Complaint Review: WLI Reservation Rewards - Gamefly

I believe Gamefly.com and WLI Reservation Rewards are engaged in, at the very least, a deceptive practice, if not downright illegal.

I signed up for service through Gamefly in the Fall of 2005. Shortly thereafter, I cancelled my service with Gamefly, because my sons wanted to try a different service. In January of 2006, I was balancing my checkbook, and I noticed a $9.00 charge, dated 12/27/05, for WLI Reservation Rewards. I had no idea what it was about, so I called the listed phone number.

I told WLI that I had no idea what this was about and certainly did not sign up for any such service and wanted my money back. They agreed to cancel my "service" but not-so-artfully avoided the issue of reversing the charge.

At that time, WLI also told me that either I "or someone in my household" had signed up for the service through Gamefly.

I asked my sons, and one of them told me that he remembered seeing "something like that" ("reservation rewards") when he clicked on a link on Gamefly saying that he could get a $10 free coupon for Gamefly. My son is very positive that this offer gave him the impression that this "coupon" was absolutely free and he did have to sign up for anything.

My son did not have access to my debit card information and did not enter any such information to make any such purchase.

I also contacted Gamefly, and below is the present history of my correspondence with them:

My original email:

I subscribed to your service a couple of months ago but cancelled because my step-sons wanted to try something else. On December 27, 2005, my bank account was charged $9.00 for something called "WLI Reservation Rewards." When I called the number, 800-732-7031, WLI told me that I had signed up for their "services" through Gamefly.com. I did not knowingly do any such thing. I asked my step-son about it and he said: "I remember seeing that when I logged into Gamefly and it said click here for a free 10 coupon for Gamefly, and it said that it was absolutely free and you did not have to sign up."

Needless to say, after this, I will not be subscribing to your services again, but I thought you should know of this experience as it obviously does not reflect well upon your company. You should also know, I plan to file a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General's office regarding this matter--because WLI just gave me the runaround, when I asked repeatedly that my money be returned.

I have no idea if Gamefly is at "fault" for this incident, but it is something of which you should obviously be aware. A simple Google search reveals that this is a MASSIVE FRAUD.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Matthew

Gamefly's Response:

Response (Brian R) 01/05/2006 04:54 PM

Dear Matthew,

We would not be at fault for the $9.00 charge that was provided through Web Loyalty. It seems that your son signed up for the program through that Company. Your son was given the option to receive 10 GameFly Dollars by signing up for "Reservation Rewards" but it was not mandatory for the purchase of the game. Once registered with Web Loyalty, your son was given a confirmation notice which includes details on how to log into their "Reservation Rewards" account in order to retrieve their 10 GameFly Dollars coupon code, applicable towards their next purchase. You may want to call Web Loyalty back at the telephone number provided 800-732-7031 to address this particular issue.

Thank you,

GameFly Customer Service
Email: support@gamefly.com
Online help: http://www.gamefly.com/help/default.asp

My Reply:

I don't believe you, but thanks for trying.

I suggest you "google it." This is a massive internet scam, and I believe you and WLI know it, and I will be filing my complaint with the Illinois Attorney General's office. You can explain it to them.

As far as Gamefly goes, at the very least, your site is very deceptive. I cannot conceive of how my son, or anyone else's child, simply clicking on a link on your site can result in purchasing a "service" on a recurring billing basis from a site and company that is external to and independent from Gamefly. My son does not have access to my debit card information, and I don't imagine placing a single order through Gamefly allows Gamefly to disseminate that information to a totally separate company just by virtue of clicking on a link.

Legitimate sites from which you make legitimate purchases require that you enter certain information, which, again, is not available to my son, and which I can assure you he did not enter and go through certain steps to ensure that you intend to make a "purchase." Obviously, this did not happen.

Frankly, I have no idea whether Gamefly and WLI are technically within the limits of the law on this issue, but you are certainly not within the spirit. This is especially true as you know very well that people like me subscribe to services like yours for the benefit of their children and then you allow such a deceptive, if not illegal, practice to continue.

But thanks again for trying. I must confess, though, I am disappointed. I was under the impression that Gamefly would be much more above-board than you apparently are on something like this.

P.S. Perhaps you would care to explain how this "purchase" allegedly occurred more than a approximately a month after I cancelled my "service" with Gamefly.

Matthew
St. Charles, Illinois
U.S.A.