Advanced Wellness Research, Inc - Pure Acai Berry Pro Hidden enrollment in automatic product "refills" program Nampa Idaho
Free Sample my eye! Buyer Beware!
I didn't realize I had been scammed until I discovered the $78.81 + $.63 charges on my charge card bill, three weeks after I ordered my "free sample" of Acai Berry. The first call was to my charge card company . They immediately filed a dispute to the charge for me and cancelled the card so no further charges could be attached to it. The next part was more difficult.
After being disconnected a couple of times - very bad phone line connections, I could barely hear the representative on the other end of the line - I asked for a refund only to be badgered to buy more product on their special promotion! He told me that in the fine print of the 'terms & conditions' which I had accepted in my online order - and, yes, he did say it was in the fine print - it was stated that if I did not want to continue with a monthly shipment of the product, I had to cancel my account within 14 days of the ORDER DATE. I didn't get the 'free sample' until about 10 days after the order date and nothing in the paperwork that came with the 'sample' restated that.
They finally agreed to credit my account $40, half the amount they had charged.
Lesson learned - from now on, I will print all 'terms & conditions' for any product or service I order online, hit "decline" button, then after carefully reading all the terms and highlighting my obligations under those terms, if I choose to order the product, I can go back and place the order. I have only one chance to catch the fine print.
Now I'm off to do battle with "Total Cleanse" which operates in the same way as the Acai Berry promotions online ... wish me luck!
BJ
Port Orchard, Washington
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Barbara
Port Orchard,Washington,
U.S.A.
not only not "free", they charged full price after the fact!
#2Author of original report
Tue, February 24, 2009
Both Acai Berry and Total Cleanse are of the same ilk ...
Their "sample" is not a sample at all. If you don't contact them to get a 'return merchandise authorization' and return the unused portion of the "sample" within 14 days of ordering it (and you don't get the product until about 10 or 12 days after ordering it), they charge you their full retail price for that original "sample"! Then they continue to bill and ship a "refill" at full price every month thereafter until you put a stop to it.
The other thing they do is bill under different company names so you can't figure out what you're supposed to be receiving. I have charges on my card from Acai, Purebody Cleanse, EasyBodyDetoxOnline, Acai Diet Today, and UltimateBody. They operate under all sorts of business names, or should I say they play a shell game with all those names?
You must be dogged in your pursuit of these people. Document your every conversation with names, dates, and confirmation numbers of every transaction.
Right now I'm out about $225.00 and I think I have myself untangled from this but I'm watching my credit card like a hawk and will be apprehensive about this matter for months to come. I sure hope I'm done with this mess!
I am compiling a journal to present a case to our state Attorney General to legally require a change in these company's business practices for any product delivered to anyone in my home state. You may want to do the same. If there's a loud enough outcry, we may put an end to this.