VISTAPRINT warning!!!

[CaliCushion]

I just wanted to warn everyone of Vistaprint. We ordered my Save the Dates from them after reading numerous positive reviews. The product came out nicely, but my father realized they have been charging him $15 each month for membership in a "VistaPrint Rewards Club" that he didn''t sign for. It wasn''t in the fine print, either. He called VistaPrint and they cancelled his membership, but refused to return the membership money to his credit card. He is having American Express take care of the issue. Thankfully he didn''t pay with a debit card!!!

Apparantly, we''re not the only ones who have been scammed by Vistaprint. Look at all these consumer complaints:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/vistaprint.html

I am posting this in the BWW section as many of you are ordering STD''s, Invited and Thank you cards. I should probably post somewhere else too. I hope that this helps some of my fellow PS''ers from getting scammed...

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Sorry about that Cali! Hate it when those things happen.

But ty for the warning I am sure it will be helpful!

 

[robbie3982]

Cali, after you place your order, there''s a screen that asks you if you want to sign up for that. It does look a lot like you''re still placing your order, so I can see why people would get confused.

 

[neatfreak]

Awww Cali I am sorry this happened to you. I *believe* that you have to uncheck a box when you are confirming your order to not enroll in this program...shady for sure. I have ordered from them with no problems, but I always make sure to read everything that needs to be checked/unchecked. If I remember correctly this is how vistaprint gets you to "agree" to having your card charged.

 

[CaliCushion]

I''m almost 100% positive that there was no box to uncheck. I ordered the STD''s with my Dad. I could be wrong, but I really don''t think so. This is part of the Wikipedia entry for Vistaprint:

In particular, VistaPrint''s partnerships in the United Kingdom have attracted criticism[52][53]. Critics have stated that VistaPrint''s customers are enrolled without their knowledge in a reward voucher scheme operated by an associated company, VPrewards.com, at a cost of £9.95 a month, that no information on the reward scheme is provided to customers subsequently and that it is up to the customers to detect the fact that they have been enrolled as members and to cancel unwanted membership. A similar scheme operates in the USA[54]. The number of complaints is significant enough to generate awareness on the web and to be a cause for concern. For complainants, the company claims publicly to cancel the membership, and refunds the monthly membership : however there have been examples of complaints where the company has not done this or responded as quickly as customers would have liked.[52][53]

In August 2008, the company announced that class action lawsuits relating to the membership discount programs offered by third party merchants on VistaPrint''s USA website have been filed against VistaPrint USA, Inc., VistaPrint Corp., and two third party merchants (Vertrue Inc. and its subsidiary Adaptive Marketing LLC) in Texas and New Jersey.[55] Two additional class-action suits were subsequently filed in both Massachusetts and Alabama. The four complaints, all filed in federal courts, allege that the defendants are in violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (which protects from unauthorized charges) and the federal Electronic Communications and Privacy Act (which prohibits the unlawful access of financial information). "As we allege in the complaint, we believe that VistaPrint and Vertrue are acting in concert to access consumers'' credit card information and then begin charging them relatively small amounts," says Jerome Noll, counsel for the plaintiff that filed the Massachusetts suit. "You''re talking about $14.95 a month or $12.95 a month, hoping that consumers just won''t notice." [56]

 

[neatfreak]

Cali, those excerpts just say that other people think they''re being scammed, and I DO think it''s very shady of them, but unfortunately I think do you have to select/deselect a box so that is what makes it legal as of right now.

I would be interested to see what the outcomes of these cases are though.

 

[amyjokerette]

I order from Vistaprint all the time and it has never happened to me. But I have never noticed any box or anything either...

 

[DMBFiredancer]

thank you for posting this. i just ordered from them and i hope this does not happen to me. i wonder if there is any way to tell from the order status? or maybe i will just call tomorrow to make sure...thanks!

 

[CaliCushion]

Amy, yeah, the weird thing is I''ve since ordered from them on my credit card. When I placed the order, I didn''t notice any checked box. I''ve recieved my billing statement too and I wasn''t enrolled in any reward club. So wierd...

 

[AllieLuv83]

Just checked my statement on my Discover Card and it happened to me too!!!! I am so pissed! 6 months of being charged 14.95 for some service that I never received. Hopefully, Discover will help a sista out!