Affinion Group Inc. has finalized a lease to relocate from 100 Connecticut Ave. in Norwalk to High Ridge Park in Stamford, where it will take over a building briefly occupied by UST Inc.
Until 2000, when it was known as Trilegiant, the company had been based in Stamford before moving to Norwalk. It has had its headquarters at 100 Connecticut Ave. and also occupied another facility just up the road.
Affinion runs customer-affinity marketing programs on behalf of corporate clients, under which businesses offer rewards to loyal customers, and also sells niche insurance policies. Through the first three quarters of 2009, the company had a $40 million loss as revenue fell 3 percent to just over $1 billion.
The company has been the subject of an inquiry by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation chaired by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, who accuses Affinion and others of misleading consumers by getting them to sign up for memberships that include automatic credit card charges.
Late last year, Norwalk-based Priceline.com Inc. and 1-800-Flowers.com announced they were ending customer affinity programs managed by Affinion; last week, Affinion said it would cease running its “datapass” marketing membership programs under which it had acquired consumer credit card numbers from third parties, and will require consumers to provide all 16 digits of their credit or debit card number when enrolling in its programs.
“I am pleased that Affinion has agreed to change the way they do business,” Rockefeller said in a statement. “The Commerce Committee”™s investigation has produced overwhelming evidence that the aggressive sales tactics used by Affinion and other companies were misleading millions of American consumers. These companies charged millions of consumers”™ credit cards without ever obtaining the billing information directly from consumers. While Affinion”™s decision to end the so-called ”˜datapass”™ process is a positive step, this investigation is ongoing and will not end until all online shoppers are protected and online datapass marketing has been stopped.”
Rockefeller”™s committee has also included in its inquiry Vertrue Inc. and Webloyalty Inc., both based in Norwalk.
That will no longer be the home of Affinion, which finalized a deal to move its 350 employees into the former UST building at 6 High Ridge Park, which is owned by New York City-based George Comfort & Sons, according to the head of Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut Inc. while speaking at a Jan. 6 forum at the University of Connecticut Stamford organized by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and the Stamford Chamber of Commerce.
“The Affinion transaction almost reminds (me) of the old V-8 commercial, where they say ”˜I could have had a V-8,”™” said Jim Fagan, senior managing director of Cushman & Wakefield. “(Affinion) could go from Connecticut Avenue to a real corporate headquarters, and that was compelling for them.”
UST, a producer of chewing tobacco and wine, relocated from Greenwich to the 186,000-square-foot 6 High Ridge Park in 2007, and at the start of 2009 was acquired by tobacco giant Altria Group Inc. Altria soon afterward announced plans to relocate many of the UST jobs in Stamford to its Virginia headquarters.
