FTD Pays $640,000 Over Online Scam Involvement
Comments (1)The Office of the Attorney General of New York State has obtained a $640,000 settlement from FTD Inc. over their involvement with companies that tricked consumers into signing up for discount clubs with hidden fees. When completing an online purchase at FTD, consumers would be presented with a discount offer, but that they would be agreeing to transfer their credit or debit card information and to pay monthly fees was buried in fine print and cluttered text.
Under the terms of the settlement, FTD must also permanently end the practice of providing consumers’ billing information to companies that market discount clubs online. FTD’s $640,000 will go into a fund that will pay for consumer education, refunds, and the costs of the investigation.
FTD (a.k.a. “Florists’ Transworld Delivery”), headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, is one of the biggest players in the floral wire service business in North America. Two other big florist “order gatherer” companies, 1-800-Flowers and Pro Flowers, as well as many other well-known retailers, are also involved in what has been referred to as a “billion dollar web scam”.
According to the Attorney General, the scheme “tricked hundreds of thousands of New York consumers”. But New York is just one state – there are another 49 to go. The precedent may accelerate settlements in other jurisdictions.
The official press release is here. See our January 2010 blog post on FTD and 1-800-Flowers in Scam Probe for more background.
