Highbeam Research Marketing Scam Class Action Lawsuit

Highbeam Research Marketing Scam Class Action Lawsuit

By Kimberly Mirando

A federal class action lawsuit claims Highbeam Research, The Gale Group and Cengage Learning charge unsuspecting consumers for memberships or subscriptions they don’t want and didn’t sign up for in a scam called “negative option marketing” using “Free-to-Pay” conversions.

“Defendants’ predatory business model utilizes a host of highly misleading, confusing, unlawful, deceptive and unfair acts or practices that deceived and are likely to deceive consumers” into unknowingly and automatically enrolling in “unauthorized yearly or monthly memberships or subscriptions in which the Defendants charge and continue to charge consumers’ credit cards without their knowledge, information or consent,” the class action lawsuit states.

This practice is known as “Free-to-Pay” conversion marketing, or automatically billing consumers for a service or membership if the consumer does not take affirmative steps to cancel during the “free trial” period.

“These marketing schemes [take] advantage of consumers’ expectations that they would have the opportunity to accept or reject the membership at the end of the ‘free trial’ period,” the Highbeam Research class action lawsuit states.

The practice of “Free-to-Pay” has led to a Senate Committee investigation after thousands of online consumer complained to state Attorneys Generals, the Better Business Bureau, and other consumer advocates of misleading and deceptive enrollment in membership plans.

The Highbeam Research class action lawsuit alleges the Defendants violated consumer protection laws by tricking consumers into signing up for a “free trial” and then charging their credit/debit cards without their knowledge after the trial period ends. It is seeking damages for Class Members in the amount of at least $25, in addition to other relief.

A copy of the Highbeam Research Marketing Scam Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.

The case is Robert Bagg, et al. v. Highbeam Research, Inc.; The Gale Group, Inc.; and Cengage Learning, Inc.