I received a letter demanding $133.95 or I would be turned over to collection from Healthy Online Services. I had no idea what it was all about until I found some of the reports from "Rip Off Report". Then I realized that I also was a victim since I had dealings with Acai Pure last Sept. At that time I had accepted an offer for their product for free and I agreed to pay shipping. Upon checking my bank card
I found two additional shipping charges so I called Acai Pure Customer Service and was told they would credit my account. During this call I also told him that I didn't want their products and to cancel my dealings with them. He said he would take care of everything. Since I felt uneasy, I asked for confirmation of our discussion but he said it was not company policy.
When I found the credits to my credit card I felt he would also take care of cancelling all my dealings with Acai Pure as he said he would. Healthy Online Services said that since I didn't return the bottle I owed them the money.
Nico
United States of America#2Consumer Suggestion
Sun, April 11, 2010
I received the same letter as you did. Around November I disputed the charge that Acai Pure and Colon Cleanse gave me with my bank. The first thing my bank did was terminate the card number so it would never be used again. Not long after that my bank returned the money that was charged to me with a promise of a 90 day investigation in which they will reverse my refund if they found that the company was doing everything legally. I told them that their advertising techniques were very misleading.
They had a website with a news report about how great their company is and how an individual tried the products for 30 days and how well it worked for her. At the bottom of that website they also had comments from different readers and consumers about how well their product worked. All of it (including the consumer comments at the bottom of the page) was fake. It was produced by their company.
They also used a video of a different company with a good reputation of the Acai Berry on their website in which is the reason I didnt hesitate to order the product. Little did I know that the company on the video had nothing to do with them. I believe they have removed that video from their website.
After researching online I found countless numbers of complaints from the company of the exact same problem and even found out here on ripoffreport that Oprah is suing the company since they used her as well with their advertisments. That I did see as well. Whether its true that shes suing them or not, I do not know.
After 90 days the bank did not reverse the refund which obviously meant that after their investigation, they decided to side with me. Its been well over 90 days now since I issued the dispute. Then suddenly they have the nerve to send me the exact same letter saying that they were wronged and now I owe them $133.95. I was charged around $85 or $86 which my bank returned to me and now I seem to owe them $133.95. They are even threatening me that they will send a third party collection agency. Note: There is no personal names on the letter which makes me believe that no one in their company wants to take responsibility for what theyre doing. Its an insult to me and my Bank.
I am very aware of their terms and conditions and that they continually use that in order to attempt protect them. However I am very aware of the law and all the other illegal activities that they are doing when it comes to misleading advertisements.
(Note: During my research I came across one of their fake news story websites in which included in very tiny letters that they admit that everything on the website is "fictional". The letters were very tiny and the same color as the background making it pretty much impossible to see.)
If they think they can hide behind their terms and condition, theyre wrong. Unless they stop misleading people, their ways of doing business will ultimately be their downfall. I do hope they have the common sense to stop harassing me because even though the odds are greatly on my side, I really hate taking people to court. If there are any more people having this same problem or have placed a lawsuit against this company, please post your experiences here.
If Acai Pure is reading this and have found anything I said to be wrong please feel free to correct me. If Acai Pure has a solution to resolve this in a way that benefits all parties please let us all know through here. Dont give us a number to discuss this privately where you can continue to insult us further (which many have complained about online as well), I believe a great number of people want answers and this is by far one of the best places to discuss this. Im sure there is a peaceful way to resolve all of this. Its all up to you guys to make the right move. And please give us your full name so we know who were talking too. We all just want to move on with our lives.