Just to add on another piece of good news to our press release this morning, Visa has terminated its payment processing services to over 100 merchants because of their poor history with BBB and the Federal Trade Commission. Visa says the number of complaints from their cardholders disputing charges from these merchants has shot up since this summer because of the deceptive ads they use. As we mentioned in our press release, the specific target mentioned in this campaign are companies who market free trial offers to consumers, but then charge for shipping and handling and continue to bill month to month after the trial period ends.

Keep in mind that this type of marketing, called negative option marketing, is NOT illegal because technically these companies are disclosing the terms and conditions associated with the offer. The problem lies in the fact that the verbage is located in fine print carefully placed in parts of the Web site where consumers are less likely to read it. Yes it's the holiday season, but just remember that while your family and friends will give you gifts, most companies will not.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifRYIKv2HapKvDzhpvfj1_ij0DjAD9CL2N0O2