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30 Day Risk Free Trials and Lowball Prices

Most of us are used to seeing infomercials where a product is offered with a free trial period. You pay the advertised price, and then if you decide you don’t like the product, you return it, and get your money back.

Now, there is a new breed of promotion,  like this PowerMeter ad. It appears you pay $9.95 for the device that measures the speed of your golf swing, and if you don’t like it, you can return it within 30 days.

If on the other hand you like it,  you might assume that you just keep it. Not so fast.

*MOUSE PRINT:

“If after 30 days you still like the Medicus Power Meter, then it’s just 4 payments of $19.95” … PowerMeter website

So the $9.95 advertised price is the price of the “risk free trial”, not the price of the item. If you keep the PowerMeter, it will cost you a total $89.75 . 

The total price of the item may come as a surprise to purchasers who assumed the price  that was advertised was in fact the price of the product. To make matters worse, most infomercials that use this new technique of advertising, don’t disclose the actual cost of the product itself in the commercial even in mouse print. 

Incidentally, if you don’t keep the product, it isn’t even clear if you get your $9.95 back because this was not a “free trial” but a “risk free trial.”

Thanks to Eric from the Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection for this submission.

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5 thoughts on “30 Day Risk Free Trials and Lowball Prices”

  1. Also: be sure to note the fine print on the Dodge/Jeep and other cars. They’re offering a “free” 90 day return policy, but you have to forgo financing AND also turn down $2000 in cash back. So, at minimum, the free trial costs you $2000 that you could have had.

  2. Who buys from infomercials? If a product is decent and reputable, it’ll be carried in stores, where I can see and compare the price. If it’s “not sold in stores”, a reasonable person has to wonder why not.

    Change the channel…or TiVo everything you want to see and forget the stupid infomercials.

  3. On the other hand if people had just read what it said ( free TRIAL ) there wouldn’t be a problem at all.

  4. But it’s not a “free trial” Kristy. It’s a $9.95 trial. And I would argue it’s not “risk free” because the purchaser runs the risk of not noticing the $79.80 cost if the item isn’t returned (and no doubt EXTENSIVELY documented that it was returned on time).

  5. I also like how one of the “free gifts” is the instruction manual on how to run the thing. teehee

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