Posted by: Admin
The on-line world continues to throw surprises in our direction. The latest in a series of shocks to the Acai industry is the huge settlement paid by Central Coast Nutraceuticals response to a case brought by Atty Gen Terry Goddard. The settlement can only be seen as an acceptance of guilt of the charges aimed at CCN.
Anyone buying Acai Berry on line should be aware of the free trial scams run by companies like CCN. The free trial scams are not solely used in the acai industry, but this seems to be the defining marketing practice in that area. In fact all on line sales of Acai are in danger of being tarred with the ‘free trail’ brush. This is unfair, of course, but unfortunately a few rogue individuals may have made life for many of the legitimate companies selling Acai on line very difficult indeed.
Briefly, the scam works like this: an offer of a free trial of Acai capsules is presented to the consumer. The acai free trial is accepted, and credit card details are past the consumer to the selling company. On accepting the free trial offer, consumers are knowingly agreeing to sign up for a continuing subscription to the full price product. The only way to get out of the subscription is to cancel, but naturally companies like CCN do not make this particular easy. CCN’s reluctance to allow customers to cancel simply compounded the problems when it came to the settlement.
The settlement totals $1,375,000 which covers consumer restitution, civil penalties to the state, and the state’s legal costs incurred. Whilst it might have be a huge sum to us, it is certainly just a drop in the ocean CCN’s owners.
People that feel they should be compensated for CCN’s actions towards them in the past should contact the Arizona attorney general’s office by August 17, 2009.