While reviewing diet pills lately, I've come across more scams that I've previously seen. I always try to give notice to these scams and the products that use them. But I've been surprised at the increasing number of companies (not just diet pills) that are using a certain scammy sales tactic known as the autoship. Since so many consumers seem to be falling prey to the autoship, I thought I'd write a little article about it.
First of all, what is an autoship program? In it's basic form, and autoship program is where the company will send you new supplies of their product on regular basis. This makes it so you don't have to keep ordering the same product every month. Naturally, they will charge your credit card whenever they send new shipments.
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.
The problem arose once companies realized that no one was reading the fine print in the 'terms and conditions.' They saw an opportunity to put the autoship details in the fine print so that people didn't usually find out that by buying whatever the product was, they were also agreeing to engage in the autoship program. This is where consumers started to get taken advantage of.
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 illustrate some of the one-sided details of some of the classic autoships that I've seen while reviewing diet pills, I'll use a fake scenario with our friend John. John is convinced by the marketing of a certain diet pills and finds that they offer a free trial. Being a naturally trusting person, he inputs all his personal information into the free trial request form and his credit card number to pay for the shipping of the trial.
John quickly checks the box stating that read the terms and conditions (even he didnt - who reads that legal jargon anyway?) and submits his request for the free trial. He is now enrolled in the autoship. He must now call and cancel the autoship within 15 days of his request or he will see a charge his credit card for $30 to $100 depending on the diet pill (a few will charge him for 3 months which would obviously triple these charges). Because he didn't read the fine print, he is surprised on the 15 day when he sees these "fraudulent" charges. He calls customer service to demand a refund but either no one answers or he is given the run around and never gets a real answer. Our poor friend John is now left with a few ineffective diet pills and a lot less money that he had previously. Now I don't know about you, but it sure seems like the company's taking advantage of our friend John along with all the other unsuspecting customers.
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! - 16650
First of all, what is an autoship program? In it's basic form, and autoship program is where the company will send you new supplies of their product on regular basis. This makes it so you don't have to keep ordering the same product every month. Naturally, they will charge your credit card whenever they send new shipments.
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.
The problem arose once companies realized that no one was reading the fine print in the 'terms and conditions.' They saw an opportunity to put the autoship details in the fine print so that people didn't usually find out that by buying whatever the product was, they were also agreeing to engage in the autoship program. This is where consumers started to get taken advantage of.
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 illustrate some of the one-sided details of some of the classic autoships that I've seen while reviewing diet pills, I'll use a fake scenario with our friend John. John is convinced by the marketing of a certain diet pills and finds that they offer a free trial. Being a naturally trusting person, he inputs all his personal information into the free trial request form and his credit card number to pay for the shipping of the trial.
John quickly checks the box stating that read the terms and conditions (even he didnt - who reads that legal jargon anyway?) and submits his request for the free trial. He is now enrolled in the autoship. He must now call and cancel the autoship within 15 days of his request or he will see a charge his credit card for $30 to $100 depending on the diet pill (a few will charge him for 3 months which would obviously triple these charges). Because he didn't read the fine print, he is surprised on the 15 day when he sees these "fraudulent" charges. He calls customer service to demand a refund but either no one answers or he is given the run around and never gets a real answer. Our poor friend John is now left with a few ineffective diet pills and a lot less money that he had previously. Now I don't know about you, but it sure seems like the company's taking advantage of our friend John along with all the other unsuspecting customers.
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! - 16650
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.
