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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?

#211

Post by nolok »

davidjgraph wrote: post #158
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?

A note on this: I do believe the website to be a scam and parent to be obtuse or lying, but for the specific case of your comment studies have proved that people are more likely to stick with the default choice made for them, so you example wouldn't work. Even if the two offers were providing an absolutely identical end value, the default one would have more adoption.

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

#212

Post by tiatia »

jdh wrote: post #33
wenxun wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quick count from these three websites showed several hundreds customers have fallen victims: http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.justfab.com http://www.scambook.com/company/view/146/JustFabcom http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/justfab.html If you google "justfab review" or "justfab scam" or "justfab fraud", there are surely many more.

You've posted this comment three times, and I won't reply on every thread, but let's be clear: these "review" sites are shady operations that extort retailers by aggregating negative reviews and charging to hide them. Amazon's review is worse than JustFab's on the same site: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/amazon.html You can Google a lot of e-commerce sites with the word "fraud" or "scam" and find a lot of neg…

"but let's be clear: these "review" sites are shady operations that extort retailers by aggregating negative reviews and charging to hide them."

Sounds like a perfect business for you to invest in. Lots of synergies, ya know?

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

#213

Post by vvvVVVvvv »

ds_ wrote: post #152

Amazon do basically the same thing with their prime membership, although they do refund if you notice and complain early enough (offer a free month and then start charging unless you opt out, whilst making it far from obvious that you have to do so).

The other difference worth noticing is that albeit being a bit unclear, Amazon's Prime is far to be as shady as JustFab's darkpattern since there's a huge modal window popping during the order.

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

#214

Post by zb »

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…

You know, when I read the OP my first thought was "there are two sides to every story". A lot depends on how the actual costs are communicated.

Then I saw your screenshot.

Your defence of this company has succeeded where the OP failed, in proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is an unmitigated scam. You should be ashamed for attempting to profit from such a thoroughly disreputable con.

> Folks are right to be skeptical -- a lot of businesses have done this, tried to hide the fact there would be future charges. Does JustFab?

Yes. Yes. YES! They've quite clearly worked very hard to hide it.

Have you received some sort of ethics bypass that renders you literally the only person in this thread unable to see that?

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

#215

Post by bencollier49 »

personalcompute wrote: post #203
capex wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Came to say this. I can smell class action against JustFab.

Actually, when you agree to the terms of service, you conveniently waive the right to participate in a class-action lawsuit. Source: http://www.justfab.com/index.cfm?action=home.terms_and_condi...

Are there such things as statutory rights in the US? In the UK, they wouldn't be able to force a waiver of a statutory right.

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

#216

Post by Tichy »

noptic wrote: post #208
Tichy wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We can not know this from the screenshoot alone. The membership itself is mentioned. Maybe the fee is mentioned on a other screen. As far as i renember it is not really "illegal",but the contract is invalid.

I think the law in Germany is very specific in how obvious it has to be what is being purchased and what it costs. Some mention somewhere in the fine print is certainly not enough. I've heard they even specify texts for the buttons, it has to be something like "buy now" to make it clear that the action will lead to costs.

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

#217

Post by abersek »

testing12341234 wrote: post #135
avalaunch wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other commenters are being too nice in their replies. You're full of shit. JustFab is a shoe of the month club masquerading as a normal online shoe store. The VIP Membership Program is the essence of JustFab's business model and yet it's missing entirely from the home page of their site. It looks like any other shoe store. And yet you think it's clear that the user is being signed up for a shoe of the month membe…

Absolutely agree with this comment. Here's the impression that I see at a "first glance" that page: 1.) The item to purchase, along with the price of the item. 2.) A bright magenta "Continue Checkout" button. 3.) An ad for an upsell on the right hand side which I'm generally not interested in. (on the right side, light grey text, etc) Only after carefully scanning the page do I notice the following: 3.) This isn't an…

Even worse, should you click on 'Checkout as a Pay As You Go member', the order summary still shows VIP status. It appears there is no way out.

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

#218

Post by icosahedronman »

AndyKelley wrote: post #172
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…

First I want to thank you for bothering to defend yourself here in public. When a conflict exists between two parties, the best chance for resolving it is when both parties are able to present their respective cases. I am about to get philosophical. If we look immediately at what it means to invest, what we come up with is a profit equation. One tries to maximize the expected profit of an investment, taking into acco…

Wow, that was a little too deep than could be appreciated by (Probably) some capitalist looking to just make some goddamned money

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

#219

Post by weland »

jdh wrote: post #42
karterk wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP - but I did take a look at that page, and I do find it misleading. The "checkout as a regular member" is in a small font on the sidebar, while the main CTA is big, bold and defaults to the VIP program. The part where you're told about the monthly fee is in the last sentence of the sidebar. I had to practically hunt it to find it - for most people shopping online this will be oblivious. By giving the screen…

I don't accept the word "misleading" -- I do not believe the page in any way misleads. It does not try to position it as anything other than a subscription, and the language is plain english. Could they put the subscription details in bold? Could they use a larger font than all the other text? Sure. It's a tradeoff, for sure, and every retailer has to optimize their site to perform. Could they pop up three boxes afte…

> I don't accept the word "misleading" -- I do not believe the page in any way misleads.

How about:

* The important information (i.e. the monthly subscription) remains off-screen for anyone whose resolution is 1366x768 or below, coincidentally most of your target demographics, I presume. * The important information is styled like an ad, on the right side of the screen * The option to opt out of the program is not labeled "opt out of the program", but under the misleading "I don't want to save 50%"

In many European countries, like Germany, this is explicitly illegal and you can even go to jail for it.

This insulting type of rationalization is particularly useless on HN. Most of us like people with soft skills, but we passionately hate liars.

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

#220

Post by unclebucknasty »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #129
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 started reading your post thinking you sounded level headed and that I'd hear you out. I checked the link. Nope, you are scum. This is theft. Shame on you.

Same here. In fact, when I read the OP, I thought it was a little emotional and perhaps all a misunderstanding. I then read the investor's reasonable-sounding response, which lent more credence to that notion.

Then, checked the screenshot and there was no question. Pure scam.

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