Class Action Filed Against Vertrue, Inc., Adaptive Marketing LLC, VistaPrint USA, Inc. and VistaPrint Ltd.
In August, 2008, Meisleman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz, P.C. filed a class action complaint in federal court in Massachusetts on behalf of Deloris Gordon and all others similarly situated (the “Class”) alleging that Adaptive Marketing, LLC (“Adaptive”) and its parent company Vertrue, Inc. (“Vertrue”), along with VistaPrint USA, Inc. (“VistaPrint”) and its parent company VistaPrint Limited (collectively “Defendants”), are perpetrating; specifically, the practice of imposing unauthorized charges upon unsuspecting consumers who order services or merchandise from VistaPrint and whose personal and confidential credit card and bank account information is then accessed by Adaptive Marketing and Vertrue without Plaintiff’s or the Class’ prior permission.
Soon after Plaintiff Gordon’s complaint was filed, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued a Transfer Order, dated December 11, 2008, that Gordon’s complaint -- along with six other class action complaints filed across the country -- be assigned to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas for coordinated or consolidation proceedings. On or about March 2, 2009, Plaintiff Gordon, along with three other plaintiffs, filed a consolidated class action complaint (“Complaint”), which can be accessed here.
The Complaint alleges that Defendants’ business models are based on gaining access to confidential credit card and bank account information in order to charge consumers fees for worthless “memberships” and “services” that plaintiffs and other Class members never desired or authorized. By doing so, the Complaint states, Defendants have established one of the largest unauthorized consumer billing operations in the United States through the placement of internet advertising on various legitimate (and illegitimate) websites. As the Complaint alleges, VistaPrint’s advertisements purport to sell graphic design and customized printed products, while Vertrue and Adaptive Marketing purport to sell membership programs that provide discounts on various consumer goods and services. And, as the Complaint states, because there is no legitimate demand for Adaptive Marketing’s membership programs, VistaPrint’s internet websites and advertisements serve as a pretext for gaining access to consumers’ confidential financial information in order to charge unauthorized fees.
In fact, the Complaint further alleges, consumers almost never legitimately join any of Vertrue and Adaptive Marketing’s various membership programs, nor do they authorize Defendants Vertrue and Adaptive Marketing to charge their credit cards or debit from their bank accounts any monies. The Complaint asserts that when consumers contact any of the Defendants to request that they remove and refund the unauthorized fees charged to their credit cards, they are given the “runaround”, and are unable to obtain refunds of the unauthorized charges.
The class action Complaint is brought on behalf of a nationwide class of all persons who were charged fees or interest by Defendants, or any one of their subsidiaries, without first obtaining plaintiffs’ and the Class’ prior authorization. The Complaint seeks a refund of all unauthorized fees charged to consumers and reimbursement of interest expenses incurred by Class members as a result of Defendants’ scheme.
If you’ve been charged unauthorized fees by Defendants without Defendants first obtaining your permission, please contact us to discuss your legal options.
I have had a similar complaint. I was charged membership fees for their "Privacy Matters 123" "PMIdentity" and "24HRProtect" programs, which I never signed up for and when I contacted them they had no record of my membership or explanation of my charges. I've since had to cancel and reissue my debit card after 4 charges in a row for a total of $100 in 2 days.
I was charged, on an unauthorized basis, over $1,000 from July, 2006-December, 2008 from Privacy Matters & Shopping Essentials. Both of which are affiliates of the aformentioned.
These people need to be shut down permanently.
I ordered business cards from Vista Print on 11/12/08.
I ordered a calender from Vista Print on 11/25/08.
I gave them a payments both times.
Now my bank account has been billed twice by someone who we do not know or had business with.
On 12/26/08, by Passport to Fun a charged $14.95.
Oh 12/29/08, by Shopping Essentials another charge of %14.95.
After using PeopleFinders.com in August 2008, I started receiving monthy charges of 19.95 from a company called Privacy Matters. I just noticed the charges today (1/27). There are 6 charges to my bank account for a total of 119.70. I know I never signed up for Privacy Matters and after doing some research online, I know many others have been scammed by this company. This company needs to be sued and/or shut down.
