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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?

#231

Post by FiloSottile »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #207

The company's tactics have been thoroughly eviscerated here, as they should be. This is clearly misleading and I don't think I can add much there. But, here's something else that I find funny: the membership fee is $39.95/month, which then entitles you to buy a pair of shoes for an additional $39.95/month. They state that this price is " up to 50% off". So, if you only buy one pair of shoes in a month, and the discou…

Even if I agree that this is a scam and a dark pattern, with the subscription they give you a "credit" to buy a pair of shoes, so you get (at least) one pair each month for (at least) $39.95/month.

IF, you go there to choose them.

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

#232

Post by po »

abalone wrote: post #177
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…

Pardon my french HN, but what a load of horseshit. When I was a kid there was this mail-order thing called Columbia House Record Club. It was the same business model. They entice you with super cheap music.. if you signed up for a monthly subscription. I was a happy customer. Because I was smart enough to work the system, cancel in time and get a bunch of free CDs for pennies. But guess what? Somebody was filling the…

It may have been shady but even 8 year olds could tell that it was a 'club' and not a 'store' and knew that you had to cancel. It was "Join the club and get 8 CD's for free' not the other way around with small print. People just forgot to cancel or would stick with it for a while and then realize they weren't getting value. This is a different thing because it is intentionally masquerading as an online web store. Even other online services that sell subscriptions are designed differently.

This is making money off of deception, not consumer laziness like Columbia House was.

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

#234

Post by nachosarefunny »

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…

Not sorry to contradict but this is usual trickery used by scammers. This page and checkout flow are obviously designed around making people not understand they're subscribing to a recurring premium fee. I have a hard time believing you, as a VC, are unable to recognize this as this usually means a high short term ROI.

If it weren't trickery you'd have two same size button next to each other, one saying "VIP checkout" and the other "regular checkout " but this would significantly reduce the number of subscriptions.

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

#235

Post by stephengillie »

logn wrote: post #169
halviti wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for there is a time window for these sorts of things. His girlfriend isn't going to be able to dispute charges that are 8-months old.

Then also file a complaint with the attorney general of a state in the US and the Better Business Bureau. Also write an honest Yelp review (make it fair and truthful but not slanted as you don't want to be sued over libel). All of those things matter a lot to businesses, in addition to their standing with credit card companies and banks.

Those won't matter to scam business, especially since the BBB itself is a scam, and most yelp reviews are fake.

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

#236

Post by unclebucknasty »

FiloSottile wrote: post #231
unclebucknasty wrote: post #207

The company's tactics have been thoroughly eviscerated here, as they should be. This is clearly misleading and I don't think I can add much there. But, here's something else that I find funny: the membership fee is $39.95/month, which then entitles you to buy a pair of shoes for an additional $39.95/month. They state that this price is " up to 50% off". So, if you only buy one pair of shoes in a month, and the discou…

Even if I agree that this is a scam and a dark pattern, with the subscription they give you a "credit" to buy a pair of shoes, so you get (at least) one pair each month for (at least) $39.95/month. IF, you go there to choose them.

Thanks for the clarification. I stand corrected. So, we're just back to the original scam, then.

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

#239

Post by crag »

downandout wrote: post #178
halviti wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for there is a time window for these sorts of things. His girlfriend isn't going to be able to dispute charges that are 8-months old.

The window is usually 180 days, and some of the more lenient credit card companies will go back even further depending on the circumstances. She can easily get back 6 of the 8 monthly charges. A simple way to avoid issues like this is to always generate a virtual card for each purchase, and then turn the virtual card off the moment the transaction is completed. You can do this through Netspend prepaid cards - you jus…

That's a lot of work to buy a pair of shoes. Not to mention, I never heard of Netspend (until now). And I spend most of my day on the net. You expect folks who don't to know?

It shouldn't be this way. Buyer beware is one thing. But one shouldn't have to watch their back to buy a pair of shoes.

What this company is doing is low down.

By the way, thanks for the tip. I'm looking at Netspend right now.

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

#240

Post by skue »

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…

Why am I not surprised that the Series A VC is with Matrix? They seem to go out of their way to earn a bad reputation:

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2009/11/th...

(Far more details on TheFunded for those who are members.)

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