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.
So what's so bad about it? It sounds pretty nice and convenient right? Well, it is. If that's what the consumer wants, then there's nothing wrong at all with sales practice. Please note, that I am not saying that all autoship programs are evil. An autoship can be good or bad, depending on how the company uses it. Unfortunately, many companies try to trick you into enrolling in the autoship without you knowing about it.
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.
I imagine it wasn't too much later that companies (including diet pills) realized that "free" trials were very popular. So they started to offer these free trials, and again hid the autoship in the terms and conditions. Bingo! They just created a money machine for themselves. And all at the expense of the unsuspecting consumer.
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 glances over the fine print, gets bored and checks the box saying that he agrees to the terms and conditions. He clicks submit and little does he know that he is now a full fledged member of the company's autoship program. 15 days later he sees a charge on his credit card for $60 (could be anywhere from $30 to $100 depending on the product). What he didn't know is that he only had 15 days to call and cancel the autoship. On the 15th day, they shipped him another month's supply and gladly charged his credit card. If he doesn't call soon, he'll see another charge for the same amount next month. Furious, John calls customer service to get an explanation of what happened and to demand a refund. John is either given the run around and can't get ahold of anyone with actual answers or his phone call doesn't get answered at all (this is not always that case, but is common). Now, after paying hundreds, he has a few diet pills that, even if they were effective, he wouldn't take because he's so mad.
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! - 15683
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.
So what's so bad about it? It sounds pretty nice and convenient right? Well, it is. If that's what the consumer wants, then there's nothing wrong at all with sales practice. Please note, that I am not saying that all autoship programs are evil. An autoship can be good or bad, depending on how the company uses it. Unfortunately, many companies try to trick you into enrolling in the autoship without you knowing about it.
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.
I imagine it wasn't too much later that companies (including diet pills) realized that "free" trials were very popular. So they started to offer these free trials, and again hid the autoship in the terms and conditions. Bingo! They just created a money machine for themselves. And all at the expense of the unsuspecting consumer.
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 glances over the fine print, gets bored and checks the box saying that he agrees to the terms and conditions. He clicks submit and little does he know that he is now a full fledged member of the company's autoship program. 15 days later he sees a charge on his credit card for $60 (could be anywhere from $30 to $100 depending on the product). What he didn't know is that he only had 15 days to call and cancel the autoship. On the 15th day, they shipped him another month's supply and gladly charged his credit card. If he doesn't call soon, he'll see another charge for the same amount next month. Furious, John calls customer service to get an explanation of what happened and to demand a refund. John is either given the run around and can't get ahold of anyone with actual answers or his phone call doesn't get answered at all (this is not always that case, but is common). Now, after paying hundreds, he has a few diet pills that, even if they were effective, he wouldn't take because he's so mad.
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! - 15683
About the Author:
Before you buy any diet pills online, make sure you check Criticalorie's excellent reviews on diet pills. You'll get no-nonsense, scientifically-backed research and commentary.