I incurred charges from Privacy Matters, for which I did not remember signing up for. I called to cancel and they refunded all my money. At the same time I started getting charged $1.00/month from 24hrprotect. I called them in December 2008 and cancelled a membership I do not remember authorizing. Today, 1/28/2009, I see another $1.00 charge on my bank statement from 24hrprotect.
had the same problem and did the same research as M. Occhicone, used people finder in early january and just last night noticed charges of 19.95 and have been charged for only 2 months, but all of this was after i used and only agreed to pay intelius or people finder 2.00 dollars to find a name and number. I did not authorize anything else.
I am concerned about their offers of so-called "Free" items that then have inflated shipping charges to fulfill.
I have ordered many items from them, but feel that the shipping is out of line for most of them. I truly think that, like many businesses, they use this to bump up their profits while getting cut-rate shipping from the companies and USPS that we subsidize by paying full rates to ship with.
I ordered products from Vista Print, and now they have been billing my card for 3 months. It made my account overdrawn several times, incurring fees. The total money I lost is 539$. I will go see my bank, what else should I do? I am just a college freshman student without a dime, I am not even american, I don't even have an SSN. Thanks for your help.
I am very interested in this class action. I also seem to have been signed up at the same time (or at least the charges all started at the same time) for the following companies: PMIDENTITY.com, PRIVACYMATTERS, YOURSAVINGSCLUB and RERVATION REWARDS.
Thank you very much!
I ordered business cards today 3/30/2009. After the order confirmation, I was given cash back offers if I answered a 4-5 question survey which I did. After that came page after page of offers which then made me realize that I am being scammed by VistaPrint.com. I called up their customer support and asked them to cancel any additional charges made to my credit card with the exception of the business cards I ordered. She told me that she removed the Vista Rewards program trial membership. Based on what I have heard, I believe I will continue to get charged the monthly fee for the trial offer. I will monitor my credit card statement.
Why is this company still in business when they have already scammed so many people and continues this deceptive practice?
I ordered from Vista Print and also they started charging my debit card. It took me a year to figure out what the charge was. I called and they stopped charging my account. I never got reimbursed for the year of charges.
I had a very similar issue with Membership charges on my company credit card. After calling several times they finally stopped billing, but several months of charges where never repaid.
The people you call at Vista Print clearly know this is a scam and do everything possible to avoid shutting off the automatic payments.
I just learned about this class action through a business associate. 2-3 months after ordering from Vista Print, I had a charge on my credit card last summer that I didn't authorize from a company called Dannik (or something similar) which I believe was based in California. I now wonder if this company is affiliated with Vista Print.
This same ploy happened to me with Vista Print and Value Pak. I hadn't noticed the $14.95 charges for possibly 6 months. I called them (difficult to get through)and told them I was going to the Attorney General. They said that I had signed up for this and I denied that fact and wanted proof. They reinsated my account and then I saw that $14.95 was coming from the other source. I called them and was reimbursed and called Citizens bank and had them put a block on any unauthorized recurring amount that was automatic. I was shocked that citizens would never question these withdrawals and continue them monthly.I now see Vista Print is emailing me again with free offers.This is a major scam and I think it is bigger than it seems.
I'm in the same boat at $14.95 per month for the last 8 months. This seems like a bad business practice. f it wasn't, so many people wouldn't be complaining about it.
Bought business cards through Vista print 3-4 years ago. I noticed an unusual charge to my Amex card this month. Googled the company name and came across this site. Called Amex to dispute the charge and they indicated the charges have been happening since December, 2008 under two different organizations doing business as "Shopping Essentials." They credited three months worth of charges and said to contact the company to discontinue the membership I never signed up for and to try and get credit of all previous charges. After explaining to the first telephone operator then the supervisor about the fraudulent way in which they obtained my credit card information and mentioning the class action lawsuit, the supervisor discontinued the membership and credited Amex the full amount for which they charged me. Consumers need to keep an eye on their credit card statements to be sure they credit the full amount. Hopefully this will resolve this issue. Thanks to this site and the information provided, I was able to take quick action and hopefully full restitution.
I ordered business cards with VistaPrint, then about 2-3 weeks later, saw a charge of $19.95 from Shopping Essentials. I called to dispute and the rep on the phone said I joined a few months ago when I ordered something else online with a different website, Restaurants.com. I doubt that's true and I now believe it's because of my order with VistaPrint. It also worries me, though, that they had access to my previous purchase on Restaurant.com. The rep said she would refund the money, though, and I hope that's true. Shady.
