Risk Free Trials of Acai Berry Products Prove Costly

The acai berry has been causing a storm all over the world as health-food junkies discover the numerous advantages of an acai diet. The acai berry (pronounced aa-sai-ee) contains high levels of antioxidants, fiber and fatty acids. There are a large number of acai berry products on the market, including everything from juices to powders.

With the increase in popularity of these products has come a surge in the number of con artists looking to exploit the situation. Scammers set up websites offering “risk-free” trial period of acai berry products, but rather than finding themselves a great deal, thousands of people have ended up out of pocket after being stung for products they didn’t order.

“The number of scammers out there has certainly made it harder for legitimate businesses like ours, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t still want to get their hands on acai products. Although some people have been ripped off, the companies people should avoid have now been widely publicised,” said Bryan Nettles of Pure Acai Products, which markets acai berry supplements in America.

Celebs such as Oprah Winfrey and Rachel Ray have featured acai berries on their talkshows. However, with many people turning to the Internet to order these wonder-berries, many shoppers have fallen victim to the scammers.

“People who want acai products need only do a bit of research to find out that there are companies out there that aren’t going to rip them off,” said Nettles.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) issued a warning about acai free trial offer scams on January 6. Online fraudsters tempt Web surfers with offers of free trials, but when people try to cancel their orders, they find themselves having inadvertently signed up for more acai products than they bargained for.

The dodgy dealers put up and take down new websites every day, making it virtually impossible to keep track of them. Shoppers who sign up for these free trials have within an allotted period to cancel or else they end up with monthly deliveries of bottles and credit card bills of $85.90 each time. The trial period typically lasts only 10 to 14 days from the date the order is placed.

Canceling an order isn’t as simple as it sounds, however. Try phoning one of the companies involved and you will find yourself on hold indefinitely, if not cut off altogether. How can you cancel an order if you can’t get through to the company?

“These companies are simply abusing general acai berry endorsements from well-known, trusted celebrities by using it as a tacit endorsement of their company and products specifically,” said a BBB spokesman.

Acai berries are big business. Last year, sales of acai berry products were close to $15 million, while in November, Google recorded more than 1.5 million acai-related searches.

Acai products are sold in health-food stores and many regular grocery chains. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that drinks giants Coco-Cola and Pepsi are planning to launch a range of sodas containing acai.

Acai products come in various forms – juices, powders, capsules, jams and so on – and their popularity is showing no signs of slowing, despite the presence of fraudsters.

Newbies: Beware the `Free Trial’ Pitfall!

When I started out as a total newbie about a year ago, I made several blunders that cost me a lot of time and money.

One of my major blunders was signing up blindly for `free trials’ just because they were free! You know the ones that ask you for your credit card details, saying that “this is for record purposes only and your card will not be charged”.

I made a huge mistake once when I signed up for a one-month free trial program. I had expected that when the one-month was up I would get a notification saying that my free-trial period was up and ask me to confirm if I wanted to continue.

But I received no such notification, in fact not even an email confirming that the sum had been charged. Instead it was only when I received my next month’s credit card statement that I learnt that I had been charged $99. Now as a newbie just starting out online, I could ill-afford the money, especially as it was to be a monthly recurring payment!

So I frantically looked around for a way to cancel. Being a na? newbie, I had not read any instructions on cancellation procedures! In fact I had totally forgotten about signing up. I could not remember my username and password.

But somehow after several tries, I managed to log-in to their website and contacted someone at their help desk. When I asked why I had not been notified, the reply was: `It was already stated in the free trial offer you signed up for!’. When I asked to cancel, I was directed to another department, before I finally managed to cancel the subscription!

Costly lesson learned – always read the fine print!

If a program says `one-week free trial’, immediately check the fine print to see what happens after the one week is up. How much would you have to pay? Would it be a monthly recurring billing? Would it be automatically charged to your credit card or PayPal? What are the cancellation procedures? And so on.

The above caution also applies to those `$1 Trial’ programs.

Note that I am not saying that all these progams are scams or would not work!

A lot of legitimate programs out there are good, but the question is good for whom? They might be wonderful for an internet expert looking to expand his business but be totally unsuitable for a newbie.

