22/12: Shopper Discounts - Arguably Fraudulent Charges for this Service

Online buyers beware of charges to bank / credit card accounts made as a result of purchasing goods online at various retailers and unwittingly signing up for "shopper discount" service.


Today, I noticed on my credit card, a bill of $10.00 and I inquired of my husband if he knew anything about it. He did not. I called the number associated with the charge 800-889-8776. I was able to reach a customer service representative, "Julie", who advised me that the charge originated from a purchase I made at Allposters.com. Apparently, when I made my online purchase of a poster at Allposters.com, I did not click "no thanks" when I should have and unwittingly signed up for the service. I had absolutely no recollection of the event and admonished Julie that I was deceived and those charges were fraudulent. She did not hesitate to advise that she would discontinue all future charges. I added that I wanted my money back to which she responded that it should appear on my bank statement within 7-10 days. Anything else, she said. I responded, "wait, I want all my money back going back as far as this goes" because I never authorized any payment. She said this goes back 7 months and all your money will be refunded within 7-10 days. I finally inquired, now are you promising that this money will show up because I will take more formal action if it doesn't and she promised that it would. I will keep the blog updated on my progress.

The service is a rebate service of sorts that is discussed in the fine print. You might think you are entering your information to get a rebate back, and wind up buying the service. I use the term "alleged" because apparently some have been contacted and they deny any knowledge of such service. Evidently it is the retailer who is providing your credit card information to the service provider in order to allow them to make the charge each month. So, if you think you needed to put in your own credit card information, you are wrong; the retailer provided it.

I have done a quick search online regarding this event and was able to come up with a list of retailers allegedly allowing this service to be provided on their sites in the fine print:

eCost.com
1-800-flowers
batteries.com
1sexynight.com
classmates.com
cheapseats.com
fandago.com
lillianvernon.com
fragrance.net
a1book.com
tigerdirect.com
allposters.com
ftd.com
Gevalia.com
drugstore.com
movietickets.com
campusfoods.com
lanebryant.com
flowers.com
jcwhitney.com
ussearch.com
wirelessemporium.com
delivery.com
broderbund.com
riverdeep.net
geeks.com
joann.com
chadwicks.com
ebgames.com
petco.com
learningcompany.com
priceline.com
hotels.com
buy.com

(Please add to the list by adding a comment.)

This is undoubtedly claimed to be a legal transaction, but I plan to do research and possibly commence a class action suit for any interested parties. If you are interested in joining the class, and it will be no trouble on your behalf, please provide me at lawref@lawrefs.com with an email address where I can contact you to obtain your information.


Comments

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refadmin wrote:

Great news that a class action has been started in Virginia. I'll be looking into getting something going here in Michigan asap.
19/03 21:54:13

ms darlene burgert wrote:

I also was scammed by Shopper Discount. There is now a Class Action Lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia dated: Feb.24, 2011. I contacted my bank with the info. I am also writing to the head offices of the companies that they are using to scam/trick us and raid our bank accounts. Come on! let us do something about this, How aout writing to the Attorney General of CT where they operate. Info as to where to write can be found on line. Let's unite and put these bims out of business!! thank you
19/03 13:22:11

refadmin wrote:

I received my money back. Yes, fill out whatever forms required. It is a fraudulent scheme.
05/02 16:07:46

Eric wrote:

What a joke....Just realized this $12 shopper discount charge after 28 months!!! totaling $336. I guess this happened after shopping at All Posters. I filed a fraud complaint though my bank...should I also fill out the affidavit? anyone receive their money back?
04/02 20:02:32

refadmin wrote:

I agree that something needs to be done to stop this. I anticipate a lot of work in doing so. It is on my radar and I am hoping that I will be able to contact all interested parties in the future.
03/02 08:25:35

Linda Brinton wrote:

I just discovered charges going back to November 30, 2005! At $9.00 per month, close to $500.00. It was on our American Express Costco card. I never signed up for this and never would. I feel violated. I called the company and stopped it. I also filed a grievance at American Express. Why isn't someone filing a tort claim against this company. What. Scam.
31/01 14:22:59

Alan Green wrote:

A lot of people scammed from Pizza Hut, Trainline.com over in the UK.
11/11 05:03:43

Tony Somervell wrote:

PLEASE CAN SOMEONE put a STOP to this ILLEGAL, DEVIOUS robbery!!!
We have just realized we have been scammed for several months with Shopperdiscount.com and now a 'piggy-back' My-Time_Rewards doing the same thing. We noticed, late, £10monthly debits appearing on Bank Statements.
This is surely CRIMINAL and yet has been continuing for years, by the looks of it.
Thankfully we are in the process of recuperating the stolen money and will be all the more VIGILANT in future.
15/01 07:09:47

Francis Tran wrote:

Shopper (comment)
Posted: 2009-08-26 by Francis Tran

Unauthorized Credit Card Charges
After 4 months, I found out Shoper Discounts has charge my debit card $12 per month. I don't know how they have my account no. ?? I call them yesterday 8/23 they told me that my menbership will be cancelled and I will get full refund from 3 to 5 days. I never buy anything or receive any service from Shopper Discounts but my debit account has been charged since May 24, June, July Aug...
27/08 16:49:19

refadmin wrote:

Dear Angela:

Consider closing the account and opening a new one. Furthermore, you should write to your bank so that your conversations with them are put in a record for future use.
20/08 15:08:27

angela thompson wrote:

I am amazed, I noticed today that a payment of £10 has been taken from my account from a company (Shopper discount) that i have never even heard of. I tried to call them but there line is out of order. I called my bank, who informed me that I cannot get the money back but they will make a request to the compay to cancel my membership! What Membership!!! They also informed mer that cancelling my card will not stop them from taking money in the future, as the account number will always be the same and they deduct directly from this. Is this some sort of legal con? Trading standards, where are you????
20/08 14:03:53

John wrote:

Add Buy.com to the list. Thanks for the phone number. I just called and supposedly got it taken care of.
16/04 09:39:23
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