Jericho-based 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. will pay $375,000 and provide refunds to eligible customers under a New York settlement involving automatically renewing subscriptions.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the agreement following an investigation into Celebrations Passport, an annual membership offering free shipping and reduced service charges across several 1-800-Flowers brands.
The company’s corporate headquarters are located at Two Jericho Plaza in Jericho.
Celebrations Passport was offered through brands including Harry & David, Cheryl’s Cookies, Shari’s Berries, 1-800-Baskets.com and The Popcorn Factory. Annual membership prices ranged from $14.99 to $29.99, depending on promotions.
The attorney general’s office found that between February 2021 and June 2022, important subscription terms were sometimes presented in fine print, linked terms and conditions or pop-up boxes customers had to open separately.
Some offers emphasized free shipping and other membership benefits without giving similar prominence to the automatic renewal, future price or cancellation terms, investigators said.
Customers could also encounter offers during checkout that described the subscription as one year of free shipping for several dollars more, without clearly displaying the full annual membership price or renewal terms.
Investigators found that 1-800-Flowers did not always provide customers with an adequate post-purchase acknowledgment explaining the subscription and did not provide sufficiently clear information before memberships renewed.
The company generally sent renewal emails 31 days before memberships renewed, according to the settlement. However, the attorney general’s office found those notices did not clearly explain all available cancellation methods, applicable deadlines or the option to turn off automatic renewal while retaining prepaid benefits.
Canceling a membership could immediately end the customer’s benefits. Turning off automatic renewal allowed the customer to keep those benefits through the existing membership period while preventing another annual charge.
The settlement said customers and some company employees were confused by the difference. In some cases, customers who requested cancellations and refunds instead had automatic renewal turned off, delaying the cancellation or refund process.
Consumers submitted complaints to 1-800-Flowers, the attorney general’s office, the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau about unexpected charges and difficulty canceling memberships.
One customer reported discovering that they had been charged for the program for two years without realizing the membership had renewed. Another said there was no clear online cancellation option and that several customer service contacts were required before the issue was resolved.
Under the settlement, eligible New York customers may receive a full refund of their most recent Celebrations Passport membership fee if they filed a qualifying complaint about an unexpected purchase, renewal, price increase or cancellation problem.
The full-refund provision generally covers memberships purchased through company websites between Feb. 9, 2021, and June 26, 2022, or through company mobile apps between Feb. 9, 2021, and Dec. 21, 2022.
Certain New York customers may qualify for a $20 refund if their membership renewed for a second year and they did not use the program’s free shipping or no-service-fee benefits beyond the original purchase.
Other U.S. customers may also qualify for $20 refunds if they enrolled during the covered period, never used the free shipping benefits and are not included in a related California class-action case.
Customers who already received refunds are not eligible to receive duplicate restitution.
1-800-Flowers must issue the required refunds within 180 days of the settlement’s effective date. The company must first attempt to return the money electronically to customers’ original payment methods.
Customers who cannot be refunded electronically may be offered another digital payment method or mailed a check.
The company must also clearly display subscription prices, renewal terms and cancellation policies before a purchase is completed. It must obtain informed consent, provide detailed confirmation emails, send advance renewal notices and maintain an easy-to-use online cancellation process.
Customers eligible for refunds under the company’s policies must also be able to initiate those refunds through the online cancellation system.
1-800-Flowers neither admitted nor denied the attorney general’s findings. Newsday reported that the company did not respond to its request for comment.
The company entered the settlement to resolve the investigation without litigation.
Photo: 1-800-Flowers HQ/Google Maps
