How to make a pharm affiliate company comply with request for deletion

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by northpointaiki, Mar 20, 2006.

  1. #1
    Hello:

    Some time ago, for ethical reasons and concerns over what I believe will likely be future legal liabilities (for all online pharmacy sites which base sales on mere questionnaires, without an in-office medical exam), I closed a pharmacy affiliate site and requested that my account with the "backoffice"/admin be deleted, as the backoffice/admin maintained my bank account and other personal information.

    I have never had much luck with hearing from this company on numerous queries I asked, but was assured by one of the members here, who acts as a "super-affiliate" over many other affiliates, that my account has been deleted.

    Yesterday, I received notification from the backoffice that I had made a sale to a previous customer. It indicated that "an order for village drugstoreDELETED has been processed, with the following details..." I do not know whether my account is, in effect, still live and I have made a sale (and, presumably, it will be reported as such to tax authorities), or whether this is just a screwup, or glitch.

    I have e-mailed the member here, as well as the liaison between the company and affiliates ("RX Payouts Affiliate Manager"), but have not heard anything back.

    I do not wish to be associated with this site, this industry, and certainly don't want to be taxed. I simply want this account gone.

    Anyone have any advice as to how to best get this company to delete my account, and ensure I am not making sales (and, possibly, being taxed accordingly)?

    Thank you,

    Paul
     
    northpointaiki, Mar 20, 2006 IP
  2. northpointaiki

    northpointaiki Guest

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    #2
    I need to add that the company has a private domain registration, so I sent off an e-mail to smartwhois, acting as agent. My sole intent is to ensure my account is deleted, fully, with RXPayouts. Any suggestions towards this end would be appreciated.

    Paul
     
    northpointaiki, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  3. TheHoff

    TheHoff Peon

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    #3
    "Please delete my account, I do not wish to make any more sales!"

    :D

    Funny situation, but I understand why you'd do this. I'm guessing they don't have a phone number.. what about a mailing address? Maybe you can do some tracking if you have the company name and a state.
     
    TheHoff, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  4. northpointaiki

    northpointaiki Guest

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    #4
    Yeah, I know, seems counterintuitive. But, as I say above, I just don't want to make money this way. Moreover, I don't want the authorities - who are taking action to close these sites down, in California, Florida, New York, as a start - to associate me with the site and industry. And I don't want to be taxed on sales I am not making. These sales go through, I presume, then the company just garners the whole thing, with no affiliate payout - yet it appears, from the e-mail I got, I am associated with the sale and am being reported as making it. Hence, my concern.

    Because of the private domain registration, I don't quite know how to contact the hosting provider. Contacts with this company seem useless, as I did not hear from numerous queries I asked over the time I was affiliated.

    Anyone with suggestions on how best to contact a privately-registered domain would be appreciated.

    Paul
     
    northpointaiki, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  5. TheHoff

    TheHoff Peon

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    #5
    As the private implies, the only way is through the randomized email address. Did you send the company a 1099? If not, you should be fine if you simply do not cash the checks they send or instruct your bank not to accept direct deposits from them.

    It sounds as if they've set a few cookies from your old links and those cookies are still valid on some machines. Not much you can do about that if there is no facility to delete your account online.
     
    TheHoff, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  6. northpointaiki

    northpointaiki Guest

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    #6
    They have a $500 limit prior to doing wire transfers. I am laughably far short of that. However, any sales are, in fact, not mine but should go directly to the company. My main concern is that they have my bank account information on file. I am not sanguine about having that out there, or held by the company, and simply want all information deleted.

    Thanks for your thoughts.

    Paul
     
    northpointaiki, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  7. exam

    exam Peon

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    #7
    Did you try logging into your account and changing all your information? Change your name to XXX and your bank account to 000-000 or something like that. I know that's not what you want, but it might be a good workaround for the time being (if they will even let you do that).
     
    exam, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  8. northpointaiki

    northpointaiki Guest

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    #8
    Unfortunately, I am no longer able to log on to my account. It is "deleted" in some ways, and apparently not in others...this was my original intent, when I got the e-mail confirming a sale...

    Thanks, though.
     
    northpointaiki, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  9. exam

    exam Peon

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    #9
    You might keep trying the contact form on rxpayouts. You might get someone different who might do something about your request.
     
    exam, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  10. northpointaiki

    northpointaiki Guest

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    #10
    There is a history here - contacting the contact on RXPayouts merely got me referred to the RXPayouts manager - who I did not hear from, even when I had an active site. And the "super-affiliate" above (a member here) merely castigated for being a pain in the ass.
     
    northpointaiki, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  11. mjewel

    mjewel Prominent Member

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    #11
    I don't think there is any way to force them to delete your information. They are required to keep at least some of this information by the IRS.
     
    mjewel, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  12. northpointaiki

    northpointaiki Guest

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    #12
    I am not informed on the tax laws. However, I was never paid anything as I never reached the minimum for transfer; the paltry amount I earned in commission simply reverted back to the company. And as I have asked for my site to be closed, I will never earn anything such that an actual payment will, or should be, transferred. So, at least intuitively, it seemed to be it should be an easy enough thing to do to close and delete the account. But I could be wrong.
     
    northpointaiki, Mar 21, 2006 IP
    Crazy_Zap and GTech like this.
  13. TheHoff

    TheHoff Peon

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    #13
    I don't believe they will report your income to the IRS unless you go over $500 or $600 in supposed payments. You should be fine.
     
    TheHoff, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  14. mjewel

    mjewel Prominent Member

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    #14
    They will need to report the income they are keeping to the IRS, but they won't be reporting anything in someone's name that was never paid, however, they still need to have records showing where that income came from. What if they deleted the information and then someone came back and claimed they were never paid - they would be in a situation where they would have nothing to show why that information was deleted. At the very least, they would need to keep the request to close and delete the information to protect themselves. There would still be a paper trail - although as an affiliate, the legal liability isn't anything I would worry about. If they failed to do something properly in issuing the prescription, that is ultimately their responsibility. They certantly could delete all the information if they wanted to, I just don't think there is any benefit to them and no way to force them to do it. You could review the affiliate agreement you entered into to see if there way any way to force them to delete it, but my guess would be that there isn't.
     
    mjewel, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  15. stereolab

    stereolab Peon

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    #15
    Not only will they not delete your information, i have a feeling they could sell it after closing up shop. they are not the most ethical organizations in the world.
     
    stereolab, Mar 29, 2006 IP
  16. northpointaiki

    northpointaiki Guest

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    #16
    Thanks all.
     
    northpointaiki, Mar 30, 2006 IP