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Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

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Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#151

Post by Tichy »

Semaphor wrote: post #67
jdh wrote: post #23

I'm the Series A investor in this company. We in fact have done plenty of due diligence, and you will be pleased to know it is not a scam company. In fact, the company has very high customer satisfaction ratings, including an NPS that is in the ballpark of Amazon, and a very high customer retention rate. More than half of the people who subscribe to the service are still subscribers after two years, which is unusuall…

I'm not 100% sure but I think this site would not be allowed in Germany because of consumer protection laws. In that regard it's very telling that justfab.de has a very different checkout: http://imgur.com/uIZ5JX3

That looks better, but doesn't mention that the membership comes with a monthly fee. Pretty sure it is illegal in Germany.

I think the law in Germany even states what kind of text is appropriate on the "buy now" button.

Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#153

Post by mortov »

Tepix wrote: post #83
Semaphor wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not 100% sure but I think this site would not be allowed in Germany because of consumer protection laws. In that regard it's very telling that justfab.de has a very different checkout: http://imgur.com/uIZ5JX3

I find even that misleading because it doesn't mention the monthly fee. I'm pretty sure you could refuse to pay it and win in court.

Alas you do not get the option to refuse to pay. They keep your credit card details and charge every month.

You're then stuck arguing with your card issuer. In the UK for example, you're shit out of luck unless the transaction is > £100 where the card company becomes 'jointly and severally liable' which allows you to pursue them instead.

Obviously this varies so it all depends on where you are and where your card was issued as to how much chance you have of 'refusing to pay'.

Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#154

Post by abalone »

Every single person who has been misled into signing up for a recurring charge should do this one thing:

Dispute the charge with their credit card company.

You'll get your money back and it will issue a bunch of chargebacks to JustFab, which will penalize them financially. If enough people complain their penalties will escalate and their credit card processing rates will go through the roof. This is how the credit card system weeds out crappy businesses like this.

Unfortunately the very people who this model is designed to exploit are the least likely to know about their consumer protections.

Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#155

Post by cabalamat »

KaiserPro wrote: post #82
jdh wrote: post #23

I'm the Series A investor in this company. We in fact have done plenty of due diligence, and you will be pleased to know it is not a scam company. In fact, the company has very high customer satisfaction ratings, including an NPS that is in the ballpark of Amazon, and a very high customer retention rate. More than half of the people who subscribe to the service are still subscribers after two years, which is unusuall…

Put it this way, from the evidence I've seen, and the checkout screen that is attached further down, This website is illegal in the UK The Office of fair trading would shut this site in a heart beat. (if it were based in the UK) the checkout proccess is deliberately misleading, it implies that clicking checkout will by the shoes and nothing else.

> The Office of fair trading would shut this site in a heart beat. (if it were based in the UK)

They have a UK site: http://www.justfab.co.uk/

Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#156

Post by DominikR »

jdh wrote: post #23

I'm the Series A investor in this company. We in fact have done plenty of due diligence, and you will be pleased to know it is not a scam company. In fact, the company has very high customer satisfaction ratings, including an NPS that is in the ballpark of Amazon, and a very high customer retention rate. More than half of the people who subscribe to the service are still subscribers after two years, which is unusuall…

I usually don't do this but I hope you'll do some time in prison for this scam.

You can do mental gymnastics all day long if you want to, but it'll be hard to find anyone that doesn't think that what you are doing is malicious fraud.

Edit: I see you are the founder of eHow (content farm) and Betfair (gambling). It doesn't surprise me at all. Maybe next time you could invest in human trafficking and brothels.

Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#157

Post by bane »

Semaphor wrote: post #67
jdh wrote: post #23

I'm the Series A investor in this company. We in fact have done plenty of due diligence, and you will be pleased to know it is not a scam company. In fact, the company has very high customer satisfaction ratings, including an NPS that is in the ballpark of Amazon, and a very high customer retention rate. More than half of the people who subscribe to the service are still subscribers after two years, which is unusuall…

I'm not 100% sure but I think this site would not be allowed in Germany because of consumer protection laws. In that regard it's very telling that justfab.de has a very different checkout: http://imgur.com/uIZ5JX3

That's pretty astonishing actually.

Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#158

Post by davidjgraph »

jdh wrote: post #23

I'm the Series A investor in this company. We in fact have done plenty of due diligence, and you will be pleased to know it is not a scam company. In fact, the company has very high customer satisfaction ratings, including an NPS that is in the ballpark of Amazon, and a very high customer retention rate. More than half of the people who subscribe to the service are still subscribers after two years, which is unusuall…

If you really believe a word you've just written, here's my suggestion. Change the page so that by default you're not joined up to the VIP program and shoppers have to specifically opt-in. If the text is as clear as you claim, you'll still get roughly the same join up rate because the deal is being made is brilliant and it's perfectly clear what's happening, right?

Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#159

Post by smsm42 »

jdh wrote: post #23

I'm the Series A investor in this company. We in fact have done plenty of due diligence, and you will be pleased to know it is not a scam company. In fact, the company has very high customer satisfaction ratings, including an NPS that is in the ballpark of Amazon, and a very high customer retention rate. More than half of the people who subscribe to the service are still subscribers after two years, which is unusuall…

I am sorry, but any company that does not explicitly gets consent for paid membership but tacks it on another deal is dangerously close to a scam. I understand that asking forgiveness is much more profitable than asking for permission, but IMHO it reeks of dishonesty and trickery.

In fact, I've opened the homepage of justfab and it does not mention subscription anywhere on the homepage, just the 39.95 price which any reasonable person would conclude is one-time deal and not a recurring subscription. It is mentioned only once on the very end of "how it works" page, as if it were an insignificant detail. Such detail like recurrent charge I think should be prominently mentioned. If you buy a loaf of bread in the store, you don't expect to be automatically enrolled into "bread appreciation club" that would charge you each month, do you?

The companies that behave in such a manner and try to trick customers into something that is not at all clear for them what they are agreeing to not only hurt the consumers, they hurt the whole internet sales ecosystem. Now what I would say to a relative or friend who is not adept in recognizing all tricks and fine prints? I would say "never buy anything at all from a store you don't know and that somebody who knows all the tricks have vetted". Which hurts the whole system, now every newcomer has to work harder to prove he's not one of those scam ones and it not going to trick you into something you don't want to do.

Re: Why can a scam company raise $40 Million Series C + $76 Million Series B?

#160

Post by PeterisP »

jdh wrote: post #23

I'm the Series A investor in this company. We in fact have done plenty of due diligence, and you will be pleased to know it is not a scam company. In fact, the company has very high customer satisfaction ratings, including an NPS that is in the ballpark of Amazon, and a very high customer retention rate. More than half of the people who subscribe to the service are still subscribers after two years, which is unusuall…

I looked at the image you provided.

This is fraud, pure and simple - if this is somehow legal and within USA consumer rights laws, then it's not a sign that the company is right, it's a sign that the consumer rights laws there are broken and need to be changed.

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