Online marketing company Webloyalty.com Inc. and online movie ticket seller Fandango Inc. were named in a lawsuit on Monday that accuses them of participating in a scheme where customers’ credit cards are billed monthly fees without their knowledge.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, said when customers bought from one of Webloyalty’s partners such as Fandango and clicked on a pop-up window offering a $10 coupon on their next purchase, their credit card information was automatically transferred to Webloyalty and they were unwittingly enrolled in its “Reservation Rewards,” program.
Once enrolled in Webloyalty’s rewards program that promises dining movie ticket and shopping discounts, consumers’ credit cards are billed up to $10 each month. The lawsuit is seeking class-action status and unspecified damages.
The lawsuit also claims that the two companies violated consumers’ privacy rights by disclosing and using their credit card information.
Read your credit card statement every month. Read your credit card statement every month. Read your credit card statement every month.
Always do! Always do! Always do! There is no such thing as a free lunch, lol, or free anything for that matter! Shame, shame, shame on them!! I hope they get the book thrown at ’em!!!
Fandango is awful. Do you know if you made a mistake booking your ticket online, there is no way to cancel it? Calling them doesnt do anything because no one answers the phone except for the voicemail? HOw does this company stay in business legally?
If any one knows how to get their money back, let me know!!=(
I have no experience with these two, but I’ve been bitten (as was my daughter) by this scam before.
I was a bit impolite with the folks who hosted the initial transaction and all of it was “fixed” in due time.
The funny thing was that the “click here” was fairly explicit that they would share my “personal information”, but no mention was made of the charges until it was too late.
Had a similar one a couple years back on my phone bill….
There was an outfit that would make a collect call and if anybody or anything answered, even if you disconnected immediately (which is to say “before they did” – my call detail showed only a couple seconds) you got billed for a couple minutes at a rather high rate.
It took a couple months to get the telco to drop the charge (I just kept deducting it) and I’m really surprised nobody sued them for accepting the charges in the first place as this outfit was known to be doing this.
The topper – no money though – was a gal who called my family line the other day “somebody has been calling my phone from this line and I want it to stop.” No Caller-ID (when the phone is in use, calls all go to voice mail), and no phone number or name left on the message….
Regards,
Stu.
Getting your money back is EASY if you used your credit card….. CALL THEM… tell them the charges are fraudulent and you want them removed… they will do it.
If I understand Fandango, it’s a service where you buy movie tickets online, right?
Why don’t you just buy them at the ticket window? Seriously, when did buying tickets at the box get to be a challenge?
I can understand the rush on huge draw opening nights in major metropolitans, but typically there is never a problem and now that almost every theater takes plastic you don’t even have to stop to nab cash.
Fandango, like many online services, seems like a solution in search of a problem.
#3, sam, yes.
Call your credit card company and tell them that the charge is bogus. If the credit card company refuses to remove the charge, call your bank if you have your card through them. If the bank and credit card company still won’t remove the charge, then send a letter to your state Attorney General and copy the credit card company and bank.
#6, OFYLO, Good point. I only wish to add that we are all being encouraged to use the internet for our transactions. Not everyone is as sophisticated as most DU readers. There are enough “idiots” out there to make out Fandango and Amazon’s Unbox financially worthwhile.
#8
Are you implying that most DU readers are sophisticated 🙂 ?
#9,
Only us good looking ones.
In a cash society there was a tangible transaction of money leaving us with every purchase which helped limit our spending. In a credit card society we can’t keep track of our spending at each transaction. Only when we see the damage in the next monthly statement do we feel the loss. Capitalism is a vortex that sweeps in our financial energy (dollars) in exchange for life servitude (debt) to our current God: The Market.
Hey guys… The new guy “0113addiv” is kinda weird 🙂
But he’s right. That’s why I use cash.
I hate coupons, almost as much as I hate rebates.
I’d like to see the government investigate mail-in rebates for policies specifically designd to keep us from getting out money.
I just hate mail-in rebates and have all-but given up on them.