New York Attorney General Letitia James today secured $375,000 from 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. (1-800-Flowers) for misleading consumers and enrolling customers in automatically-renewing paid subscriptions. 1-800-Flowers sells flowers, food, and other gifts through a host of brands, including 1-800-Flowers.com, 1-800-Baskets.com, Cheryl’s Cookies, Harry & David, Shari’s Berries, The Popcorn Factory, and more. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that 1-800-Flowers failed to clearly disclose the terms of a subscription service that included free shipping, failed to provide consumers with the subscription acknowledgment required by New York law, and did not notify subscribers before the subscription renewed automatically. As a result, many customers did not realize they had signed up for a yearly subscription and were charged recurring fees for a service they never used. Under the settlement with OAG, 1-800-Flowers must pay $375,000 in penalties, change its subscription practices, and offer restitution to subscribers.
“Companies that trick consumers into signing up for recurring subscriptions are breaking the law and costing New Yorkers their hard-earned money,” said Attorney General James. “1-800-Flowers buried their terms in fine print and failed to warn consumers they were signing up for automatically renewing subscriptions. My office is putting a stop to these deceptive practices and ensuring New Yorkers get their money back.”
New York law requires subscription terms to be clearly disclosed to customers, including the minimum term length, the fact that the subscription renews, and the cancellation policy. Businesses must also get affirmative consent for automatic renewals, provide a post-purchase acknowledgment, and offer an easy cancellation process.
1-800-Flowers offers a “Celebrations Passport” subscription across its brands that eliminates shipping fees and service charges on orders for a yearly fee priced between $14.99 and $29.99. The OAG found that between February 2021 and June 2022, 1-800-Flowers’ subscription terms were disclosed only in fine print, in linked terms and conditions, or in pop-out boxes a consumer had to click on to view. 1-800-Flowers also did not provide consumers with an adequate post-purchase acknowledgment and did not give them sufficient notice prior to renewal.
The OAG, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) received complaints from consumers misled by recurring 1-800-Flowers subscriptions.
- One customer reported that they could not find an option to cancel their subscription on 1-800-Flowers.com, nor could they find any guidance on how to cancel by phone or mail. The customer also noted there was no clear way to remove their payment information to avoid recurring charges.
- Another customer described their frustration after discovering they had been charged for the service for two years without receiving any notification. When they called to ask for a refund, they were told 1-800-Flowers’ policy was not to offer a refund more than 30 days after a purchase.
The OAG settlement requires 1-800-Flowers to pay $375,000 in penalties and provide refunds to eligible New York subscribers who filed complaints with the company or with OAG, FTC, or BBB. 1-800-Flowers will also provide restitution to eligible consumers nationwide who purchased the Celebrations Passport but did not use the subscription benefits.
In addition to paying penalties and restitution, 1-800-Flowers must improve its disclosures, get informed affirmative consent from subscribers who sign up for recurring subscriptions, provide customers with a subscription acknowledgment that includes cancellation information, and sufficiently notify consumers before their subscription renews.
This settlement is the latest in Attorney General James’ efforts to get justice for consumers misled by hard-to-cancel subscriptions. In December 2025, Attorney General James sued Uber for misleading customers by trapping them in subscriptions to its Uber One service. In May 2025, Attorney General James secured $600,000 from Equinox for trapping customers in hard-to-cancel memberships. In December 2023, Attorney General James sued SiriusXM for trapping customers into unwanted subscriptions, and in November 2024, a court found that SiriusXM violated the law by forcing customers to undergo a long and burdensome process to cancel their subscriptions.
This matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Gena Feist and Laura Mumm, as well as former Assistant Attorney General Hanna Baek, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Clark Russell and Bureau Chief Kim Berger of the Bureau of Internet and Technology. The Bureau of Internet and Technology is a part of the Division for Economic Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Chris D’Angelo and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.
