The Better Business Bureau is
warning consumers about gift cards sent by a wholesale mother and baby product
distributor.
Jenny Eisenhuth of
Maryland received a card congratulating here on her pregnancy and full of gift
cards and coupons for baby products with a receipt that made it look like
someone had purchased them for her. But Eisenhuth is not having a baby.
“It’s from ThoughtfulGiftCards.com
and it lists out the five gift cards which total $245,” she said.
The card was signed Jenny
B and looked like the return address label fell off the envelope.
“I definitely did not
know a Jenny B.,” she said.
She said she felt bad
someone spent the money on her.
“And I actually sent a
video of everything I got to some of my friends, and two of them said, ‘Oh yeah,
my friend got it. It’s a scam,’” Eisenhuth said.
It’s not a scam, but a
marketing campaign by Mothers Lounge, which operates about 20 websites selling
products for babies and mothers.
“The Better Business Bureau
has given Mothers Lounge an F rating,” said Kelsey Coleman of the BBB.
The BBB questions the
tactics used by Mothers Lounge to make these cards look like they were sent by
a friend, including the markings on the envelope to make it appear the return
address label fell off and the ink smudges on the inside of the card, which is
actually printed and not handwritten.
“The Better Business Bureau
does think that is part of their tactic into getting people to think, ‘Oh, this
is coming from a friend and I will use the gift card, now,’” Coleman said.
The gift cards and
coupons work, but typically bring the total below the required spending for
free shipping.
“So there’s no real
savings or benefit of using the gift card when the shipping is now going up,
and so that’s what the Better Business Bureau classifies as deceptive
advertising,” Coleman said.
News4 ordered items off
three of the sites using the gift cards and coupons. After applying the codes,
only one site, Canopy Couture, offered free shipping.
The shipping on our
three free pacifiers started at $13.99, and the cheapest shipping option for pregnancy
and nursing pillows was about $20.
Mothers Lounge said it does
not participate in false or deceitful advertising and the gift cards are real
and work exactly as advertised.
Mothers Lounge said
everyone who received one of the cards had at some point subscribed to an
opt-in list for maternity deals and coupons through a third-party marketing
company.
Eisenhuth doesn’t
remember doing that.
“My cousin was pregnant,
and I had purchased a couple of things on Amazon and some diapers at Walmart,
but that’s it,” she said.
Mothers Lounge did not
divulge the name of the third-party marketing company.
