Complaint Review: Vitacost.com Shopping Essentials

A few days ago, I noticed a $14.95 charge on my bank account that I could not identify. After several phone calls, I was told that I must have clicked on an offer for a $10 discount coupon during checkout on Vitacost.com's website (I have purchased vitamins at this website several times). I was also told that if I had read the fine print, I would have seen that I was subscribing to "Shopping Essentials" for a charge of $14.95 per month!

I rechecked my bank statements and found 2 more charges for $14.95 going back to March 20th. Shopping Essentials said they would credit back the charges.

I called Vitacost.com and was told that they had "simply sold ad space" to Shopping Essentials. If this were true, then how did Shopping Essentials get my credit card information??? I did not fill out a charge form for Shopping Essentials. The truth is that Vitacost.com sold me and my credit card information to Shopping Essentials! The deception came in the form of a $10 discount coupon offered during the final check out process in Vitacost.com's website. Vitcost.com is obviously profiting from this scam and is equally guiltly. And if Vitacost would do this to a customer purchasing vitamins, then what else would they do? Perhaps their vitamins are a scam as well?

David
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.