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

(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

Danielle wrote:

Thank you for your information! I, too, noticed this bogus charge on my credit statement this month and a little searching brought me here. I don't understand how mailing lists have to be "opt-ins" when services like "Shoppers Discounts & Awards" can be "opt-outs."
28/12 00:01:47

refadmin wrote:

Very good point! The legal future should involve some limitation as the manner in which consent is obtained is so sneaky that it is arguably fraud and misrepresentation.

As an update to my situation, I checked my account today and did indeed receive seven $10.00 deposits. Problem solved - for now.
28/12 01:29:43

Paul N. wrote:

I just noticed that i have had 3 charges from "Shopperdiscount.com". I called them and asked what it was that i was being charged for and they explained that I had signed up for it when i used services from Gevalia. I "canceled" my shopperdiscount account and called Gealia to cancel my services from them because of shopperdiscount charges and they denied any affiliation. I called shopperdiscount back and asked how they got my information to hear again that they got it from Gevalia as they are affiliated so I promptly demanded my money back for all charges explaining to them that Gevalia denies any affiliation and they said that I will be fully refunded. I asked for a conformation number for this refund and we will see what happens. But after calling shopperdiscount it seems obvious that they are running a scam because A) there is a "quick and convienent" cancelation option in the phone menu, and B) they do not resist refunds or "cancelations" with even a sliver of an attempt to "keep" you as their customer.
07/07 15:29:00

Davie Lowe wrote:

I had the exact same problem. Didn't notice until the fifth month. They were charging me $12 monthly and like the previous poster, they did not argue at all about refunding my money.
04/09 13:02:22

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