Free Online Shipping Scam Class Action Lawsuit

Clarus Marketing Group and Provide Commerce have been hit with another class action lawsuit for secretly enrolling online shoppers into costly monthly memberships without their knowledge.

The class action lawsuit alleges thousands of consumers have been victims of the scam, which lead plaintiff Nicole Hall details in her lawsuit against Clarus Marketing Group and Provide Commerce. Hall says she was sucked into the scam when she purchased flowers from one of Provide Commerce’s many websites, ProFlowers.com, using her credit card. After entering in her credit card information, she was presented with an offer for free shipping, which she clicked on to receive the offer and to complete her purchase transaction. She says she never joined any type of membership program, including FreeShipping.com Insiders-Club, yet months later she discovered Clarus had been imposing unauthorized charges of $11.97 a month to her credit card.

“Plaintiff is a victim of this scam, as are thousands of other Class members who never agreed to join CMG’s FreeShipping.com Insiders-Club. They were told that the ‘Free Shipping’ offers were incentives for shopping with Provide Commerce…There was no indication whatsoever at any time during the transaction that billing was part of the deal,” the class action lawsuit states. “The key to the scam is that Plaintiff and the Class were not required to enter their credit card or debit card numbers, or any other billing information to be secretly enrolled in and charged for CMG’s FreeShipping.com Insiders-Club. Rather, Provide Commerce transmits this information directly to CMG under the pretense that Plaintiff and Class members authorized the transmission by entering innocuous information such as their email addresses or zip codes after being prompted to do so by Defendants to receive the offered ‘Free Shipping.’”

Provide Commerce operates many popular e-commerce sites, including RedEnvelope, ProFlowers, Cherry Moon Farms, Secret Spoon and Shari’s Berries.

The FreeShipping.com class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all U.S. residents who (1) made or attempted to make a purchase on a Provide Commerce e-commerce site; (2) did not provide their credit card number, debit card number or billing information directly to Clarus Marketing Group; and (3) had their credit or debit card charged, or bank account debited, by CMG at any time within the past four years. It is seeking disgorgement, restitution, class damages and punitive damages for fraud, false advertising, unfair business practices, and more.

A copy of the class action lawsuit can be read here.