Free Trial Scams

Weight Loss Free Trial Scams

There are a lot of weight loss and fat burner products on the web these days that make bold promises of fast weight loss without diet or exercise. Then on top of all the hype in their ads they will then offer a free 5 or 7-day trial. All you have to do is give them your credit card number to pay for the shipping and handling.

Right away you may be thinking, "Wow! I can lose 15 pounds in a week and I won't have to pay anything! And it must be good since they are backing it with a free offer. Right?"

Wrong!

Here is the reality...

Once they have got that credit card information you've been had!

First, they start shipping you more bottles of the stuff and charging your credit card for their full price plus the shipping. Some of these shysters will send a bottle every 7 days, and some will send another shipment every 30 days. It depends on how many you received "free" in the first shipment. i.e a 7-day supply or a 30-day supply.

These shipments will start as soon as your "free trial" has ended which is usually in either 5 to 7 days. The time limit can varely widely. Some outfits will actually give you 30 days before the autoship and recurring billing starts, but very few. Most are 5 to 7 days.

Now here's the deal....

Five days have passed, or maybe seven days have gone by and you have probably forgotten that you order the "free" product. On the tenth or 15th day it comes in the mail. Whoopie!

Well, no. Not "Whoopie". Your 5-7 day trial came and went even before you got your freebie. They start the trial date the moment that you order, not from the time shipped, and definatly not by the time received.

Often in the fine print that most people never read it will say something like this:

"If after trying XXXXX, you decide you do not wish to receive the xx-day supply, simply contact us within 7 days of the day you placed your order, and we will happily cancel your order."

Now, a month has gone by and you have just recived your new shipment and your credit card statement. You will see that you have been charge for the shipping and handling of the "free" product, but it doesn't stop there. You are also charged for the order you just received (that you didn't think you ordered), AND you are charged for the next shipment that is on it's way. First, you return the unwanted product or you refuse it upon delivery.

Here comes the difficult part....

Try getting a hold of someone to stop shipping and charging your credit card and to remove the charges for the unwanted product that you just returned. Good luck with that. If you do reach a customer service rep, they are usually deceptive, rude, misleading and downright dishonest. They will tell you that you didn't cancel your order in time and are therefore libel for the charges. When you tell them you have already returned the product, they will offer to resend it and charge you again for the return fees and new shipping fees!

Some of these retailers will tell you up front that you will be put on an autoship program, but most don't. Many of them are very deciptive about it. Because of the deception and all of the consumer complaints, many are being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General's office.

If you have been defrauded by any of these companies that offer a “free” trial , first contact your credit card company to block any more charges and to charge back the retailer for the product you returned.

Next, you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at:

https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

Then, contact your State Attorney General’s office immediately.

One more thing to remember is that it is highly unlikely that you will lose a whole bunch of weight in 5 to 7 days, or whatever the too good to be true offer may be

There just isn't any magic pill, potion, or fruit drink that will do this for you. These offers are blatant scams. The best way to handle these types of offers is to avoid them like the black plague.

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