On Feb. 18, I ordered a Free Trial offer of Acai Tracker Online Kit. It was from an internet site which had a suppossed News Report that was made to look like it was a REAL News agency. This report made it seem like the product was a good one. I ordered the Free trial of Acai berry pills at a cost of $6.95 for shipping and handling only. I believed this trial period was for 15 days after I received the product. After the trial period, if I still wanted the product, they would charge my account $99.95 and then another charge of $99.95 would be made the following month.
Imagine my dismay when I found out the trial period was only for 3 days after receiving the product.
What happened next, was two days after placing the order online, my checking account was charged for the $6.95 and without my authorizatiuon, another charge was placed for $99.95.
Of course, I only became aware of this charge when I tried to use my debit card for a purchase 2 days later, and it was denied. Too add to this problem, it is a holiday weekend. I immediately cancelled my Debit card and not being able to contact my bank in person because they were closed, I sent an email explaining the fraud to my bank and will speak to them in person tomorrow.
I then called the Youth Nutrition customer support phone number listed on my email order receipt-877-619-2649, and after a very long time on hold, I was able to speak to a representative who informed me that the $99.95 charge was a pending HOLD on my checking account to make it easy for my products to be sent in the event that I was satisfied with the product. She said, they had not actually taken any money from my account. I told her that yes, they had. Because my bank would not allow me use of those funds. So that is an unauthorized fraudulent charge to my account. I then told her I wanted to cancel the entire order. That I wanted the "pending" hold on my checking account and the $99.95 charge removed from immediately. She said whe cancelled the order, gave me a confirmation number and said this deleted the pending chage to my bank, but that it might take a few days for it to clear my bank account. I asked her to send me an email verification of this cancellation/confirmation, but she said she did not have access to do this.
I will now speak to my bank representative tomorrow, bringing with me all evidence of fraud and will update you as to the outcome tomorrow.
I believe that I was lucky to find out about the pending charge as soon as I did. If not, I could be out a lot more money and most likely have to argue cancellation of the order, as the wording of their website is very specious, leading people to believe they have a much longer free trial period and that they would only be charged for the agreed price for shipping and handling, ($6.95). They no where explained that they will be placing a "pending" charge for $99.95 on your debit card at the same time.
As an senior citizen, on a fixed income, this has caused me great distress. I cannot afford to lose this money from my account and know it is true of others. I realize that I am fortunate to have family support to help me with this problem when many other people do not.
That old adage, "let the buyer beware" is something we need to especially adhere too when shopping on the internet.
Sincerely,
E. Hetherington
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