Reservation Rewards Scam

[InfectTheMachine]

Well i was looking at my Statement today and i found that i have been unknowingly being charged 10 bucks a month by a company called "reservation rewards".

The name sounded familiar, because i saw it when i ordered a game thru the Gamestop.com website. Turns out many major online retailers give these guys your info when you unknowingly sign up for this service.

Apparently, when gamestop.com says "click here to save 10 dollars off your next purchase" and you click there you are saying its ok for them to give this company your CC info and take 10 bucks out of your account every month (note: i actually use debit, and recently found out that i should never do that) but either way they can get you, debit OR credit.

**i cannot yet post URLS or Links yet so you will have to just google reservation rewards to look into this.**

Many major companies are in on it:
Gamestop
Staples
Half
Yahoo
1800flowers to name a few...

i called my bank (wells fargo) and the customer service agent said i was the 5th person to call her about this TODAY, and she thinks it will definately escalate and some action will be taken. Check your statements NOW and if u find charges call reservation rewards and demand a refund, then call your CC company or bank and let them know what is going on. Hopefully some legal action will be taken.

Note: there is also a website that has a similar practice with a free online credit report.

[666]

**i cannot yet post URLS or Links yet so you will have to just google reservation rewards to look into this.**
Here it is: http://home.reservationrewards.com/

[InfectTheMachine]

Thanks 666 :)

to anyone who has ever ordered anything online, it is definately worth a look at your statement.

Also, if you google the name you will find not only the official site (As posted above). You will also find lots of sites with posts by angered customers of many of these online retailers.

It is terrible that this is all legal.

[rjh01]

Looks like it may have been hapening for years. See this link
"Reservation Rewards" Rips People Off With Card Fraud (http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~jenn/reservationRewards.html)

How to get your money back
How to Get Your Money Back From WLI*RESERVATIONREWARDS 8007327031 CT (http://www.ehow.com/how_2111629_money-back-wlireservationrewards-ct.html)

I also added a tag.

[Piscivore]

I got hit with this, they refunded all my money plus an overdraft fee they created. I didn't have to be anything but polite, yet stern.

[tkingdoll]

OK, ignoring the insane stealth tactics they are using, have I got this right? In return for your $11 a month they offer you discounts on stuff?

That's the crummiest service I ever heard of. Paying someone to save you 10% on a meal for two at IHOP. Where is the value in this service? You'd have to be doing a lot of stuff for it to be worthwhile, and the time it takes to research and apply the discount is worth more than $11 a month in your time (assuming you're not unemployed, in which case you can't afford to do all the stuff anyway).

No wonder they have to steal credit card details. I assume that's their business model, rather than the actual business?

Opt out schemes are highly illegal in the UK. What's the USA law on them?

As to the OP, I would send a very strongly worded letter to Gamestop explaining how disappointed you are and why you won't be using their service again in the future unless they do something about this.

[InfectTheMachine]

TK, yeah thats pretty much what they do.

See how it works, is you order something from a major site (in my case it was gamestop). Then along the way to check out, one of the pages will say something like "save 10 dollars off your next gamestop purchase". I usually don't go for this kind of stuff, but it seemed like a Gamestop offer (it was not a pop up and did not look like an outside site, because it was along the way to check out).
You dont think much of it and click ok. Of course if you scroll down and look at the fine print (i usually do, but in this case it was VERY well hidden) unknowingly you are giving gamestop the permission to send your credit card information to this company.

The name reservation rewards fits so well with places like gamestop because you can pre-order, or "reserve" games, so it all seems like an inside thing with the gamestop website. Plus to order from gamestop you need to create an ID.

Many people are unknowingly allowing this to happen bacause it is so vaguely (yet clearly enough to be within legal grounds) stated in the check out.

[jimbob]

Here is a UK stor that is slihtly related...

BBC link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/7134255.stm)

A credit card provider has denied it is introducing a charge "by stealth".

Nat West credit card holders who opted to join its new rewards scheme are now being billed £3 a month, unless they spend £1000 a month on the card.

[tkingdoll]

Here is a UK stor that is slihtly related...

BBC link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/7134255.stm)

There's a bit of media headline dramatics involved, there are some important differences in the approach (mainly, I suspect, because UK law is so absolutely clear on this):



Cardholders were encouraged to phone up and register to join, but now some lower spending people have complained to BBC's Money Box, that there was no warning about the charge over the telephone at registration time, and say they feel disappointed and misled.

They have just received leaflets telling them that from 1 December, people who do not spent £1000 a month on their card, will see a £3 a month charge automatically added to their card bill.

It's still a crummy service, but it was opt-in by phone, not opt-in by sneaky link. Plus, they were postal mailed with information that the charge would apply, not emailed. The people claiming that they weren't told about the charge when they phoned probably called before the charge was introduced.

The chronology is odd though - they are receiving the leaflets because there was no charge at first, but now there is. In which case, it's no different to any other credit card which charges a regular fee (most of them will in the future). I'm not sure, but I think the law says you have to give people reasonable notice before the fee kicks in though, presumably to allow people time to pay off their balance. If there's anything dodgy about this story, it's that part. But as I say, I'm not sure about the notice period. But some people are claiming it was merely days. That doesn't sound right to me, I'm sure you have to give at least 28 days notice to change terms and conditions of a contract.

At the time of phoning, there was no charge, and it's just been introduced later. Which is a sure fire way of annoying your customers but not uncommon, and certainly not illegal. The problem is that customers are assuming this was the plan all along, to catch them out. It may simply be the scheme failed to attract as many customers as hoped and the charge was needed to keep it afloat. Again, not uncommon.