While reviewing diet pills lately, I've come across more scams that I've previously seen. I always try to give notice to these scams and the products that use them. But I've been surprised at the increasing number of companies (not just diet pills) that are using a certain scammy sales tactic known as the autoship. Since so many consumers seem to be falling prey to the autoship, I thought I'd write a little article about it.
Let me start out by giving a basic definition of an autoship program for those who may not be familiar with it. Essentially, an autoship program is simply a program in which the company will automatically ship you a product in regular intervals of time so that you don't have to bother with continual purchases of the same product on a regular basis. Most autoships send new supplies of products on a monthly basis. They will automatically charge your credit card whenever the shipment is sent out.
Not so bad right? In reality, the idea of the autoship is quite convenient and handy. And when the customer is aware of the program and desires to be a part of it, it is convenient and is a good thing. Where you run into trouble, however, is when companies try to get you to enroll in the autoship without you knowing about it. It's the way the company uses the autoship that can make it a good thing or a complete scam.
Somewhere along the line, companies (including diet pill companies) found out that they could hide the mentioning of the autoship in the fine print of the 'terms and conditions' and virtually no one would know (because not many actually read that fine print) that they were actually agreeing to enroll in the autoship when they made their purchase. And that's where the scamming started to happen. Imagine their surprise when they started to see what they assumed were fraudulent charges on their credit card. "I didn't authorize that!" they would say. Oh, but they did. Unfortunately, they did.
Then diet pill companies got "smarter." They realized that if they offered a "free" trial, they could get a lot more people to sign up for the autoship. Who doesn't want something for free? And this is where they really start to make their money. It's also the source of thousands of complaints filed on complaint boards all over the internet. Now we see these free trial offers all over the internet (not just for diet pills).
To illustrate some of the one-sided details of some of the classic autoships that I've seen while reviewing diet pills, I'll use a fake scenario with our friend John. John is convinced by the marketing of a certain diet pills and finds that they offer a free trial. Being a naturally trusting person, he inputs all his personal information into the free trial request form and his credit card number to pay for the shipping of the trial.
Once John submits his request, he now finds himself enrolled in the autoship. John will usually have around 15 days to call and cancel the autoship (which he likely won't even know about unless he read the fine print). If he doesn't cancel, on the 15 day he will be charged anywhere from $30 to $100 depending on the product (some even charge you for a 3 month's supply in advance, tripling these charges). He is surprised and irate by the charges and tries to call the company to find out what is going on and to demand a refund. Surprise! They either don't answer their phone or they give John the run around telling him to call a dozen different numbers, none of which gives him any answers (this isn't always the case, but seems very common). And before you know it John has a couple worthless bottles of pills and few hundred dollars in charges on his credit card that he can't get refunded. Sounds like a scam to me!
Now, are all autoship programs like our fictitious example above? No. Many fully disclose their autoship in very noticeable manners. But the ones that don't are not much more than a scam that uses a diet pill product as it's conduit to take your money. The point of this: read the fine print and be cautious of free trials. Not much in this is life is free and I assure you that these companies aren't looking out for anything but their own bottom line. - 16004
Let me start out by giving a basic definition of an autoship program for those who may not be familiar with it. Essentially, an autoship program is simply a program in which the company will automatically ship you a product in regular intervals of time so that you don't have to bother with continual purchases of the same product on a regular basis. Most autoships send new supplies of products on a monthly basis. They will automatically charge your credit card whenever the shipment is sent out.
Not so bad right? In reality, the idea of the autoship is quite convenient and handy. And when the customer is aware of the program and desires to be a part of it, it is convenient and is a good thing. Where you run into trouble, however, is when companies try to get you to enroll in the autoship without you knowing about it. It's the way the company uses the autoship that can make it a good thing or a complete scam.
Somewhere along the line, companies (including diet pill companies) found out that they could hide the mentioning of the autoship in the fine print of the 'terms and conditions' and virtually no one would know (because not many actually read that fine print) that they were actually agreeing to enroll in the autoship when they made their purchase. And that's where the scamming started to happen. Imagine their surprise when they started to see what they assumed were fraudulent charges on their credit card. "I didn't authorize that!" they would say. Oh, but they did. Unfortunately, they did.
Then diet pill companies got "smarter." They realized that if they offered a "free" trial, they could get a lot more people to sign up for the autoship. Who doesn't want something for free? And this is where they really start to make their money. It's also the source of thousands of complaints filed on complaint boards all over the internet. Now we see these free trial offers all over the internet (not just for diet pills).
To illustrate some of the one-sided details of some of the classic autoships that I've seen while reviewing diet pills, I'll use a fake scenario with our friend John. John is convinced by the marketing of a certain diet pills and finds that they offer a free trial. Being a naturally trusting person, he inputs all his personal information into the free trial request form and his credit card number to pay for the shipping of the trial.
Once John submits his request, he now finds himself enrolled in the autoship. John will usually have around 15 days to call and cancel the autoship (which he likely won't even know about unless he read the fine print). If he doesn't cancel, on the 15 day he will be charged anywhere from $30 to $100 depending on the product (some even charge you for a 3 month's supply in advance, tripling these charges). He is surprised and irate by the charges and tries to call the company to find out what is going on and to demand a refund. Surprise! They either don't answer their phone or they give John the run around telling him to call a dozen different numbers, none of which gives him any answers (this isn't always the case, but seems very common). And before you know it John has a couple worthless bottles of pills and few hundred dollars in charges on his credit card that he can't get refunded. Sounds like a scam to me!
Now, are all autoship programs like our fictitious example above? No. Many fully disclose their autoship in very noticeable manners. But the ones that don't are not much more than a scam that uses a diet pill product as it's conduit to take your money. The point of this: read the fine print and be cautious of free trials. Not much in this is life is free and I assure you that these companies aren't looking out for anything but their own bottom line. - 16004
About the Author:
Buying diet pills on the internet is quite stressful because you have so many choices. Cal's critiques of various diet pills will have you armed with information to make the choice that's right for you.
