I wrote the following letter to FTD.com after they fowarded my creditcard # to a company that charged me $10/month.
FTD actually called me to "apologize" but basically said tough luck. They said "we know it is confusing to our customers" I said "then why do you do it" and the woman didn't know how to respond. They offered me nothing but giving me the phone # to WLI to cancel my membership.
Why did the even bother calling me? Email with desc. Of what happened is below.
Dear FTD
In September I purchased flower delivery to my home via your website. The order was easy to place, billing was correct, and the beautiful flowers arrived as described and on time. I was, and am very happy with your service and products.
However, I am writing in regards to what I consider misleading, unfair, immoral and dishonest practices by your company which I believe require immediate attention.
After placing my order, I was directed to a webpage for WLI Reservation Rewards. The popup window and accompanying webpage said that by signing up with WLI, I would receive 10% off my next order. If there was fine print about paying to join WLI, it was too small to read or intentionally presented in a confusing manner.
The bottom line is this: I never entered my credit card information, yet somehow WLI has billed me $10/month twice.
Obviously, FTD finds it fair and appropriate to forward their customers" credit card information and give WLI unfettered access to their funds by tricking them into "authorizing" this dubious union.
Unless you provide me with at least $20 in products from FTD or a check for the same amount, I will never buy from FTD again. Furthermore, I will file my complaint with consumer affairs and the better business bureau. I will also post my complaint about your practices on every relevant website and blog I can find such as http://credicardhop.com, http://usacomplaints.com, http://snopes.com, and my personal favorite, http://reservationrewardssucks.com.
I am sure my local news stations and newspapers would also enjoy covering this story of how you successfully rip off your customers to line your own corporate pockets.
For your convenience I have attached the security & privacy statement from http://ftd.com and bolded the clauses that this practice violates. You state that you may contract with a 3rd party and give them personal information necessary to render services. You don't, however, state that you are going to purposely disguise this as a 10% off coupon and obscure any purchase agreements as much as possible in order to mislead and confuse your loyal customers.
I expect to be contacted via phone or email (listed above) no later than 12/19 before further action will be taken on my part. I know it will be difficult, but please refrain from selling my email address, address or phone number to any third party.
Your Security & Privacy Are Important to Us
FTD.com ("FTD, " "we" or "us") is committed to protecting our customers' privacy. We feel it is important that you fully understand the terms and conditions under which we use the information we gather from you through the use of our Web site located at, or linked to, the URL: www.FTD.com. Please read this Privacy Policy ("Policy") carefully to understand how we will use and protect your personal information. We will never share your personal information with anyone except as described in this Policy.
2. Personally Identifiable Information
When you place an order or enter a sweepstakes or promotion, we request that you send us Personally Identifiable Information. This information lets us know the specifics of who you are and can be used to identify, contact or locate you. Personally Identifiable Information may consist of: your name, address, telephone number, email address, birth date, billing information (credit card number, expiration date and billing address), occasion type (Valentine's Day, etc.), products purchased, any relevant promotion code and information (for example, reward program account information) and the gift and message recipient's name, address, telephone number, email address and any other information you may provide us ("Personally Identifiable Information"). We use Personally Identifiable Information for internal purposes, such as confirming and tracking your order, subscription or registration, analyzing trends and statistics, informing you of our new products, services and offers. Personally Identifiable Information is compiled by us and analyzed on both a personal and an aggregated basis.
We may contract with third-party companies or persons to provide certain services including credit card processing, distribution, data management, promotional services, etc. ("Service Providers"). We provide our Service Providers with the information needed for them to perform these services. We also ask our Service Providers to confirm that their privacy practices are consistent with ours.
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