After an investigative report by NBC4, Ohio’s Attorney General’s office says it’s taking action to examine complaints about automatic enrollment in online membership sites. The complaints seem to center around a company called Affinion, which offers consumers “discounts” during their online checkout process based on a recurring billing charge for membership to a number of programs run by Affinion, such as Shoppers Advantage and Traveler’s Advantage. One Affinion employee claims the company’s customer service center gets “thousands” of calls each week from angry customers who say they didn’t knowingly sign-up, and that the company gives “very few dollars refund – just enough back to keep them [complaining customers] happy.”While we usually advocate for strategic partnerships, this sort of “data passsing” is highly illegal and we’re surprised to see anyone attempting it after the Federal Trade Commission’s crackdown some years ago. (For a detailed report on “data passing” and what’s legal online, see Lisa Dubrow’s report on our sister site, Subscription Site Insider.)But most of all, it’s embarrassing for the industry, especially those of us trying to run legal, above-board business in the new online space, which takes creative marketing and sales strategies. By blatantly disregarding consumers’ best interests, Affinion gives us all a bad name.Update:Mike Bush of Affinion got in touch with me via email to inform me that Affinion voluntarily ceased its data pass activities in 2009. However, Ohio still seems to be pursuing legal action as recent as Feb. 28 of this year, reminding us all that the repercussions of violating consumer trust can be long-lasting.