Shopping Essentials started charging me in July, I called them and they said that they got my information from restaurants.com, so be careful if you see that site!
Luckily we caught it in the second month of the "membership" and alerted our bank. We will see what happens with the dispute.
I have recently taken over bill paying for my dad who is 85 yrs old. Checking his master card statement have found the unauthorized monthly charges for shopping essentials,vertru? Had to call, cancel and forget about getting back the 22.95 each month for at least a yr probably more. How did they get his credit card number! He has never even sat down to a computer! This is more than a scam. They are thieves. He would never give his credit info over the phone. Who knows how many seniors are being ripped off because family members are not checking for them
I have noticed the 19.95 charges today and called to inquire and get a voicemail that ends up hanging up on you. After reading serveral blogs about these people I canceled my debit card. I dont know how they got my info, but it has happened too many times to other people based on what I read. My charges were under the name shopessentials plus.
I have had the same problem. I allegedly, according to MVQ Shopping Essentials signed up for this by clicking on a pop-up banner while purchasing a gift membership for my in-laws to restaurant.com. I do not recall clicking on a pop-up. Since the first charge appeared at Christmas 2008 and my husband & I share a credit card, I assumed it was his charge Christmas Shopping for my son's ipod. It was above an Apple i-tunes charge on our card statement and has been every month since, so I thought it was part of his itunes account. When I inquired and he did not know what it was for, I called MVQ Shopping Essentials, the person on the other end was not too concerned and pretty much told me there was nothing I could do. I'm trying to file a better business complaint with MVQ Shopping Essentials.
hello i have recently been charged $29.95on my credit card for a purchase to a CO.MVQ*CRDIAGNOSIS AND MVQ*SAVE FACEand i did not order any thing from said CO.the only thing I did oder from was FORCE FACTOR.com is this CO.the same as all the other CO. i read about on here and if so what do i do if they keep billing me now that i stop my automatic subscription thank you for this info
I have had to deal with these guys for 2 diffent times now. the first was early 2009- several months of charges and I never purchased a thing from them. I had to report as fraudulent and them was advised to change my account information incase it was released to another vendor. Now I am dealing with them again- over $100 this time. I an reporting again and hope Bank of Amererica will mark them better this time.
After purchasing a single gift certificate at Restaurant.com, I ended up with monthly charges of $14.95 on my credit card from "SHOPESSPLUS 877-442-5774 CT" - six months worth of fees before I noticed! They claim I signed up for a membership, but I never did (why would I pay $14.95 to be part of a shopping club?!?) I called them today and they claimed they would provide me with a full refund and cancel my "membership". Apparently Restaurant.com enrolls you in an automatic 30-day trial which you have to cancel to prevent further charges. This is NOT an honorable business process. I will also never purchase from Restaurant.com again and I am letting everyone I know know about their shady business practices!
this company is a scam, they have been charging my card without permission they need to be shut down!!
I've been scammed by Vista-Print also.
I discovered charges on my debit card from Shopping essentials today - $19.95. I do not know where they got my information from although I suspect VitaCost which is supposed to be a legitimate business. I have had to cancel my debit card as a result.
I suggest consumers who know where Shopping Essentials got their card info from should BOYCOTT those legitimate businesses as well as getting the Shopping Essentials charges reversed. When the legitimate businesses start suffering because of their association with Shopping Essentials, I suspect Shopping Essentials will quickly disappear.
SHOPESSPLUS has charged my Citicard since 7/2009. I didn't catch till 2 showed on this last bill. Called, they will credit last two. Then I looked further. This was a NEW ccd. Had shopped at Vitacoast the month before charges started. States on ccd that it is CT company. This is a SCAM!
After checking out at an online toy store Young Explorers I was told I would save $20 on my purchase if I took a short survey. Instead they took my debit info from that purchase.I went to the web-site for shopping essentials to cancel membership but was still repeatedly charged for the useless membership.
While reviewing my bank statement found a debit to shopessplus that charged my account 11.98. Have no idea what this was for or who they were. Notifing bank that this was an unauthorized charge to try to get them to stop! If I unwittingly signed up to be a member, this should be illegal! I know nothing about this company and believe it to be a scam of some sort!!!