United States - FTC, Visa and BBB Partner to Educate Consumers About Free Trial Offers and Online Scams

The Federal Trade Commission has joined an effort to alert consumers to online deceptive marketing connected to free trial offers that require individuals to cancel or opt-out of a recurring charge for future products or services. The Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, David C. Vladeck, appeared at a press conference with officials from Visa and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to caution consumers about the free trial feature, known as a negative option. In a negative option feature, a company takes a consumer's failure to cancel a free trial offer as permission to begin charging for the service. While many merchants use this billing process appropriately, others pre-check consent boxes, bury the details of the offers in the fine print, terms and conditions, and make cancellations or returns difficult, cathcing consumers in a cycle of recurring charges for products and services they do not want.

For more information, please go to: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/visa.shtm.