According to the plaintiffs, more than 1,000 of Musicland stores did not tell customers who signed on to receive eight free copies of EW that their credit or debit cards would be charged for a full subscription unless they called a number to cancel.
James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich, one of the law firms representing members of the class, cited greed as Musicland's primary motive. The suit alleges Time Inc. gave $7 to the stores for every customer that was charged.
The suit also alleges Musicland put its own profitability ahead of the privacy rights of customers, says James, Hoyer attorney John Yanchunis. "We have reviewed hundreds of complaints from consumers who never authorized disclosure of their credit- and debit-card data.
Calls to Musicland's Minnetonka. Minn., corporate offices seeking comment were not returned. Musicland Stores Corp. was owned by Best Buy Co. until June 2003.
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