Complaint Review: InstaTrim - Mandan North Dakota

I discussed this with my boyfriend who was sitting right beside me the night that I responded to this unsolicited email concerning free diet products. He ecalls me investigating the terms and conditions. I now also recall this and remember seeing the part about the medical warnings, etc but at the original time of my review I do not believe there was even the last little bleep about the continual shipments. Thus, I want to emphasize my dissatisfaction with the misleading approach they have used. I was not a complete naive consumer who was easily tricked. I did read the terms and conditions and wanted to make sure there were no hidden clauses. I'm sure there is a way to track whether or not the terms have been modified since the flood of complaints on this company. #1 they sent unsolicited email #2 they trick you into thinking it is just a sample #3 the terms posted are very long and not easily seen in the first place #4 you cannot reach them via telephone or email THE BEST ADVICE IS TO NEVER ORDER ANYTHING OFF THE INTRANET IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Tim wrote: Like I said, I know this seems trivial, but I feel that it is evidence of an active effort to sell product that otherwise might not be sold. No, these SCAMMERS wouldnt do THAT on PURPOSE. Would they? EVERYONE needs to WAKE UP! FREE OFFERS are NOT being offered for YOUR benefit. Minimal common sense should tell any consumer that there is a BIG catch. And common sense should also be asking WHY they need credit card information in order to ship a FREE item. Dont accept FREE OFFERS unless you really enjoy a hassle and dont mind flushing your money down the toilet. After reading so many of these reports, where Terms & Conditions are not even read, Ive come to think that some folks naturally look for trouble and just might deserve finding it.

I just took a gander at the "terms and conditions" on Instatrim's website. Here's my take on them. They are fairly well concealed, but not to any greater extent than you normally find on internet commerce sites. There was actually a point with a box to check indicating that you had read and agree to the terms and conditions. This seems trivial, but I don't feel that it is: instead of the having words "terms and conditions" hyperlinked, they decided to put the word "details" after them and made that the hyperlink. Compound this with the fact that the box was already checked for me, even though I had not yet viewed the T&C. When a compnay designs a website they are cpapble of actually assuring that someone at least opens the T&C page before submitting a form. Instatrim's decision to not verify T&C awareness seems like a surreptitious effort to prevent a great deal of people from seeing this information. Like I said, I know this seems trivial, but I feel that it is evidence of an active effort to sell product that otherwise might not be sold. Also, Instatrim gives you a "30 day free supply" of their product, but only gives you 21 days from the shipping date to cancel your first auto-shipment. So, while they do actually give you 30 days worth of product for free, perhaps leading you to the assumption that you have 30 days from receipt to cancel any autoships, you really only have a 15-19 day "trial period" before you have to make a decision. What's more, all the while they are touting the benefits of prolonged use of their product. They themselves would probably tell you that 15 to 19 days is not an ample amount of time to gauge the value of their product. I'm sure they have all their legal holes plugged and will continue to profit from this apparent deception for quite some time. It's sad to say, but many of us have to learn the "recurrent billing" lesson the hard way.

I just took a gander at the "terms and conditions" on Instatrim's website. Here's my take on them. They are fairly well concealed, but not to any greater extent than you normally find on internet commerce sites. There was actually a point with a box to check indicating that you had read and agree to the terms and conditions. This seems trivial, but I don't feel that it is: instead of the having words "terms and conditions" hyperlinked, they decided to put the word "details" after them and made that the hyperlink. Compound this with the fact that the box was already checked for me, even though I had not yet viewed the T&C. When a compnay designs a website they are cpapble of actually assuring that someone at least opens the T&C page before submitting a form. Instatrim's decision to not verify T&C awareness seems like a surreptitious effort to prevent a great deal of people from seeing this information. Like I said, I know this seems trivial, but I feel that it is evidence of an active effort to sell product that otherwise might not be sold. Also, Instatrim gives you a "30 day free supply" of their product, but only gives you 21 days from the shipping date to cancel your first auto-shipment. So, while they do actually give you 30 days worth of product for free, perhaps leading you to the assumption that you have 30 days from receipt to cancel any autoships, you really only have a 15-19 day "trial period" before you have to make a decision. What's more, all the while they are touting the benefits of prolonged use of their product. They themselves would probably tell you that 15 to 19 days is not an ample amount of time to gauge the value of their product. I'm sure they have all their legal holes plugged and will continue to profit from this apparent deception for quite some time. It's sad to say, but many of us have to learn the "recurrent billing" lesson the hard way.

