Business ProfileforVNYL

On January 27, 2020, BBB Serving Los Angeles and Silicon Valley requested that the company substantiate, modify, or discontinue claims advertised on the company's website, www.vnyl.org. The company offers Negative Option Plans, Continuity Plans and Automatic Shipments. The company advertises the following claims on their website:
- "Let's recap -- grow your vinyl stash quickly with music tailored specifically to you. Awesome NEW records starting at $39 per month, plus free shipping in the US. And the vinyl is yours to keep. Forever. Join today!"
- "Activate Your Membership
Enter your card deets, then you'll select your first #vibe"
- "Your membership renews monthly. Pause or cancel any time via your account page."
- "VNYL Gift Membership Subscription (with Invite Card and Gift Card Box)"
- "Includes 1, 3 or 12 prepaid months to the most popular curated vinyl subscription service. Every month, our record store curators research your music tastes, member profile and Spotify (not required) to find new music that you need to hear. Up to 3 new vinyl records arrive monthly including a handwritten note explaining your selections.
Trio - 1 Month - 3 Records
Triple Triple - 3 Months - 9 Records
BFF - 12 Months - 36 Records"

The BBB Code of Advertising states that "18.1 Any advertisement for a product or service that includes an offer to sell or provide consumers with additional goods or services under a negative option feature must include a clear and conspicuous disclosure of all material terms of the negative option feature. 18.2 Such material terms include: 18.2.1 The existence of the negative option feature; 18.2.2 The cost of the additional goods or services; 18.2.3 How consumers can cancel and avoid future shipments and charges; and 18.2.4 How consumers can return items that they do not want. 18.3 Advertisers must avoid making disclosures that are vague, unnecessarily long or which contain contradictory language. 18.4 Advertisers must not interpret the consumer's silence, failure to take an affirmative action to reject goods or services, or failure to cancel the agreement, as consent to enroll the consumer in the negative option feature. Instead, they must ensure that the consumer affirmatively consents (either online, over the phone, or in person) to the negative option feature before enrolling the consumer in the plan."

As of February 24, 2020, the business has failed to respond to our request for substantiation, modification, or discontinuation of the advertised claims.

The BBB opened an investigation on this firm due to the amount of inquiries we have received. According to BBB files, consumers allege not receiving the purchases they paid for. Furthermore, consumers allege not being able to get a response with the details of their orders or refunds. On January 27 and February 10, 2020 the BBB contacted the company in regards to our concerns about the amount and pattern of complaints we have received, unfortunately, the BBB did not receive a response.

The Federal Trade Commission's Prompt Delivery Rules "spells out the ground rules for making promises about shipments, notifying consumers about unexpected delays, and refunding consumers' money. Enforced by the FTC, the Mail or Telephone Order Rule applies to orders placed by phone, fax or the Internet." For more information about the FTC's Prompt Delivery Rule please visit https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/selling-internet-prompt-delivery-rules