KDKA.com Consumer Web Extras
Jan 6, 2009 7:49 pm US/Eastern
Do Your Homework On Companies Selling Acai Berries
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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If you want to lose weight, marketers will sell you Acai berry juice, tea or powder.
CBS
If going on a diet is one of your new year's resolutions, beware of a popular new weight loss product that the Better Business Bureau says, can cause you to lose more money than weight.
The warning isn't so much about the Acai berry itself. Whether it works or not, it's about the companies that are jumping on the berry bandwagon to get your money with what the Better Business Bureau says are often misleading ads and fraudulent charges.
If you believe the marketing, these small grape-sized berries from Brazil can do everything from fight cancer to keep you young. If you want to lose weight, marketers will sell you Acai berry juice, tea or powder.
It's not the berries that the Better Business Bureau is warning against. It's some of the companies who sell them and other health and weight loss products.
"Consumers are being charged unauthorized charges. They are also indicating that they are not receiving the products," said Warren King, President of the Pittsburgh Better Business Bureau.
King says bureaus all over the country have been getting complaints. One company, Central Coast Nutraceutical, Inc had 1,400 complaints.
The Arizona Attorney General just sued Central Coast Nutraceutical for deceptive and misleading advertising and sales practices that resulted in thousands of consumers charged for products and services they did not order and many found it difficult if not impossible to cancel.
"We're also concerned about how they advertise the product. They indicate it's a free trial," King said. "Well, if you have to pay for shipping and handling, well that's not free."
That's just one of the complaints the Better Business Bureau is getting about another company, FX Supplements.com.
Unsuspecting consumers claim they are signed up for membership and lifestyle clubs or charged for automatic deliveries.
The BBB is just warning everyone to be careful. Do your homework.
The warning isn't about just these two companies. There are many companies pushing diet and health products the same way.
Be careful before you sign up for free trials and read that small print. You can end up with fraudulent charges that are difficult to get rid of.
Your first call should be to your credit card company. Put those charges in dispute. Your second call should be to the Attorney General's Office.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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