Vistaprint Scam
Okay, I know they are really cheap, they offer free business cards and as a graphic designer I wouldn't expect much in the way of quality. What I don't expect however is sneaky small print which leads to my bank account being debited on a monthly basis without my knowledge.
I went on to their site to buy some cheap business cards. That's what I ordered and that's what I got. But somewhere along the line I must have ticked a box saying 'Sign me up to the VP Rewards scheme'. No mention was made of this being a paid subscription service. And no request to use my credit card details for this function.
Of course, I did receive an email after my order confirmation where it did mention that their service was free for 30 days, then my credit card would be charged until I cancelled my subscription. Small print though. And what with sifting through dozens of emails per day I overlooked this fact.
This kind of 'opt out' system really irks me. If your service is good enough I'll buy it. I'll 'opt in'. And at the very least you could remind me when my 30 day trial is up. But no, instead the onus is passed on to the customer, who in this case doesn't even realise that they have opted in. So they carry on taking money until you realise one day that you're paying for something you don't want and didn't know about.
In my case, I filled up the car with petrol and went into the garage only to be told that my card didn't have the necessary funds. An unexpected debit had been taken from my account. This irked me more because I'm a bit anal about knowing what's in my bank account at any given time.
And it isn't just me who frowns on this, the DTI and the EU are both heavily set against the principle of 'opt out' commerce. It generates a lot of distrust.
VP Rewards will say that what they do is not illegal. And of course this is true. But the whole approach is just a bit sneaky. I'm not the only person who has been burned by this and a quick Google of 'VP Rewards' reveals the extent of the bad feeling.
Which is the whole point of this minor rant. No, it isn't illegal. But there is certainly an ethical problem here, and not only from a customer's viewpoint. Vistaprint have built up a reputation for cheap and cheerful, what you see is what you get, style of business. And lots of people are very happy with the product they are buying. But this form of generating income through the back door has created so much bad feeling that word of mouth will eventually bite back at them.
I won't be recommending them to anyone, in fact I'll be recommending that people don't use them and that they tell their friends and colleagues to do likewise.
I learned years ago a very basic marketing maxim: "If you do a good job, the customer will tell someone else. If you do a bad job they'll tell a dozen people".
So it's just plain bad business.
I hope they enjoy the extra £50 or so they took, but I can guarantee that it'll cost them a lot more than that in the long run.
I went on to their site to buy some cheap business cards. That's what I ordered and that's what I got. But somewhere along the line I must have ticked a box saying 'Sign me up to the VP Rewards scheme'. No mention was made of this being a paid subscription service. And no request to use my credit card details for this function.
Of course, I did receive an email after my order confirmation where it did mention that their service was free for 30 days, then my credit card would be charged until I cancelled my subscription. Small print though. And what with sifting through dozens of emails per day I overlooked this fact.
This kind of 'opt out' system really irks me. If your service is good enough I'll buy it. I'll 'opt in'. And at the very least you could remind me when my 30 day trial is up. But no, instead the onus is passed on to the customer, who in this case doesn't even realise that they have opted in. So they carry on taking money until you realise one day that you're paying for something you don't want and didn't know about.
In my case, I filled up the car with petrol and went into the garage only to be told that my card didn't have the necessary funds. An unexpected debit had been taken from my account. This irked me more because I'm a bit anal about knowing what's in my bank account at any given time.
And it isn't just me who frowns on this, the DTI and the EU are both heavily set against the principle of 'opt out' commerce. It generates a lot of distrust.
VP Rewards will say that what they do is not illegal. And of course this is true. But the whole approach is just a bit sneaky. I'm not the only person who has been burned by this and a quick Google of 'VP Rewards' reveals the extent of the bad feeling.
Which is the whole point of this minor rant. No, it isn't illegal. But there is certainly an ethical problem here, and not only from a customer's viewpoint. Vistaprint have built up a reputation for cheap and cheerful, what you see is what you get, style of business. And lots of people are very happy with the product they are buying. But this form of generating income through the back door has created so much bad feeling that word of mouth will eventually bite back at them.
I won't be recommending them to anyone, in fact I'll be recommending that people don't use them and that they tell their friends and colleagues to do likewise.
I learned years ago a very basic marketing maxim: "If you do a good job, the customer will tell someone else. If you do a bad job they'll tell a dozen people".
So it's just plain bad business.
I hope they enjoy the extra £50 or so they took, but I can guarantee that it'll cost them a lot more than that in the long run.
posted by Netdata at 11:44 AM
0 comments
