Hmm...I'll e-mail this article to Sr. Zinha, as I think that was where he ordered my Mother's Day bouquet from. Have to do a little fine line checking of the checking account...

I'm sure it's "too easy" because if they tried to give you the runaround, they'd get a lot more negative publicity and wouldn't be able to run their scam so easily. OP, be sure to let us know whether or not you actually get all your money back, online or by check.

The most shocking this about this article is that a guy somehow missed a $14.95 charge on his credit card bill for 15 MONTHS IN A ROW. Cmon, people...

@atarisuicide: Well, he did say he was trying to get more control over his spending. Better late than never.

@atarisuicide: I had an ex who missed a $65 a month charge for 18 months. Wasn't till I looked at her finances that it was noticed.

@atarisuicide: Some people aren't as diligent at checking their statements. I log into my card account every few days just to see what's been posted, how much has been posted, and I've got the phone handy in case I need to call about something.

I certainly would've caught that the first month, especially with a name like Easy Saver.

This happened to me as well but i caught it with the second charge. The first one went through while I was on vacation and was more like $4.95. The second charge was a more noticeable $14.95. I just went through my credit card company to have the charges reversed as I specifically decline the service to begin with.

Was there an opt-in, or some box that needed to be unchecked somewhere?

@atarisuicide:

While I generally agree, since that amount of money per month is a big deal to me, many people have much higher credit card bills each month. My parents have a Discover card with a decent limit. My mom will lump many monthly payments and utilities onto that thing in order to reap the rewards, literally. I'm sure if she didn't already go over her statements with a fine-tooth comb, she would easily glance over an extra $14.95 each month.

I had the same thing happen to me. I caught it the first month, but by that time they had already charged me three times: Two smaller amounts and one for $14.95. I tend to scrutinize the check-boxes, etc. for this kind of thing when I shop online, but I missed this one.

It was kind of embarrassing.

I wish I had enough money that I'd just miss a random $15 charge each month. I'd notice that right away!

@pecan 3.14159265: I just don't have enough money to NOT notice. Like, $15 is gas for a week (or two, depending)!

Same thing happen here, same company and charge. I ordered some software and at checkout I didn't see where I had to "uncheck" the box to not subscribe. Called when I saw on bill, and they credited back within 3 days.

The only way he was charged through Easy Saver was if he took advantage of a rebate from ProFlowers. They force you to sign up for a trial of Easy Saver to redeem the rebate, but you can cancel right away, I did and was never charged a penny. It sucks, but its all in the agreement if you want the rebate...

@Riff-Raff:

I guess what really gets me is that with all of the press that issues like identity theft have garnered over the last few years, people still don't pay any attention to their credit card statements. I mean, this guy was tech-savvy enough to know about Consumerist, he should be tech-savvy enough to know how to log in to his online credit card account once every couple of weeks and look for anything out of the ordinary.

Thats why I use those one use disposabal credit card numbers. They can't tack on programs like this AND if the store or their processor got hacked, no big deal, they will have gained a worthless number

@teahead215: This. Consumerist post a story with half the facts? That's unpossible!

Needs updating.

It's not unauthorized charges. He signed up for the service to get a rebate on shipping. Shady, yes. Unauthorized, no.

In reply to Atarisuicide:

I know that my wife and I had a reoccurring charge like that once. I thought my wife had subscribed to something and she thought I'd subscribed to something. It wasn't until I asked her about it that we discovered that neither of us knew what it was.

Something similar happened to me after I ordered something from Buy.com. I had a recurring charge for aobut four months until I noticed. I called and my money was refunded, but I had to threaten them with a chargeback unless a signed credit slip could be provided. Needless to say, I will never order anything else from Buy.com and I go out of my way to tell people about the scammers at Buy.com.

@czadd: Don't be embarrassed. It happened to me at buy.com awhile back. I have no idea how I got signed up, the guy at the other end couldn't get my money refunded fast enough when I called, and that was that. Thing was, I have a zero balance, and stuff like that kind of jumps out at you.

It's sneaky the way they get you on this. I noticed it last time I placed an order. It was something like "Free Shipping Available!", and then if you signed up for the service, you'd get free shipping... Dirty trick.

@halcyondays: Four months? People really need to start checking their statements regularly. Most banks/credit cards even allow you to do it online.

@atarisuicide: Well I'm assuming he's paying attention now, hahah. I'm going to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume that he's in the process of getting control of his finances so something like a $15-a-month fee for 15 months won't happen again.

