LOS ANGELES, CA – Superior Court Judge Wendell Mortimer, Jr. has granted class action status to a lawsuit that charges consumers were wrongfully charged for “Girls Gone Wild” DVDs and videotapes, clearing the way for the almost 2 year old lawsuit to proceed.Federal prosecutors originally charged California-based Mantra Films and its sole officer and director, Joseph R. Francis, with employing deceptive advertising practices back in December of 2003. Among other charges, the lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to adequately disclose that the purchase of a video or DVD results in enrollment in a continuity program, failed to disclose the material terms and conditions of that program, and misrepresented that consumers can cancel their continuity program membership at any time.
The lawsuit further alleges that the defendants:
- caused charges to be submitted for payment for video/DVD shipments without the express informed consent of consumers;
- debited customers’ checking accounts on a recurring basis without obtaining authorization;
- shipped unordered merchandise to consumers, then sent communications seeking payment for the unordered merchandise
- continued to both ship unordered merchandise and seek payment for the merchandise, even after they had actual knowledge that the FTC had determined that these practices are “deceptive, unfair, and unlawful” based on prior cease and desist orders against other companies.
“In a case of deceptive marketing gone wild, consumers were enrolled in a program of monthly deliveries without their knowledge,” said Howard Beales, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “That’s out of bounds. If you sign consumers up for an ongoing plan without their permission, we’ll do our best to unwind the transaction.”
According to ConsumerAffairs.com, the website has received hundreds of complaints from Girls Gone Wild customers, which have a common theme of customers who believed that they were making a one-time purchase, only to find that they had been enrolled in a program with continuous and recurring charges.
“I ordered a video off the tv offer for $10 and every month now I receive a video and they charge my credit card $25 and I do not want the videos,” wrote a customer identified only as “Jeremy” of Marysville Ohio in a complaint published on ConsumerAffairs.com. Jeremy also claims that the videos continued to be mailed to him after several requests to cancel his “subscription”.
