I normally just blog about videos I have worked on, but I just received a second check from 1-800-flowers.com and I feel it is my duty to warn others.
A couple months ago, I received some mail from 1-800-flowers.com. On the outside of the letter were the words “Check Enclosed.” After opening the letter I discovered a check for $9.25. Now, if I hadn’t read the fine print and cashed the check in, I would have been signing my self up for a membership for a program called “Elite Excursions.”
The “Elite Excursions” program promises 2% cashback on all credit card purchases. Reading further it says 2% on your first $5,000 of new purchases. It also promises 10%-50% disounts on several different kinds of purchases. So this check is actually paying me for signing up for this discount rebate service. Maybe the discounts and rebates will make this membership service worthwhile?
Reading on it states that as soon as I cash in the check I will be charged $19.99 to the credit card I had purchased flowers with in the past and I will also be charged $19.99 for each month I am in the program.
Now it is time for some math. This service costs me $239.88/year and if I spend $5,000 I will get $100 back. Assuming I do spend the full $5000 and I cash my check I am left in the hole $130.63 and more the next year. I guess it is possible to come out ahead in this membership but I would have to do a lot of traveling and staying in hotels to barely break even. Honestly, I think I can find hotel deals eaiser just using one of the many travel websites.
Today, I received a second check from 1-800-flowers.com. This time for a program called “Livewell” which offers me $8.25 to signup for their $12.99/mo scam for discounts on dining and shopping.
If you do a Google search for “Livewell” and/or “Elite Exursions” you will see many complaints from people ripped off by 1-800-flowers.com. Some people have also been unknowingly signed up for these memberships while ordering flowers on the phone and were charged up to $39.98 a month for this “great” service.
With the state of the economy and on the people desperate for work and money, I think this is a lowly, despicable scam created to take advantage of people in need. All I can say is read the fine print and be careful. I know that I will never be ordering from 1-800-flowers.com again.
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