anyone who has posted complaints about this company on this site, CARE about $9-$10, it's the fact that they have gotten your PERSONAL information WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT. I highly doubt that all of the lawsuits that have been filed against this company are for the $9 or $10 increments that they charged BUT the fact that OUR PRIVACY RIGHTS AS CONSUMERS, was violated and that is unacceptable no matter what they do or if they refund the money. They didn't double their profits from $55 million to $110 million in 2 years by "refunding" people's money.
A|ex
Tyrone,#4Consumer Comment
Sat, December 01, 2007
just ask for a full refund. they refunded over a years worth from my debt card. this is called negative options marketing. it is a legal loophole that allows the retailer to share financial information. it works by misleading popups during signout or a free offers. failure to cancel the conditions of the free offer implies consent that you agree to a monthly membership. the financial information is retrieved from the original online merchant even though you never directly acknowledged it. the FTC has ruled in favor of negative options marketing because there are legit companies that use this for the customer's convenience and saves costs (for both consumer and merchant). unfortunately, it can also be used to rippoff customers as webloyalty has. the class action suits were about not receiving any value for the membership and not about their negative options scam. customer's never received anything for the monthly enrollment (whether or not they even knew they had a membership). webloyalties emails were designed to get caught by ISP spam filters. they claim they were compliant with the FTC guidelines by attempting to notify the customers of their negative options agreement. but customers never received the emails. -a|ex
Stewart
Venice,#5Consumer Comment
Sat, December 01, 2007
Lerach Coughlin Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Webloyalty.com Alleging Massive Consumer Fraud Marketing company charged bogus membership fees to visitors of popular websites BOCA RATON, Fla. and NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. A class action lawsuit was filed today against Webloyalty.com, Inc., an online marketing services company that boasts partnerships with popular websites fandango.com, staples.com and classmates.com among others, alleging it charged unwitting consumers monthly fees for memberships after they used its partners' sites to make purchases, according to plaintiffs' lawyers. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts by Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, the nation's most successful shareholder and consumer class action law firm, Lee & Amtzis, P.L., and Phillips & Garcia, LLP, seeks an injunction on the claims, compensation for consumers and other remedies. The attorneys allege that Webloyalty.com, based in Norwalk, CT, has reaped and continues to reap tens of millions of dollars off consumers by illegally obtaining the personal, private information, including credit card information, of visitors to its partners' websites. Webloyalty.com automatically charges consumers monthly fees for a membership in one of its services without the consent of the consumer. As a result of the conduct alleged in the lawsuit, Webloyalty has grown from a company generating revenues of $55 million in 2003 to a company generating revenues of $110 million in 2005. Individuals who purchase products through the Internet should be extremely wary about doing so in the future given that there are companies out there whose solitary goal is to cheat the American public, said Stuart A. Davidson, a Boca Raton-based attorney with Lerach Coughlin. Incredibly, even reputable companies are involved with, and are aiding, Webloyalty in its illegal pursuit of our hard-earned money. The lawsuit also alleges that Fandango and Webloyalty have violated consumers' federally protected privacy rights by disclosing and using their private credit card information, and are engaging in deliberately deceptive business practices, illegally netting the company substantial sums of money from the consuming public. The impact of these claims on consumers is enormous, according to experts. A study by comScore Networks, Inc., a company that measures Internet usage, found that [t]otal Internet spending for the full year 2005, including travel, reached $143.2 billion GOOD LUCK! STEW