I just took a gander at the "terms and conditions" on Instatrim's website. Here's my take on them. They are fairly well concealed, but not to any greater extent than you normally find on internet commerce sites. There was actually a point with a box to check indicating that you had read and agree to the terms and conditions. This seems trivial, but I don't feel that it is: instead of the having words "terms and conditions" hyperlinked, they decided to put the word "details" after them and made that the hyperlink. Compound this with the fact that the box was already checked for me, even though I had not yet viewed the T&C. When a compnay designs a website they are cpapble of actually assuring that someone at least opens the T&C page before submitting a form. Instatrim's decision to not verify T&C awareness seems like a surreptitious effort to prevent a great deal of people from seeing this information. Like I said, I know this seems trivial, but I feel that it is evidence of an active effort to sell product that otherwise might not be sold. Also, Instatrim gives you a "30 day free supply" of their product, but only gives you 21 days from the shipping date to cancel your first auto-shipment. So, while they do actually give you 30 days worth of product for free, perhaps leading you to the assumption that you have 30 days from receipt to cancel any autoships, you really only have a 15-19 day "trial period" before you have to make a decision. What's more, all the while they are touting the benefits of prolonged use of their product. They themselves would probably tell you that 15 to 19 days is not an ample amount of time to gauge the value of their product. I'm sure they have all their legal holes plugged and will continue to profit from this apparent deception for quite some time. It's sad to say, but many of us have to learn the "recurrent billing" lesson the hard way.

I just took a gander at the "terms and conditions" on Instatrim's website. Here's my take on them. They are fairly well concealed, but not to any greater extent than you normally find on internet commerce sites. There was actually a point with a box to check indicating that you had read and agree to the terms and conditions. This seems trivial, but I don't feel that it is: instead of the having words "terms and conditions" hyperlinked, they decided to put the word "details" after them and made that the hyperlink. Compound this with the fact that the box was already checked for me, even though I had not yet viewed the T&C. When a compnay designs a website they are cpapble of actually assuring that someone at least opens the T&C page before submitting a form. Instatrim's decision to not verify T&C awareness seems like a surreptitious effort to prevent a great deal of people from seeing this information. Like I said, I know this seems trivial, but I feel that it is evidence of an active effort to sell product that otherwise might not be sold. Also, Instatrim gives you a "30 day free supply" of their product, but only gives you 21 days from the shipping date to cancel your first auto-shipment. So, while they do actually give you 30 days worth of product for free, perhaps leading you to the assumption that you have 30 days from receipt to cancel any autoships, you really only have a 15-19 day "trial period" before you have to make a decision. What's more, all the while they are touting the benefits of prolonged use of their product. They themselves would probably tell you that 15 to 19 days is not an ample amount of time to gauge the value of their product. I'm sure they have all their legal holes plugged and will continue to profit from this apparent deception for quite some time. It's sad to say, but many of us have to learn the "recurrent billing" lesson the hard way.

I have revisited the website and FINALLY found where the Terms & Conditions do state that future shipments and billings will occur after getting the free trial. IF I'd seen this I would not have accepted the free trial. THE MARKETING OF THIS IS VERY MISLEADING.Instead of having to drill through many levels throughout the website to see the actual conditions it should be more obvious on the home page of www.instatrim.com that you are signing yourself up for future shipments by accepting the free bottle. Even after finding the link to the terms & conditions, the automatic enrollment is not mentioned until the very end of the terms. If you want to avoid other dissatisfied customers, it would be helpful to make this automatic enrollment more obvious. As you see I was not the only person who posted to this complaint. There was a complaint prior to mine which. I also did not receive the regular e-mails promised for signing up. This in itself makes the customer feel misled when the promised service is not provided. I have returned the unwanted package in June 2003 and still have not received the adjustment on my credit card.

"I then received another package from them which was not part of the offer and hav enow been billed on my credit card for $68.85 for unwanted merchandise." BUT it WAS part of the OFFER! I easily found the InstaTrim site and had no trouble reading the Terms and Conditions that you agreed to. By accepting the FREE sample, you unknowingly (because you didn't READ the terms and conditions)signed up for a new supply to be charged to you and sent every thirty days. Part of Terms & Conditions Below: "We are so sure InstaTrim will work for you and we will get you to your goals, that in twenty-one days we are going to send ... your hassle-free supply of InstaTrim to continue your AutoShape program. At that time (21 days from your shipment date), a small monthly charge of $36.90 (50% off the regular retail price), will be applied to your account until you reach your weight loss goals or cancel your AutoShape Program." I can't see where the amount $68.85 came from though. The terms, as you can see, indicate $36.90 (plus shipping). It goes on to say: 11. Refund & Return Policy. Your satisfaction is 100% Guaranteed! If you are not completely satisfied with our sample product you may cancel your AutoShape Program within twenty-one days of your 30-Day Sample purchase. Pay NOTHING other than the shipping and handling for your product. Keep the full 30-Day Sample bottle, the Body Toning Band and the e-book, "Weight Loss Secrets Revealed"! No questions asked! *Sorry, we do not refund S&H on any returned product.

Thank you Rip Off Report and Cherie. I, also, got an (unsolicited) e-mail from this company and was intrigued with the "body analysis test". When I saw that there was an option to opt out of the program with in 21 days, I was ready to pull out my credit card to order... but because of this website (that I found less than a week ago), I knew I had to do some research. Thanks to your posting, Cherie, I saved myself. Much luck to you in recovering your loses. Thanks again!