

JustFab’s Checkout Tactics Are JustShady - minimaxir
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/27/not-so-vip/

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benologist
This may be the closest thing to journalism TechCrunch has done since AOL took
over. It's definitely the first time AOL has impressed me since giving me 30
hours free internet ~16 years ago.

Edit: I hope they have the stones to do a follow-up about the JustFab articles
vanishing from HN.

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chasing
Really? Because it looks like they just picked the best comments from the
Hacker News thread on the matter and just stuck them together.

~~~
benologist
They took a shot at a VC darling, signed up with and without VIP
subscriptions, and went through the cancelation process, and didn't sugar coat
what JustFab are doing and why they're evil.

That's a _lot_ from a company whose specialty is monitoring RSS feeds, HN, and
favored companies' press releases for stuff to reword.

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badclient
Edit: we are still unsure if the cost of membership is in addition to the cost
of the shoes? Would love if someone could clarify. \--

Funny enough my sister informed me that she ordered a pair of boots last
night. I immediately think of this and ask her if she's heard of JustFab to
which she says "how did you know?".

For what it matters, she is a law student and actually took the time to read
the TOS(yeah!). She has it all planned and will cancel her subscription
Monday.

Also learned from her that if you just make an account and wait for a few
days, apparently they let you in for the first month for $20.

My sister felt a bit shitty after I showed her HN's view but at least for her
she's getting a good deal. Too bad almost every other customer isn't likely to
have the same luck.

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vinceguidry
What I think's going to ultimately stop these sorts of shenanigans is that
enough people are going to get wise to it and start exploiting them. We'll be
a nation of extreme couponers.

Then it just won't be profitable to try to dupe people anymore.

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jaredstenquist
Very disappointing. I'm sure the internal stories of the UI/UX designers and
product managers will start coming out soon. I suspect that management had a
checkbox for "knowledge of dark patterns" on the job description.

Re: the investors. I wanted to give Josh Hannah of Matrix the benefit of the
doubt - many investors have little interest in much besides the revenue and
user growth. Unfortunately he decided to speak out about the situation and
show he was not only completely aware of this bullshit, but fully supports it.

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emperorcezar
Somebody is gonna get sued.

They are more than shady, they straddle the line over which they become
misleading.

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nutanc
Just wondering, do they atleast send an email reminder mentioning that you
have to select your pair for the month?

That should give an indication to some people to cancel their subscription.

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bsullivan01
Absolutely shady. It's a shame we don't have consumer laws or JustFab would
have been closed a long time ago. Good thing they raised some money, at least
they can afford lawyers for a while.

Another major deception going on is on search engines. All of them. They
deceptively designed ads in a way so a lot of people (roughly half
[http://www.seobook.com/consumer-ad-awareness-search-
results](http://www.seobook.com/consumer-ad-awareness-search-results) ) do not
know that they clicked an ad. Imagine seeing a commercial and thinking it was
CNN content or reading an article and thinking it as an unbiased one from NYT?
If you're buying an item and search for it, the ads do not have your best
interests in mind, so this matters a lot. Of course, if you think the result
is unbiased you're more likely to buy it. That is fraud, plain and simple and
it has been going on for a long time.

