Musicland Sued in Credit Card Debit Flap
Retailer Sam Goody and its sister companies misled consumers by failing to tell them that their credit and debit cards would be charged for Entertainment Weekly subscriptions, according to a class action lawsuit filed against parent company Musicland in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
Filed by the Tampa, FL law firm of James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich and other law firms, the suit alleges that store employees at Sam Goody, Suncoast and Media play stores offered customers eight free issues of the magazine, but did not tell them that they would be charged unless they called a number to cancel.
The complaint continues that Entertainment Weekly publisher Time Inc. paid $7 per customer charged.
“The lawsuit alleges that Musicland put its own profitability ahead of the privacy rights of its customers,” said John Yanchunis, an attorney with James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich. “We have reviewed hundreds of complaints from consumers who never authorized disclosure of their credit and debit card data.”
Direct Newsline could not reach Musicland executives for comment at deadline.
