You may have seen a full page ad in Parade magazine yesterday promising a 30-day free trial of Sensa, a product that claims you can “lose 30+ pounds without dieting”. You supposedly just sprinkle the stuff on everything you eat “to help reduce cravings, curb your appetite and help you feel full faster.”
When you visit their website from the link provided and click on the free offer, here’s what you see:
It looks like they have upped the offer because they are now going to send you a “free 2-month starter kit*” when you agree to pay $7.95 shipping and handling. There is also a smaller representation to “try Sensa Free for 30 days*”. If you follow the asterisk to near the bottom of the page, all is explained, or is it?
*MOUSE PRINT:
“*Product is Free to try for 30 days! Pay only a small shipping and handling fee.”
Out of curiosity, MrConsumer clicked the “terms and conditions” link at the very bottom of the page. Normally this contains information about website usage, copyright infringment, etc. This time, however, it revealed the true nature of this offer.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Terms of Offer
You have a full 30 days to try your SENSA 2-Month Starter Kit. If you enjoy SENSA, do nothing and you will be billed for the 2-Month Starter Kit one low payment of $89.95 at the end of the free trial on 10/25/2011. That’s a 35% SAVINGS off the retail price! If you decide to keep your 2-Month Starter Kit, you will be automatically enrolled in our SENSA AutoShip Delivery Service. As part of the SENSA AutoShip Delivery Service, you will receive a fresh 2-month supply of SENSA every 60 days at the low price of only $89.95 so you never run out. You will be charged this price every 60 days, billed to your credit card, plus $7.95 shipping and handling.
Someone who just blindly ordered from this “free offer” without paying attention, would likely get an expensive surprise on October 25 when their credit card gets charged $89.95 (not even a full 30 days after they receive the magic powder). Worse, two months later, they will get another shipment of the stuff and another charge because of the automatic shipment plan they may have unknowingly entered into.
It is high time that companies like this became straight forward in their advertising, and told you upfront what the deal really is. NOTE: We did not go through the ordering process to see what disclosures, if any, are given before and after entering one’s credit card number to cover the shipping and handling charges.
They must have same-day delivery in order to fulfill their own terms of a “full 30 days” to try the starter kit. If they can’t get it to me today, September 26th, how am I going to have a full 30 days before they bill me on October 25th?
Two can play at this game:
Simply use a virtual credit card number (CitiBank and a couple of others offer these), and assign a limit of $8.00
The initial charge of $7.95 will process just fine.
Later, when they attempt to hit the GOTCHA charges, it will be declined.
Reading that offer what does it say about the product itself?
I wrote a piece on Sensa back in June http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=22494
i cancelled order as soon as isaw terms.how many free trials are like this when you give credit card for shipping charges
I’m for smaller government, but if we MUST have a bloated one, I want a “Consumer Fraud Guru” with the staff to review ads and the personal power to haul the suspects in, give them the actual equivalent of their product trial period to prove their product claims AND to explain their advertising logic, and then to close them down after the “trial.”
Sort of like let’s have a trial and build the scaffold at the same time — sometimes guilt is just so obvious there’s no reason not to.
Edgar, if you’ll be the guru, I’m sure there will be a line of volunteers to pull the lever. I’ll bet some of us would camp out pre-concert-tickets-on-sale-style just for the chance. (And even at 66, I can say I’ve never done such but would consider it for this cause!)
This buisness model is not unique and has been around for a while now. It’s the same model used by the Acai Berry businesses, Penis enlarging pills, and other weight loss products. The free trial is not really free, most customers are billed the full amount ($89.95 is the “regular” amount, and not discounted for the product that wholesales for less than $2.00) after the 30 days unless they cancel. Some products require the customer to ship back any unused product in order to cancel the “trial.” Most customers learn of this after their credit card is charged. They used to do a credit card authorization for the amount when you place the order and capture the funds on the 30th day, but the credit card companies frown upon this practice (they say, “if it’s a free trial, then why are you authorizing their card?”). Actually, in general Visa and MasterCard don’t really like these businesses due to the high amount of customer complaints and costs for chargebacks (though passed onto the scammy business, who may or may not have already closed the bank account in question). Most merchant agreements with most banks prevent this type of business from operating, though there’s always another bank in some tropical paradise that is willing to overlook this behavior for 3%.
Actually, the second charge would be one month after the first charge since “30 days” of the free trial had passed.
Edgar replies: Tim, you are absolutely correct!
There are problems with virtual credit card numbers. Although you can set a limit on the amount allowed to be charged to a virtual credit card, all a merchant has to do is put the sale through as a manual request and the full amount will be charged. http://masteryourcard.com/blog/2008/07/23/virtual-credit-card-numbers-a-security-risk/
what if u use a student savings acct debit card? thats what i did n the acct even closed because i never put money into it. i constantly tried to contact them after this period n never got a hold of anyone i cancelled my acct online n requested the emails be stopped but i checked today n theyre still there so i went into my acct n it says the nxt shipment is on hold pending payment so i did the live rep thing n asked her what to do n she said i shud contactn collections. im so annoyed because from i recieved it i didnt use it n ive been tryin to return it ever since. im not a us citizen nor do i have a social so shud i be worried?
Almost fell for such offers in my early days of purchasing stuff online.
There’s some truth when people always say ‘Read the fine prints’
Some companies aren’t very forthcoming about such charges
Love Ken’s answer, “using a virtual card”. Hah, that would teach them a thing or two.
Do you think the virtual credit card would actually work? I’m considering trying this.
I fell for this – hook, line and sinker. Their ‘free’ 30 day trial just cost me $89 (which overdrew my bank account). After speaking to the customer service rep, I learned that if I gave them $59 of those dollars and accepted a $30 refund, I could keep the product that I’d received and get an immediately $30 refund. Otherwise, I have to pay for shipping and tracking to send EVERYTHING back to them at my expense and then wait 14 days for them to process the full $89 refund. DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING 101. I wish the BBB would do something about these guys. Shameful.
I guess the bigger question is: Does the product work. If so, it would seem like people would be buying this up and the company’s billing policies would not matter. If people are this irate about the billing, it is probably because the product does not work. Save you $7.95 and future monies and do not purchase this product.