Beware of the subscription-fueled future of online shopping, a business model that attracted a billion-dollar bet from venture capital investors. Bloomberg reported about this future of shopping that traps you in a club you didn’t know you join. Hailee Taylor purchased a lingerie item from an e-commerce website called Adore Me for $19.95 but ended up costing her more than $300. Adore Me maintains a subscription model in which it charges users a fee of around $40 a month, even if customers don’t purchase anything. Adore Me isn’t the only shopping portal or service that runs this sort of tactic. “It’s the new thing,” says Francisca Allen, the deputy district attorney of California’s Santa Clara County. “There’s thousands and thousands of companies that do this.” These companies have made it frustratingly difficult to cancel these subscriptions by making you to sit through a one-hour call to the customer representative. “Hundreds of customer complaints against Adore Me and other subscription e-commerce businesses are stacking up at the Federal Trade Commission, according to records obtained by Bloomberg. They follow a pattern: Shoppers believe they’ve been tricked into signing up for recurring credit card charges, often for a relatively small amount that can be easily overlooked in a monthly bill. Then companies make it an exasperating hassle to quit and get a refund.” (bloomberg.com)
The Future of Shopping: Trapping You in a Club You Didn’t Know You Joined
