Not Fab to pay a fee for nothing

Fashion website JustFab has had online plugs banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The adverts on social media sites tempted viewers with a 75% discount offer but only later did the small print warn that taking up the deal would make you a “VIP member”, which meant being billed £35 every month if you didn’t log on to use your account or make a purchase.

“We considered that this was material information which should have been prominently presented on the registration page itself, specifically before consumers clicked on the box agreeing to the terms and conditions,” the watchdog ruled.

It said the ads “were likely to mislead consumers”.

I told in January how one customer paid for discounted boots, then had another £35 taken from her bank account three times.

“They forced me to go overdrawn,” said a furious Beverley Barnes of Leeds.

JustFab UK is owned by California company Just Fabulous Inc, run by co-founders Adam Goldenberg and Don Ressler. In the States it has paid $1.8million – about £1.4million – to settle a consumer protection lawsuit alleging that it did not “clearly and conspicuously” explain its monthly fee.

JustFab insisted that 80% of its money came from active members buying products, proving that it was not just taking fees from people who were unaware of their membership or had forgotten about it.

Or, to put it another way, 20% of its money comes from people who haven’t bought anything.