Miracle Health Products for Sale on the Internet

With the cost of medical care spiraling out of control, it's understandable that many who can't afford doctors or pharmacies look at advertisements making promises to cure whatever ails them. A number of internet entrepreneurs have sent out e-mail blasts or attached advertising links on web pages, advertising products that are difficult to determine in terms of effectiveness, but simple to determine in terms of what they take from your wallet. This isn't to say that there aren't some good products marketed by some ethical entrepreneurs, but what gets annoying is the hype for a health product that doesn't have any documented proof that it works.

To try to illustrate this point with a recent example, let's take the case of the Acai Berry. This is a product being heavily hyped on the internet through e-mail blasts, although some might refer to this as spam. The Acai Berry product claims to help someone "lose unwanted pounds, boost energy levels, improve your digestive system, and promote deep sleep," just to name a few. The subject line claims an endorsement from some entity known as "American Dietary," stating specifically that "American Dietary recommends Acai Berry." A quick search on the Google search engine doesn't pull up any "American Dietary" organization, so this is strike one against the Acai Berry. While a Google search may not always be the answer to doing your due diligence on a product or service, it can be a good starting point.

While the Acai Berry product, being distributed here in the form of pills, may be a good product, the health benefits it claims to provide are preposterous. It claims to "flush out 50 pounds" and to "detoxify your body." The vender of this product is so confident you'll like it, that they're willing to send you a "free bottle," provided you're willing to pay $4.95 for shipping. To the average person, this may sound reasonable. Most people get so excited by the prospect of losing weight and sleeping better and so forth, that they fail to click on a little link known as "Terms and Conditions." You see, when you pull out your credit card to pay the $4.95 for the "free bottle" of Acai Berry pills, "you are given a period of ten days to try the product." After which you are "automatically enrolled" in a convenient home delivery plan that will automatically bill your credit card $74.95 per month to assure a constant supply. If you buy into the hype for this product, it is not mentioned anywhere that you are automatically consenting to $74.95 a month being charged to your credit card. The order form only mentions the $4.95 shipping charge and the box next to a sentence that reads "I agree to the terms and conditions" is already conveniently checked.

To most people, they think they are only agreeing to a one-time $4.95 shipping charge to see if they like the product and that if they do, they can order more, and THEN pay for it. But this deceptive marketer has gotten you to fork over your credit card number and made you authorize $74.95 a month which you know nothing about. If you continue to read the fine print in the "Terms and Conditions" section, it states that it may take "2 to 3 weeks to receive your promotional order," and that you can cancel at any time during the ten-day trial period. How many people are going to remember all this two to three weeks later, following an order of the Acai Berry product? In effect, the Acai Berry product, through this vender, is going to cost about $900 a year, payable in 12 montly installments of $74.95 each, and unless they know where to find the web site that offers cancellation, our happy purchaser has no telephone number to call under the terms and conditions section. Now a support number is listed in the "contact" link that appears at the bottom, but this isn't readily apparent, especially to someone who has no idea that their credit card is being used like this. A cursory search on the internet reveals that if the Acai Berry product is that good, it can be bought through other sources for $20 or $30 a month, WITHOUT a monthly credit card commitment.

But wait, the scam gets better. Now please note, that this isn't a criticism of the product, but rather a criticism of how it is being marketed and how the chief aim is separation of the buyer's money from his wallet, or in this case, credit card. The Acai Berry is supposedly "backed" medically by Dr. Nicholas Perricone, on daytime talk shows, one of which is the Oprah Winfrey show. No offense to Oprah here, but just about every miracle medical product from Human Growth Hormones to the Acai Berry has claimed to have been either endorsed by Oprah, or perhaps in order to avoid a fraudulent claim, states "as seen on Oprah." This should be a tip-off that a product such as the Acai Berry, which claims dramatic weight loss, should come under more scrutiny. But back to our medical expert, Dr. Perricone. A quick search on Google reveals that Dr. Perricone made his fortune authoring books and selling high end skin and dietary supplement products. Critics say he never had any substantial scientific research to back up his claims, according to Wikipedia, and never conducted any research himself that might be subject to scrutiny by peers in his field. In so many words, Dr. Perricone argues that "he's a minority voice going against the mainstream of the dermatology community." The doctor has made a lot of money but apparently can't be held accountable for his medical claims.

The advertisement for the Acai Berry product continues to state that "we are offering the week supply for free. You just have to pay for the minimal shipping costs!" The reality is that you are signing up for a credit card commitment of $74.95 a month that is canceled only if YOU take specific action to cancel it within a specified period of time. With the "two to three weeks" that it takes to receive your supply, one has to wonder if the delay is designed to get you to forget about trial periods or even who the name of the company is, that shows up on your credit card billing statement. By the time the first $74.95 charge appears on a buyer's credit card statement, the company who sold you the Acai Berry product may be out of business, or changed names to make cancellation of your order more difficult.

All of this isn't meant to pick on the Acai Berry product, but rather the way in which it's marketed. Too many offers arrive in e-mail inboxes, usually the result of unwanted spam, that ask you to use your credit card to pay for shipping charges to sample a product and then automatically obligate you to monthly payments for continued use of that product or service at a much higher rate. If it's not intentional, then why isn't it disclosed in the advertisement without forcing the buyer to read the fine print in the terms and conditions section? Some terms and conditions sections are so lengthy that the monthly costs aren't disclosed until you've read about six paragraphs. It's interesting to note, in the case of the Acai Berry, under the terms and conditions section, that if you're considering litigation against them, you agree to bring suit against them in "Arizona in Arapahoe County." A quick search on Google reveals, get this, that there is NOT an Arapahoe County in Arizona. The moral of this article, therefore, is do your due diligence and make sure your credit card isn't being obligated to future montly charges.