Attorney General Terry Goddard announced on the 25th of June a record settlement of $1,375,000 with Acai seller Central Coast Nutraceuticals, Inc (“CCN”). CCN were allegedly using deceptive online advertising and sales practices, offering ‘free trials’ of health products that were difficult or impossible to cancel, and charging for products the customer had not requested.CCN were also accused of shipping to – and charging – the customer products that were explicitly deselected during the ordering process.
Typical “Free Trial” Business Model
Despite the continued warnings for people not to trust Acai Free Trial offers, people still fall for the scam: the ‘offer’ seems attractive and all details aboutre-billing and the associated ‘bonus products’ are hidden away in barely legible small print. CCN is alleged to have compounded the problem by never responding to emails and leaving customers who phoned in with complaints on hold for over an hour. Attorney General Terry Goddard’s office received 100s of complaints from disgruntled customers.
Free – or reduced price – trials for products and services which are later subject to large price increases have been around for a long time, and there is nothing wrong with this approach per se. The problems occur when, as in the CCN case, consumers are not aware – or are actively mislead – as to the consequences of their order. The difficulties in cancelling the order and monthly charges serves to compound the issue still further.
Acai Not To Blame
It is important to note that Acai and acai products have not been specifically singled out as being the culprit in this settlement:CCN sold a whole range of health products using the same deceptive tactics. Acai itself can be a powerful addition to any diet and lifestyle, and the shady antics of one rogue supplier and distributor should not serve to tar legitimate online retailers with the same brush.
Restitution From The Settlement
Some $350,000 of the $1,375,000 has been set aside for consumer restitution ($1 million going towards civil penalties to the state, and the remaining $25,000 covering the state’s costs in bringing the action). Consumers who feel that they fell victim to CCN’s deceptive sales and advertising practices should file a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office by close of business on August 17, 2009 to be eligible. Those who have already filed a complaint will be included in the pool of customers eligible for restitution.
If you are one of those people who feel that CCN owes you an apology (and some money), then we wish you the best of luck with your claim.
I too had been taken to the bank also by this misleading advertising,but thankful for me I belong to a good credit union and I was on top of this once I tried to stop the FREE part..I had TO CANCEL CREDIT CARD AND DISPUTE THE WHOLE SORTED MESS and had I not kept all my paperwork would have been out lots of FREE $$$,but because I disputed and mailed copies of everything to credit union I was reimbursed ALL FUNDS,however was not informed of the class action suit filed I would have joined that bandwagon also..
To Sam Johnson – all major cc companies are now aware of the problem due to work done by AARP. Contact your cc company and dispute payment plus tell them you understand they have dropped Acaipure and other companies like them and verify. We had to cancel our cc and get a new number to stop the madness several months ago. Credit card companies have pulled them from their accounts so be sure to verify with the cc company and put everything in dispute!!!! Let’s get the offending creeps andd put them out of business.
Acai is also guilty of misleading the public through sites such as this. My research showed that most of the Acai free trial sites and offers where related – the company simply used different “packaging” to persuade vulnerable consumers to give up credit card information. I would be suspicious of this site when they try to separate themselves from the pack. Check the website Ripoffreport.com for this and other companies. I received an email from Racheal Rae’s group which states she has no affiliation with these companies – Oprah the same so if they are using personalities to sell, be suspecious right away. Further question if Acai is actually a good weight loss product – no credit card numbers!!!
Can someone tell me how to stop these criminals from continuing to send this crap and stop charging my account??????????????????
********** PLEASE READ THIS ******************
There is no single “acai berry company”. There are a few that sell Acai Berry, and dozens, perhaps hundreds, that push the free trial scams.
Acaiberrysite.com does NO FREE TRIAL OFFERS or subscriptions.
We are NOT AFFILIATED with any company that does any free trials.
ALL FREE TRIAL OFFERS ARE SCAMS.
Please understand we are not associated with the scammers. A shady used car dealer that sells Hondas is not the company Honda.
Feel free to share your experiences with the scammers so that others are aware, but do try to make it clear that THEY are not acaiberrysite.
I wouldn’t say that you have to stay away from ‘acai stuff’. As with anything online-it is important to be careful.
You can still purchase acai online just do so from reputable supplement dealers or just buy them offline at your local nutrition store.
Acai is wonderful. Don’t let some bad people keep you from enjoying the many benefits. I lost a lot of weight, had energy and felt great when I was taking it. I ran out but am getting ready to buy some more
I tried to delete my info when I changed my mind about free offer and it would not delete then I started getting calls from 1-305-800-1000 which is a bogus number by “crooks” as per the officer I talked to at the Do Not Call hotling. He said they manipulate the system to show a not working number as the caller ID. When you search 1-305-800-1000 Acai you will be amazed at the thousands of people making complaints about the call. I get at least five per day and some said they get as many as 25 per day. DO NOT FILL OUT ONLINE FORM or you will be their system for ever receiving calls from a machine. Most of the time because of over-dialing, there will be no one there and if you call them, the recording said “this is not a working number” which, as per the officer, is against the law to use a not working number as caller id. I’ve contacted all tv stations to run a story on this number attached to the ACAI form.
They sent tons of documents, which are mostly ads for more products then a tiny notice that you are now in a “Program” sending you monthly products that they will bill you for whenever and as often as they want. It is almost impossible to get through to the phone number, then the people are extremely rude claiming you didn’t read the fine print, which I did, but couldn’t get through the busy signal on their phone. I have told Capital One to dispute this. They are a scam….stay away from Acai stuff.