Free trial of ineffective product with exorbitant continuing charges
Complaint
Chossek
Country: United States
After following up on an Internet offer, I received my "free" with shipping and handling product that had been charged to my credit account. It was marketed as a trial. Even though I am usually quite careful about this, there was no apparent commitment to continuing to receive products. Two weeks later I received a bottle of supplements and my credit card was charged $79. I have no invoice, receipt or information as to how to stop this. Help! and Beware!!
Comments
Thanks,
Instaflex Support
Dispute fraudulent charges immediately through your bank, under FRB Reg. E for disputing checking account charges via EFT, ACH, or debit card, or under FCBA for credit card disputes, and close your account due to fraud to prevent additional fraudulent charges. Your bank can reverse fraudulent charges showing on statements dated up to 60 days earlier than your original date of dispute.
Follow up to your bank dispute with a written dispute or fraud affidavit sent to your bank's dispute address, and file a fraud and theft complaint with your local police, FTC, your state Attorney General, and at www.ic3.gov.
Scammers will generally try to delay you with promises to "investigate", lies about how "you agreed", promises to send a "refund form", and other tactics designed to delay you past the 60 day dispute period where your bank can recover your money. That is why you MUST dispute unauthorized charges immediately through your bank.
Probably you didn't read the following paragraph which, in my case, was included as one of the FAQ in the e-mail they sent me when they confirmed the Trial Instaflex Order was on its way:
"What are the terms of the trial offer?
From our website: "Pay only shipping and handling today and have no obligation to buy anything in the future as long as you call to cancel within 18 days after the date you place your order. (This allows 4 days shipping and processing plus your 14 day trial period). To cancel, call 1-877-869-3310. If you don't cancel within the next 18 days, you will be automatically enrolled in the Instaflex Auto-Ship Program. Begining at the end of the trial period and about every 30 days thereafter, we will send you a one month supply of Instaflex for the highly discounted rate of $69.99 plus $4.99 for shipping and handling, automatically charged to the card you provide today. Cancel any time."
By the way, I'm sending back the product and have asked for refund. I was on my second month of use but, in my case, the Instaflex therapy is really not helping that much.
If, as you say, you are "sending back the product and have asked for refund", then you don't as yet know whether you will even get it.
More likely, you are just a shill, posting the above terms to deflect consumers having problems with cancelling, while you pretend to be a customer. Your "talking points", including the bit about the "e-mail FAQ", are aimed at creating the impression that consumers complaining about this company are just stupid and somehow "overlooked" the terms. Several similarly written shill posts have appeared after other complaints against this company.
The complaints against this company have continued for years, yet despite continuing complaints indicating that consumers did not know they were being signed up for some "automatic shipment program", the company has not disclosed their terms clearly enough that consumer know what they are allegedly agreeing to. We may assume that failure to remedy the cause of these complaints by clarifying their terms is intentional.
According to FTC, companies have an obligation to advertise their products in a clear manner, disclosing any charges as prominently as they disclose teaser "free trial offers".
FTC guidelines suggest that clear disclosure should include disclosure in the locations where the "free offer" terms are disclosed with similar font sizes, and at the point of the order agreement where the consumer is about to agree to have his card charged.
Hiding critical terms like charges for repeated orders at way beyond the "shipping and handling" trial offer price behind obscure links, so they may not even be noticed in the normal process of ordering the free trial, is a common tactic used in website design to deceive consumers. Adding FAQs AFTER an order is processed and you have charged the account is not a substitute for clear disclosure prior to the sale.