I recently taught a class to a group of present and aspiring tasting room managers. Many of them were not aware that there wine club contracts were regulated by the state. With the abuses of recurring contracts by health clubs and CD of the month clubs, the State stepped in to regulate these types of recurring contracts, including your wine clubs.
California Business & Professions Code §17600:
• Effective
beginning on December 1, 2010;
• Regulates
an offer which includes an automatic renewal provision;
• Offer must
include a clear and conspicuous disclosure; and
• Clear and
conspicuous = larger type than the surrounding text, or in contrasting type,
font, or color to the surrounding text of the same size, or set off from the
surrounding text of the same size by symbols or other marks, in a manner that
clearly calls attention to the language.
What Must All Wine Club Contracts Include:
- The subscription
will continue until the customer terminates the contract;
- The
cancellation policy for the offer;
- The
amount of the recurring charges that the customer's credit card will be
charged, and, if the amount will change, the amount that the charge will
be changed by;
- The
duration of the automatic renewal term or that the subscription is
continuous; and
- If
there is any minimum purchase requirement.
I know that many wine clubs only have a small form where they
collect contact information. You can add
this information to the form, or you can post terms for your wine club
membership on your site. Lastly, you could
include this information in your club shipment.
