Mar 07
26
On Friday I posted about the scam being run by Reservation Rewards through Chadwick’s and other online retailers where customers are unknowingly enrolled in a savings club and are billed monthly fees. We are victims of this fraud, apparently when my wife bought several items from Chadwick’s in November. (Original post here)
I thought it would be interesting to pull the BBB reports on each of these companies and see what was there. It seems I am not the only victim. In the BBB report for Webloyalty (parent of Reservation Rewards and other sites with unethical business practices), the BBB reports the following:
Based on Better Business Bureau files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to a pattern of complaints concerning deceptive marketing/selling practices and unauthorized charges to consumers’ credit cards. Although the company has resolved all complaints brought to its attention by the BBB by canceling consumers’ program memberships and by providing refunds, the firm has failed to correct the underlying reasons for the complaints.
As of the time of this posting, a total of 850 complaints have been filed against Webloyalty with the BBB.
The BBB report on Chadwick’s isn’t that great either. Here is part of what the BBB reported for Chadwick’s:
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to a pattern of complaints.
Based on BBB files this company has a pattern of complaints concerning the companies billing practices. Consumers are experiencing difficulty receiving a refund for products that were returned because they were unhappy with the product, the product didn’t fit or the wrong product was shipped. Consumers also state that they elected to use a deferred billing program, allowing the company to access their account on a specific date, a promotion put on by the company. Consumers state that the company bills them before the deferred date, in some instances causing an overdraft in checking accounts. Consumers also state that after ordering products from the company additional charges are added for magazine subscriptions.
I’m not sure if the “magazine subscriptions” issue is the same as the Webloyalty issue or if that is yet another scam Chadwick’s is participating in, but the M.O. is the same regardless – signing customers up for services they didn’t authorize. The BBB’s math seems a bit buggy on this report, but at the lowest figure Chadwick’s has logged 76 complaints in the last 36 months, although not all of these complaints are related to this issue.
I will certainly be posting more on this, but I wanted to add that detail for my readers (I love you all – all five of you!)