As a matter of fact, there are also some programs out there that can be ideal for newbies. These programs do coach the newbie step-by-step in the basics of building an online business.

However the onus is on you, before you purchase or sign up. Remember the phrase `caveat emptor’ which means `buyer beware’! You have to be clear about what your intention is when starting your online business. You have to be very focused, very selective and must ask questions such as these:

* Is this what I really need at this moment? Will it help with my just-begun business or would it be useful only at a later stage?

* How much does it cost? One-time payment or monthly?

* How do I cancel?

In conclusion, I am not saying that you must avoid all free trials! Just be more discerning.

If you do find one that is up-front about the cost and is something you really need (like webhosting, auto-responder etc.) by all means do take advantage of the trial period to test-drive the system.

The 7 Day Fat Burner Free Trial Scam & Why You Must Avoid It!

Many of the fat burners and weight loss products sold online offer a 5 or 7-day free trial to tempt you into trying the product. On the surface, this seems like a great deal. After all, you get to try the product free. At the same time, the retailer seems to be demonstrating confidence in the quality and effectiveness of his or her product.

That’s how it seems anyway. The reality is dramatically different…

In order to receive the “free trial” offered on the product Web site, you must pay a small shipping and handling fee — usually between 5-7 dollars (in my opinion, this hardly makes the free trial “free” — since the shipping costs of a couple of pills would be negligible as would be the handling). Of course, you must pay this small fee via a credit card, and this is exactly what the retailer wants…

… your credit card information.

Because in most cases, you’ll be automatically added to a recurring billing program (a bottle will be sent to you each month and your card charged accordingly) immediately following the cessation of your free trial period.

Just for your information… you may see the recurring billing program also referred to as an “autoship program” and occasionally, a “membership program.”

And here’s the kicker…

You do not have to indicate your satisfaction with the product, or provide the company permission to charge your credit card and send you more product, or anything. They will begin sending product and charging your card regardless of whether you want it or not.

In all cases I’ve investigated, the retailer has been forthright in revealing to the customer that they will be enrolled in such a program following the cessation of the free trial. However, some retailers are very deceptive in the way they do so — burying this information on a “terms and conditions” page hidden away in a dark corner of their web site, for instance.

Others sandwich this material into a ton of text between their sign up pitches — knowing very well that their audience is likely to scan this text and miss this information (online, people tend to scan pages rather than read every word). Still others bury it into a huge page of boring “legalese” that no one in their right mind would read.

In most cases, the “deck is stacked” in favor of the retailer, by making it very unlikely that the consumer will be able to cancel the autoship program in compliance with the terms of the agreement. For instance, here’s what one retailer says…

If after trying , you decide you do not wish to receive the 30-day supply, simply contact us within 14 days of the day you placed your order. It is as easy as that. How fast do you think the retailer is going to get that free trial out the door?

I’m guessing not so fast at all. Factor in that delay, the shipping time, and the 7-day trial period and… BAM. The 14 days are up. Remember, that’s not 14 days from when you receive the order, that’s 14 days from when you place the order. Theoretically, you could be added to an autoship program before you even try the product.

Sure, most retailers claim to be happy to assist customers with cancellation requests. In reality however, customer reps, if they can be accessed at all, are often deceptive, rude, misleading and downright dishonest.

Good luck getting off that autoship program.

On top of this, some retailers refuse to offer refunds on any “autoship” products. Some offer a credit towards other products, and some don’t even bother with that.

The other thing to keep in mind is…

No matter how good any fat burner or weight loss product is, you’re unlikely to see any results within 5-7 days. But that doesn’t matter to the retailer, because by the time your free trial is over, you’ll be receiving the product on a monthly basis.

Bottom line?

The vast majority of 5-7 free trials are completely bogus, and only work in favor of the retailer. If you are investigating any product offering such a trial, be sure to search carefully for the complete terms and conditions. Remember, if you agree to the terms and conditions — even without reading them, the retailer can add you to the autoship program without legal ramifications (but the retailer cannot refuse to remove you from the program however!).