JUICY LIPS
Complaint
kim arnold
Country: United States
Rip off big time - pay for trial of product around $3.76 and then next thing you know they are taking $85 out of my account. Then funny how only 1 person, Larry, answers the phone when he says there are over 130 representatives. They are a bunch of liars & cheaters & then the product is like liquid sand, doesn't do nothing! The free conditioning like mascara was the exact same product. It was nothing but a rip off!!! I have been fighting with them to get my $$$$$ back. Filed complaint with Nevada Attorney General's Office.
Comments
There is a common pattern of fraud in the "health product" industry, consisting of hyped product claims, low-cost "teaser" offers to obtain account information "for shipping and handling", followed by much larger repeated periodic charges "for automatic shipments" that the vendor fraudulently claims the consumer agreed to. Product may or may not actually be shipped.
NEVER use your checking or bank account for payments to companies you do not know and trust. Only use credit cards for payments to on-line or other retailers where you might have to dispute a fraudulent or "erroneous" charge.
It is much easier to dispute and block a credit card number without disrupting payments to companies you intended to pay, than to do the same with a bank account.
In the future watch out who you do business with. Certain industries are rife with fraud, and you can also Google any company name compbined with "fraud" or "scam" to find whether others are having problems with a company. This will often get detailed consumer reports from ripoffreport.com, consumeraffairs, this, and other sites. You can decide for yourself whether the company or consumer is at fault.
BBB is often worth checking, but they may not show all problem companies, and sometimes they sanitize their complaint reporting with companies who are "acredited", rating them high as long as complaints are "resolved" even when they continue to get complaints of suspect practices.
Also file fraud complaints with your local police, your state Attorney General, Nevada Attorney General, and FTC.
Scam companies operate by defrauding customers who provide account information in response to their teaser offers by making repeated larger crammed charges. They try to create the appearance of "authorization" with their teaser offer, deceptively disclosed "auto shipments", alleged "cancellation" periods that can never be met, etc, trying to create the appearance that the consumer is the one who is "flaky", to deflect bank scrutiny.
This level of shady business makes their charges look somewhat legitimate, in terms of ratio of charge-backs to accepted charges, as long as they can evade enough consumer complaints, avoiding levels of charge-backs that might cause their merchant account to be shut down.
But it can also be used to provide cover for making additional entirely fraudulent charges using illegally purchased card numbers, and the appearance of their "normal" teaser charge followed by their "crammed" charge, with no shipment and no contact, even as they claim "you ordered it", may be an indication that this is what they are engaged in. Such charges would be pure profit, and they are set up to employ the same deceptive tactics to deflect disputes as they are already employing with their "customers".
They depend on people not knowing what to do about it. Many people have little experience in dealing with fraudulent charges, and they muddy the picture by connecting them to teaser offers that are authorized. They often claim you could "cancel" even though the cancellation information arrives with the package, after the trial period has passed, to make the later charges appear legitimate and imply they were due to consumer negligence so they shouldn't be refunded.
They also claim the follow-on charges were authorized through terms in fine print or otherwise hidden and never intended to be caught by consumers attracted by the teaser offer. Those term "disclosures" exist only to intimidate consumers later disputing charges they never authorized, or to refute bank charge-back disputes.
If you attempt to cancel, you may find they are unreachable, with long phone delays to actually get to anyone supposedly authorized to cancel. Or they may claim it's cancelled, even give you a "confirmation number", then keep charging, claiming they have no record of your cancellation.
The above pattern is repeated in virtually all of these scams, and is similar to the "government grant" or "internet business" information scams. Teaser offer, with an ongoing excuse for monthly charges, until you figure out only closing your account will stop it. Not much different from the "trial credit protection" scams, either.
As long as people treat them like some legitimate business, and nicely try to contact them for a refund, they can use various excuses or deceptions to delay the dispute long enough to keep the money, or even add additional charges.
Since to dispute under FCBA or FRB Reg. E, you have to dispute through your bank, in writing, and within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges, in many cases if they can just delay the consumer from disputing through their bank, they win.
When you find an unauthorized charge, research the company, and if you find similar complaints showing up, you know what you are dealing with. Handle it as the fraud it is, through your bank, and stick them with the charge-back fee like they deserve. Be sure to close your account, or they will keep taking your money.
This type of scam often sets up automatic charges, SO BLOCK YOUR CARD NUMBER TO PREVENT ADDITIONAL LOSSES.