Webloyalty Makes Statement About its Business Practices in Response to U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Report

NORWALK, Conn., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to a report released today by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Webloyalty (www.webloyalty.com), a leading online marketing company, issued the following statement:

Webloyalty is committed to providing value to all online consumers who join our membership programs, to making sure that consumers understand fully the benefits of our programs, and to upholding the highest standards of fair conduct and transparent practices. Through our discount membership programs, consumers can benefit from hundreds of dollars in annual savings on dining, shopping, entertainment, travel and other routine purchases at thousands of national and local establishments.

We have evolved our business practices over time based on our independent analysis as well as in response to feedback from consumers, industry groups, lawmakers and regulators. We believe that the practices we adopted in January 2010 – including requiring consumers to enter their full credit card information to enroll in our programs – represent significant enhancements to our business practices.

The Committee's most recent input will be an important consideration as we continue to refine our practices. We believe that our current enrollment and post-enrollment policies and procedures meet virtually all of the requirements of the proposed legislation. We will follow closely the changes, if any, to the draft bill as it continues to develop and will ensure that our business practices comply fully with the law when enacted.

Following is a complete, factual description of Webloyalty's enrollment practices since January 2010, as well as its cancellation practices.

Pre-enrollment: Offer terms are displayed multiple times.

• Consumers interested in enrolling in a Webloyalty discount membership program are informed that they are being presented an offer by a third party, Webloyalty.

• Webloyalty's offer page displays the monthly membership cost at least four times, two of which are highlighted and/or bolded.

Enrollment: Consumers' express consent is required.

• Webloyalty cannot and will not enroll a consumer in one of our discount membership programs without that individual's express consent. 

• For several years, Webloyalty's enrollment process has required a consumer to take multiple affirmative steps to ensure that enrollment cannot occur as a result of a single mouse-click. Now, in addition to the other affirmative steps, the enrollment process also requires consumers to enter their entire credit or debit card number.

Post-enrollment: Frequent communications with members, "no hassle" cancellations.

• Webloyalty sends members who join a discount program at least five emails in the initial 30-day trial membership period.

• Two of these emails remind them that they will be charged at the conclusion of their trial membership. Webloyalty sends its members monthly communications after the trial period ends.

• Every email from Webloyalty includes the toll-free customers service number for inquiries, cancellations and refunds.

• Webloyalty maintains a strict "no hassle" cancellation policy, ensuring that consumers wishing to cancel a membership are not pressured to remain members.

As reflected in the Committee's report, Webloyalty does not try to convince members not to cancel, and we grant members refunds upon request.

About Webloyalty

Webloyalty.com (http://www.webloyalty.com), a leading online marketing company, partners with over 150 e-commerce sites, providing solutions for generating incremental revenue by driving traffic, minimizing site and shopping cart abandonment, offering alternative payment methods and encouraging repeat business. Through its reward, discount and protection programs, Webloyalty.com provides consumers with easy to access dining, shopping and travel discounts and additional travel and protection benefits.

Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, Webloyalty has approximately 400 employees in 8 different locations across the US and in Europe.

Additional information on Webloyalty is available at www.webloyalty.com. For customer service inquiries, please contact 1-800-732-7031 or [email protected].

SOURCE Webloyalty