Screen shot of scammer website - Click to enlarge.
Today I received a comment that I deemed worthwhile to publish here as a regular post. As a background information, these days you find online ads for the “Acai Berry Diet” all over the Internet including the online version of the Washington Post. I am pointing specifically to the Washington Post, since they seem to be in such dire need of income that they allow any scammer to advertise in their online edition. I always had a feeling that all these “Weight Loss” ads were part of an online scam, but I never looked into it in more detail. These ads were – at least at some time – distributed through a company by the name of pulse360 – See also my post pulse360 – A Leader In Fake Content Links?
Needless to say, but the ad campaign for the “Acai Berry Diet” is a scam. See the comment by Joseph Bennett from Milville, NJ below.
Joseph and Elizabeth Bennett
[Street Name Removed - WFV]
Millville, NJ 08332
Date: June 9, 2010
Dear Sir or Madame,
Concerning your article “Acai Berry Diet Exposed”.
This is how the scheme works. It does not matter if the product works if you are not dealing with a reputable company.
My wife ordered a free trial of weight loss products online from (NTR ADVOCOLCS.COM AND NTR ACOPLTIMUMCS.COM) with only shipping charges to be charged to our account. They charged us twice for shipping of ADVOCOLCS. Our order for ADVOCOLCS was canceled by the company without notifying us. The company did credit our account for the two $3.95 charges. We had 14 days to try the products, but we did not receive any trial period samples. The 14 day clock started on the day the orders were placed. The first thing we received was a monthly supply of the ACOPLTIMUMCS and $79.98 was billed to our credit card. We were also charge $4.95 for shipping for the trial period samples, which we did not receive. The bottle of ACOPLTIMUMCS came loose in a sealed shipping box with no paperwork. The bottle was not sealed and the count of capsules in the bottle was 64. The label on the bottle indicated that there should be 60 capsules in the bottle. At this point, we were afraid to try any products from this company.
We tried to cancel the ACOPLTIMUMCS, but they had already shipped the first bottle before we figured out what they were doing and canceled the account. On 06/04/2010 we received two more bottles of ACOPLTIMUMCS. These bottles, unlike the first bottle, were sealed and came with paperwork. On 6/4/2010 I called again and I was informed that I was charge $98.00 for this shipment. During this conversation I was told again that both accounts (ADVOCOLCS AND ACOPLTIMUMCS) were cancelled.
Between the times the products were ordered online and the product was received, there was no time to actually try the product and cancel the account before the 14 days expired. The company canceling the order for the ADVOCOLCS insured that the 14 day trial period would expire before we could actually try the products.
Pretty slick, Huh!
Our credit card company has put all payments to NTR on hold and I have filed a complaint with the NJ Consumer Protection. I will be sending the ACOPLTIMUMCS we received to NJ Consumer Protection for analysis to determine what is actually in the product.
There is more to a product than the product itself.
I am interested in your comments.
Sincerely,
Joseph Bennett
Note: Joseph Bennett refers to an article “Acai Berry Diet Exposed” that was not published on this blog before today. I am assuming he responded to another website article and copied and pasted his comment to my blog. I, in turn, copied the title of the post.
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I cancelled this product in May,2010 my credit card is crediting the 79.98 to my account I also called them and cancelled, than today july 1, I was looing at my credit card accunt on line and I saw that they had charged my account again. They are very dishonest!!
Also a parallel company :www.acaioptimumpro.com.
I too have been messed about in the same manner by these companies,(though I came to them via. a very persuasive argument from a slimming article). A call from the credit card company alerted me to two payments of which I was not aware. I have traced them to these two companies. Like the first writer I had ordered goods on a 14 day free trial where the only stipulation seemed to be that I paid for the postage. Very reasonable. However, somewhere among the fine print is a stipulation that if you have not cancelled further deliveries by the end of the trial date then a new delivery will be sent out and billed to you; and at £125.00(+) GBP a time it is a lot of money. Like the first writer says the postage was abysmal; one and a half weeks and just over two and a half weeks. But at least we received them. So by the time that the goods had arrived the trial period had ended. This may provide my only chance of getting my money back. The 0800 number was easy to deal with as the person to whom I spoke sounded American and spoke good English, however he could do nothing to get my money back, but did apparently manage to cancel any further payments( I will wait for the E-mail Confirmation ). Credit Card Company Here I Come.
yesterday i ordered a free trial from the same site. little did i know they would charge me £67.00 for a subscription that i didnt know they were giving me… all i signed up for was the free trial. Scam – yes and foolish of me I hold my hands up to vanity – overweight i do all i can (healthy eating, working out etc) to get the LBs off but its not happened so seeing this I had my hopes raised – and my credit card billed… to cancel this thing what a whole lot of bother. the credit card company wouldnt cancel the transaction and they wouldn’t cancel the subscription… So I will clear the debt and cancel my account with the credit card company and take my business elsewhere. As for weight loss I will just keep doing what I’ve been doing – Fat but Fit!
Man, thats a real eye opener for anyone looking to try such fake products.
It sounds scary.
Did the guy mentioned above take any legal action against the frauds?
How did he manage to stop the credit card payments?