An Open Letter to Barnes and Noble
I got mad after just completing a purchase with Barnes & Noble. Seriously? They expect to compete with Amazon in the online game? Amazon at least takes security seriously. That’s the very basics of competing online: customers must trust you with their credit cards. Anyway, here’s the rant I sent them:
I’d like to express my gross dissatisfaction with your association with WebLoyalty, Inc.
I noticed it recently when completing a purchase. You certainly know that most of your customers don’t gain any value in the services offered by WebLoyalty. In effect, it’s a scam that they will try to get out of in the near future. Most of your customers will be surprised that they unwittingly gave their credit card information to WebLoyalty through your web site.
If you want to beat Amazon and your other online competitors, customers need to trust your web site. They cannot do so when you present links to sites such as WebLoyalty that are notoriously nefarious [1][2].
[1] http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-207.htm
[2] http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/ecommerce-investigation-webloyalty.cfm