I had made an online purchase a few months ago when I was referred to sign up with another site, Reservation Rewards, for a discount on my purchase. The sign up pages stated all throughout them that I'd get free benefits/discounts by simply signing up. I read between the lines and everything seemed okay to me. I was asked to supply a credit card for future reservation purposes. Well, first of all, when I signed up, it referred me back to my transaction and because of the additions to the photo order I'd purchase, I didn't qualify for the discount!
To my surprise, they've been billing me a $12, monthly fee! I'm a practical mom who doesn't need to travel much and there are other discount/point earning reward clubs that are truly free like Priority Club, so paying a $12 monthly fee for reservation benefits would be of no use to me.
I contacted the company.
This was my first contact e-mail to them:
To Whom It May Concern at Reservation Rewards:
I'm very perturbed by the fact that is "Reservation Rewards" lets on in its initial contact that it's supposed to have free benefits. I don't even recall putting a card on file unless you guys request that a card be on file for vacation reservations.in seeing that my card is being billed $12 a month I'm very irrate. Your sign-up is very misleading. I wouldn't use your service enough for it to be worth $12 a month. With an understanding of business relations I'm contacting you in good faith in hopes that I resolve this issue with Reservation Rewards before determining whether I need to take it up with the FTC or BBB or before I report to usacomplaints.com. I wish to be refunded the 3 months of $12 charges totaling in $36.00 and a cancellation of the membership. Speedy and precise resolution of this issue will prohibit being reported to the FTC and BBB. However I'm letting you know in good faith before hand that I do intend on reporting this issue to usacomplaints.com so consumers will be warned of your misleading sign-up and will hopefully prevent other consumers to be mislead as I feel I have been!
This was their response:
Thank you for contacting Reservation Rewards.
We try to make our offer as clear as possible and we apologize for any concern you may have experienced.
Our records show that on 5/24/08 you or someone in your household completed an online transaction with Shutterfly.com. After your transaction you were offered and accepted a membership in Reservation Rewards. Immediately next to the offer the Offer Details were displayed which included the agreement that we could bill the $12.00 fee to the credit card you used for your transaction with Shutterfly.com.
The person who signed up for Reservation Rewards would have given permission to use that specific credit card.in order to sign up they would have typed in the email address [email protected] two times like a signature and also clicked the button to accept the membership.
When a misunderstanding occurs we are more than willing to cancel the membership and provide a refund. This membership has been cancelled and we have issued three refunds of $12.00 each for the membership fees you were charged. These credits should be posted to your credit/debit card account within 3-5 business days.
If you have any further questions please contact us at [email protected] and we'll be happy to help you.
Sincerely
Fred P.
Rep ID Number 57345
The Reservation Rewards Team
[email protected]
800-732-7031
This was my response:
Just for clarity, I remember the said Shutterfly.com transaction and nowhere in the sign up did it say there would be a monthly billing because I read all of the information in the sign up, if it had I read the $12 fee, I would not have signed up in the first place. I do remember reading "free benefits" a number of times in the sign-up; if you charge a monthly $12, then the benefits aren't truly free and you should make that more clear in the sign up.in the mean time, thank you for taking care of the matter in a speedy fashion. I will be checking my account in 3-5 business days to see that I have been reimbursed the full 3 months of charges, as it states in your reply e-mail.
If I don't see the reimbursement, I will be reporting them to the FTC!
However, I should not have had to deal with that matter in the first place. Their misleading site that states free benefits with contingencies to the discounts, isn't truly fee when they sneakily add contingencies (like you have to buy things you don't want to get the discount on the things you want) and charge your card $12 a month!
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