Allyson Dickman, a sophomore journalism major, was bewildered last July when she saw an $80 charge on her credit card bill from a company she had never heard of.
Reservation Rewards, a discount club Dickman said she never signed up for, had charged her $10 every two weeks since she ordered from Campusfood.com, a popular online delivery service for college students. At the end of her order, Dickman said she clicked the “no thanks” button on a $10 pop-up coupon offered by Reservation Rewards for her next Campusfood.com purchase.
Dickman complained to Reservation Rewards and was refunded three days later. The representative on the phone insisted that someone on Dickman’s computer had clicked on the discount coupon, but Dickman denied it.
“I threatened to sue them on the phone because I was pissed like no other,” Dickman said. “If I ever saw the person that owns Reservation Rewards, I’d smack them.”
Reservation Rewards’s parent company, online marketing service Webloyalty.com, is being sued by more than 50 people around the country for allegedly obtaining credit card information without consent and charging patrons of various retail websites for a membership program they never signed up for. The class-action lawsuit was filed Sept. 11, 2006 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the state where most of the plaintiffs reside, and has not yet been resolved.
Reservation Rewards still offers coupons on Campusfood.com and other university students said they have been scammed.
Eric Rosenthal, a sophomore engineering major, said both he and his roommate were victims of what they think is an Internet scheme. Last month, Rosenthal realized Reservation Rewards charged him about $20 after he accepted a similar $10 coupon, which required him to enter his e-mail address. Rosenthal said he was not warned that redeeming the coupon would make him a member of Reservation Rewards.
“After I threatened a Reservation Rewards operator that I would sue the company for these charges, she immediately agreed to refund my money and they did,” Rosenthal said. “Because they gave me the refund quickly and without fuss, I really think it’s a scam that they want to keep up.”
Rosenthal’s roommate, sophomore letters and sciences major Arjun Goel, said he was charged $160 by Reservation Rewards in the eight months after he accepted a $10 coupon on Campusfood.com. He was also refunded his money after he called Reservation Rewards to complain.
Reservation Rewards offers discounts on dining, shopping and tourist attractions, according to its website.
Webloyalty.com’s other clients include Staples.com and Petco.com. Two more clients, Priceline.com and Fandango.com, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Campusfood.com is not listed as a plaintiff and no Campusfood.com representative could be reached for comment.
In a statement posted on Webloyalty.com, Rick Fernandes, the company’s CEO and co-founder, says the lawsuit is “frivolous” and “without merit.” Representatives from Reservation Rewards and from Webloyalty.com could not be reached for further comment.
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