09.01.2010 Verbraucher mit Kundenkarten in Falle gelockt

09.01.2010: Verbraucher mit Kundenkarten in Falle gelockt

Affinion and competitors Vertrue and Webloyalty are accused by thousands of consumers and the Commerce Committee of tricking people into signing up for the membership programs and locking them into paying monthly fees of up to $20.

Under most of the agreements between the marketing firms and retailers, an advertising page loaded with text and fine print is presented to a shopper while he or she completes a transaction at the retailer's online store. Many shoppers say they entered their e-mail address and pushed a large "Yes" button on the ad because it appeared to be a $10 cash-back offer or coupon and they didn't think they needed to read the fine print.

But that's where many of the key terms are buried. That's where it says that by entering an e-mail address or username, a consumer agrees to join the membership program and pay monthly charges.

The post-transaction marketing firm informed the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee that it will no longer acquire credit-card numbers and other information from anyone else but a card owner, the Commerce Committee announced Friday. From now on, Affinion will require a consumer to input their own transaction before the company will sign them up to a membership program or charge their card.

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