Complaint Review: Chris Campbell

My story is similar to that of Zenia from North Carolina: different product - same scam.

Chris Campbell's business Cambogia Best advertised a "limited offer" trial of 2 weight loss products (to be used in combination) for shipping costs of $A4.95 each.  There is no indication in the ad/main web page that there are any additional costs or obligations to accepting this offer or that the trial is for a restricted time.  The wording clearly states that you are paying for a trial bottle of each product, not for a certain number of days to try it.

I am usually more careful but this time I wasn't paying enough attention and I placed the order before reading the Terms and Conditions (T&C) document. I then found the T&C and realised the transaction was a trap.  Too late!  The trap had been sprung - my credit card was debited within minutes.  They had also decided to charge me $US4.95 for one product rather than the $A4.95 advertised (20% extra cost).

According to the T&C, entering the transaction allegedly gave Cambogia Best (which calls itself a company in the T&C but I can find no record of registration) the right to debit my credit card by $US124.73 at the end of a previously unmentioned 14 day trial period and then to extract a further $US124.73 from my credit card every month for a so-called "replenishment program" with no end date.  The T&C claims that the customer is not allowed to cancel the contract (which would be illegal in Australia and I suspect it probably is in the US as well).

The only escape for the trapped customer is to cancel within 14 days of the date of the order.  The only option provided for cancellation is a "Customer Care" number: 1-844-847-5457.

The T&C then states that delivery times (from shipment date, not order date) are 2-5 business days for the US and 5-10 business days for international orders ("except when delayed by international customs", whch is a convenient loophole).  They don't want to hear about non-delivery unless the package hasn't arrived within 15 business days (you probably spotted that this is longer than the 14 days you are allowed in which to cancel the credit card exploit).

You don't need to be a logistics expert to see that for non-US customers, the chance of receiving the product within the 14 (calendar) day free cancellation period is very low.  Obviusly no-one can try a product if they haven't actually received it, but the 14 day deadline applies whether you receive the product or not.  Clearly this was never intended to be a genuine trial offer.

In the interests of damage control, I called the 1-844-847-5457 number (international call rates, naturally) within an hour of placing the order.  That way I could be sure that I had cancelled within the allowed time.  

The woman who answered my call was very polite but also very confused.  She didn't seem sure what product I was talking about (so I assume this is a contract call centre used for multiple products) and on learning that I was calling from Australia told me that the number is only for US residents and she couldn't help a non-US customer.  I asked her for a number that Australian customers could call, but she didn't know of one and there is no such number anywhere on the website (as at April 21 2017).  The T&C does not allow for any other cancellation method than by calling this number.  Cambogia Best effectively leads international customers to believe that they have a right to cancel and then makes sure that they are prevented from doing so.  

I have emailed my cancellation instructions to the only email address in the T&C (which is supposed to be used to get permission to return the product).  Having found though an internet search that Chris Campbell owns and administers the website, I have sent the cancellation email to him as well.  I flagged the email as important and asked for a read-receipt, but I doubt I'll get one.  My bank has advised that the only way to avoid the rip-off in 14 days is to cancel my credit card, which is inconvenient but probably unavoidable.

Scamadviser.com reveals that the owner of Cambogia Best is Chris Campbell of Anderson, Indiana, who appears to set up a number of these scams using a variety of products and a string of websites that rarely seem to have a long shelf-life.  A skim through several of these (those not yet closed down) shows a remarkable similarity in "business model", design and language in both the ads and the T&Cs.  Ripoff Report and other sites confirm that this Chris Campbell has apparently be practicing these scams over several years, prancing from one product and website to another and leaving a trail of victims in his wake.

I have repored this scam to Australian consumer protection regulators so they can add Cambogia Best to their scam lists, and I'll send them a list of any other sites I can find that this person is assocated with, but Aussie regulators can't do much because he is US-based.  Until US regulators act against these moral bankrupts, at least sites like Ripoff Report provide people with somewhere to check out unethical operators. Maybe that will help some from falling into the trap that I did.  I'll be visiting Ripoff Report in future before I make other online orders.