@czadd: happened to me once several years ago when i was new to online shopping and bought something off cafepress. noticed the charge from a weird company after a couple months (again, i was new to the whole online banking/shopping deal) and googled the company/called them/got a full refund faster than i've ever had one since. can't remember what company it was, but it was something like the OP's scammers.

@teahead215:

I am having a hard time believing that a guy that was careless enough to just blow by this charge on his credit card statement for 15 months in a row, was also diligent enough to be sure that he didn't sign up for the "service" in the first place. Scammy companies make their living on dimwitted or lazy consumers.

Slight correction -

@atarisuicide: The FIRST 15 payments. The other two will come by check.

17 months.

@atarisuicide:

Agreed, that's pretty astonishing. I really wouldn't blame the company if, say, they only refunded the last 3 months. Very nice of them to refund all the charges regardless of age.

Tip: Log online every day or two. Review statements. Fix problems right away. Instead of 15 months later.

This happened to me when I ordered flowers for my mother. Before confirming the order, a "special offer" is made to get a reqard coupon (10% off your next purchase, or something like that). Clickingto accept the coupon enrolls you in the Easy Saver program. The fine print explained it, but it was really fine. I noticed it just as I was clicking Accept.

I called the 800 number right away and cancelled. To my surprise, the operator was very nice, didn't argue when I gave my reason as, "I just don't think I'll use the service", and I never saw a charge on my bill.

@atarisuicide: You don't have to be lazy or dimwitted. SOmething like a flower service a lot of people do it as a last minute thing. He may not have seen it because he was in a rush to put the order in.

I've read that ProFlowers and another site (I think Vista Press) make a huge majority of their profits off these "monthly charge" deals that people inadvertently sign up when they check out. Usually it's a little box that says "Save $20 on this order" in huge print and the monthly recurring charge is in super tiny print.

The whole flower industry is a big scam anyway. They make most of their money off of fake holidays cooked up in cahoots with the greeting card industry.

you know what? Proflowers kind of deserves a big fuck you for this. I hate it when companies do this. Proflowers does not have to include that crap but they choose to do it. I doubt that's a great way to keep customers.

@trujunglist:

BTW, this is for all the people that say blame the OP for not checking his statement. Why should he have to? Once again, fuck Proflowers for including that garbage in the first place.

I'm sorry, but the fact that this company put 17 CHARGES for $14.95 on Mark's credit card without him noticing is simply breathtaking.

How can anyone not watch their credit card statements in time like this? WOW.

Red Envelope does it too.

I check my debit card statement when it comes in the mail every month. I skim through for any charges out of the ordinary.

I think they are trying to get money by people who don't care about a $15 charge on their card... like some people in Washington, DC.

Wow, looks like the "Blame the Victim" crowd are out in force tonight. Does it make you feel superior? Or does empathizing with somebody else's misfortune hurt too much?

Look, if it was an honest endeavor and only "lazy" or "dimwitted" or "careless" people missed it, do you really think that getting a refund would be so smooth and effortless? Companies that offer genuine services that people consciously sign up for don't just turn around and give you back 17 months' money on a phone call.

Companies that cheerfully give you all your money back at the slightest suggestion you didn't opt in do so because they know that they are walking a fine line, and the alternative is a tsunami of charge backs, followed by higher servicing rates from their credit card processor, eventual termination, and possibly the FTC breathing down their necks.

If anybody is being naive here, it's the people blaming the OP.

I recall this exact thing happening to me when I ordered from Deep Discount DVD a while back. Mayhaps not this same company, but it was similar. I just cancelled my card and moved on.

@UshaMedusa: Disposable cards are a nice idea but most of those cards charge you anywhere from four dollars to 6 dollars fee to activate.
Business that practice this sort of deception should just suffer from the bad word of mouth they deserve.

@Tansis: I think he's talking about the online disposable numbers like what Discover, B of A (ugh) or Paypal (even more ugg!) offer from their toolbar things!

That being said, I used one before for notpron and they still managed to recurrent bill me!

Proflowers is just a slight step above mailing a shovel to the recipient and telling them to go dig some roses from their neighbors' yard... The amount of assembly work required is ridiculous!

I just got off the phone with Destination Style. They got my credit card information "supposedly" when I entered my email address down below the completed ordering area. I was able to fist get two months of a 14.95 a month charge credited back, then I spoke to the supervisor and he credited back all five payments of 14.95 to my credit card. Good Luck! SC