Victim Location 05701
Total money lost $92.19
Type of a scam Online Purchase
While I was on a website I often use, an advertisement was on the side for the Garcinia Cambogia. I clicked on the advertisement, which said "Click here for one free bottle," and on the page it stated "Try a complimentary bottle of premium 100% Garcinia Extract Today" as well as offering a free bottle of Green Coffee Bean extract, with the customer paying only shipping. The website listed the benefits of these supplements and I decided it was worth paying the shipping to at least give the supplements a try. I placed my order on July 2nd, and received the product on July 8th. On July 20th, upon going to my bank, I realized I had less money in my account than expected. After viewing a bank statement, I became aware that the company had charged $89.53, then $94.86, two separate charges. I went home and called the company, and they said that upon ordering, you are informed that unless you cancel within 14 days of ordering the product, you will be charged the full retail price for both the "one free bottle" of the Garcinia Cambogia and the additional free bottle of the green coffee bean extract.
They claim that when you check off that you are at least 18 years of age, there is also the above information about the full retail charges. However, this was not visible to me at the time of the purchase, and the language "free" and "complimentary" was used multiple times in the process of ordering. We also went back to the site after talking to the company and did not find this information anywhere. There was also nothing explaining the need to cancel within 14 days of ordering in the confirmation emails, and additionally there is no possible way to try a product for 14 days when the trial starts from the order date not arrival date. It seems very wrong and unethical to me that after saying it is a free trial, a company can go back and charge me a total of $184.39, and not to send more of the product for that cost, but for the bottles I had already received under the claim that they were free samples. After talking to one customer service person, then requesting to speak with a manager, they offered me a 36% refund, and explained they couldn’t do any better than that. After a long conversation, as well as expressing that we would be contacting the ScamPulse.com, and expressing how frustrating the situation was, and how unclear the website was, they were suddenly able to offer me a 50% refund, which we accepted. The service we received on the phone felt rude and condescending, the website set up scams you, and the product itself can be found for around $20 at your local pharmacy. Please, do not order from this website!