It's frustrating to see so many new diet pill scams pop up lately. It's also frustrating to see so many people (or websites) supporting such diet pills by endorsing their products so they can get their cut as well. In light of this frustration, I thought I'd write about one of the most popular scams that's hit the internet lately: The Autoship.
So what is an autoship program? Basically it is where the company agrees to mail you supplies (usually monthly supplies) of their product to your home on a regular basis and then charge your credit card when they ship the products.
Well that doesn't sound so bad does it? It sounds rather convenient if you ask me. And it is, as long as that's what you want to have done. It's important to understand that not all autoship programs are scams or necessarily bad. Here's the thing: it's the way that the companies use (or maybe better put, disclose) the autoship that can turn it into a scam.
Now I don't know the history, but at some point in time companies figured out that if they hid the details of the autoship in the fine print of the terms and conditions, that they could get people to agree to it without them knowing about it. People would skip over the terms and quickly purchase the product and bingo. They're enrolled in the autoship.
It got worse, however, when companies started to offer things for free and get them to accept the terms of the autoship under their nose. Everyone wants something for free, and hence they are able to get thousands to get the "free" trial and get them into the autoship without them knowing about. A few weeks later, they can start charging their credit card. You can quickly see how many cunsumers they are taking advantage of by doing a quick search on some of the internet complaint boards.
To give you an idea of just how horrible some of these programs can be, I'll try to walk you through a classic autoship agreement hidden in the fine print. I'll use Customer John as an example. John sees an ad for a free trial and says "Sure, why not?" In order for John to get the free trial they ask for all of his information. If John looked enough he might also find in their privacy policy that they reserve the right to sell his information to third parties (this is not a good thing). They also get his credit card information so that he can pay the small shipping fee (Bingo! This is also so they can charge it in the future).
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 again, are all autoship programs scams? No. There are many companies out there that fully disclose (and make it obvious for the consumer) that they are enrolling in an autoship. Others give the consumer the option to enroll or not to enroll. There's nothing wrong with this at all. But there are many, many other companies who's sole purpose of the product and website is to deceive the consumer and suck as much money as they can out of them. So be wise and make sure that you are fully aware of what you are agreeing to. Read the fine print. You'll be glad that you did! - 15343
So what is an autoship program? Basically it is where the company agrees to mail you supplies (usually monthly supplies) of their product to your home on a regular basis and then charge your credit card when they ship the products.
Well that doesn't sound so bad does it? It sounds rather convenient if you ask me. And it is, as long as that's what you want to have done. It's important to understand that not all autoship programs are scams or necessarily bad. Here's the thing: it's the way that the companies use (or maybe better put, disclose) the autoship that can turn it into a scam.
Now I don't know the history, but at some point in time companies figured out that if they hid the details of the autoship in the fine print of the terms and conditions, that they could get people to agree to it without them knowing about it. People would skip over the terms and quickly purchase the product and bingo. They're enrolled in the autoship.
It got worse, however, when companies started to offer things for free and get them to accept the terms of the autoship under their nose. Everyone wants something for free, and hence they are able to get thousands to get the "free" trial and get them into the autoship without them knowing about. A few weeks later, they can start charging their credit card. You can quickly see how many cunsumers they are taking advantage of by doing a quick search on some of the internet complaint boards.
To give you an idea of just how horrible some of these programs can be, I'll try to walk you through a classic autoship agreement hidden in the fine print. I'll use Customer John as an example. John sees an ad for a free trial and says "Sure, why not?" In order for John to get the free trial they ask for all of his information. If John looked enough he might also find in their privacy policy that they reserve the right to sell his information to third parties (this is not a good thing). They also get his credit card information so that he can pay the small shipping fee (Bingo! This is also so they can charge it in the future).
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 again, are all autoship programs scams? No. There are many companies out there that fully disclose (and make it obvious for the consumer) that they are enrolling in an autoship. Others give the consumer the option to enroll or not to enroll. There's nothing wrong with this at all. But there are many, many other companies who's sole purpose of the product and website is to deceive the consumer and suck as much money as they can out of them. So be wise and make sure that you are fully aware of what you are agreeing to. Read the fine print. You'll be glad that you did! - 15343
About the Author:
Before you buy any diet pills online, make sure you check Criticalorie's quality commentaries of diet pills. You'll get common sense advice from an industry insider.
