Advanced Wellness Research review: overcharged! scam!!! online orders acai berry 500 321

Bright teeth whitening KIT Complaints - Suspicious deductions from checking a/c
Review all ADVANCED WELLNESS RESEARCH Bright teeth whitening KIT complaints
Bright teeth whitening KIT
Posted: 2009-03-21 by dd25

Suspicious deductions from checking a/c

Complaint Rating:
I as other people did impulse bought the trial product online 3 days ago. I should have known better that to use my debit checking card in such a manner but I had read about the teeth whitening results. The package arrived and I was emailed the bill of $6.99. The same day I checked my internet banking account (i usually monitor it thank goodness) and i saw that the said funds were deducted. Last night however I saw that my funds went back to its orinigal balance. I knew something was wrong having worked at a bank in risk and fraud. I decided to check the net for reviews of Advanced Wellness Company. I was no way surprised at the reviews, they helped me so much! to learn from the awful experiences. At 12. 30 am I checked my account and
by 7. 20 am when i awoke (today is saturday) in order to go the bank and deal with the matter before things got worse, the balance of 6.99 was deducted again from the company and addional 21 cents as a separate transaction by the same Advanced wellness. the transaction said bright teeth whitening. I withdrew what i could form the ATM and as soon as the bank door was opened I withdrew the rest, met with a banker and closed
off the account. Please Beware and be proactive. I have not used the product since I cannot trust this company.
I have learnt my lesson, I am a full time student and I am glad that things did not get worse! These over night theives should be jailed for good!

I had canceld my ordor on 3/13 and was total my money would be return to my account in 7 days . When I called back 8 days later, I was hung up on my Rick and Ashley said I am to late now and can not get the money back

I too thought I was getting a free trial and noting more. It informed me that I would be receiving future orders so I cancelled it within the time period given. My checking account has been debited for $83.80 and I cannot reach any one at the two numbers given to have them credit my account and remove me from their mailing list. I have not opened the envelope and am returning the pills certified mail along with a letter of complaint. I guess I will have to go to the Channel 2 Clark Howard folks and also alert Oprah that this company is not doing what they need to do. Josephine

I called and cancelled my order. This was advertised as a free sample. I was given a cancellation number. Three days later I was charged $78.81 which was withdrawn from my account. When I call a service rep (who was in India) I was informed that my cancellation number was invalid. Not only were they hard to understand, but could hardly hear with all the background noise. After 20 minutes on the phone I was told that my shipments were cancelled and the money would be refunded in 3-5 days. What a pain in the ### this was! Definately not worth the "free" sample.

I was stupid enough to order my trial acai berry from your company and then because of cardiac issues I called to cancel just 5 days after receiving them, well within the 14 day trial. Then I get my charge card bill and there was a nearly $80 charge the next day! So I call and get another foreigner who was very insistant that I called AFTER that 14 day trail...and the $78.81 charge was appropriate! I am fuming, because of this horrible scam! I never got another bottle of acai berry for that near $80 charge and he told me that 14 day trial bottle was that charge! This is a horrible way to conduct business, and I am about to get the law in the middle of this situation.
I will tell everyone who will listen about this experience which I see is typical after reading many testimonial from those who also have had this experience!

This is BAD NEWS! Mrs. Brenda Gilbert in Kansas

I too have been had and ripped off by these people.
Several times I've continued to hold indefinitely and when a person answers they hang up.
I was billed the $78 without my authorization.

I too was duped by this company...it looked so legitimate. Well I placed the order and after waiting a day for the confirmation I googled and found these comments that the company is a HOAX or a SCAM. I received the confirmation letter from them about 3 days later and it included an order # and a [protected] number to call. I responded to the email indicating I wanted to cancel but have not received a response...

I then called my credit card company to ask if this charge can be disputed and any additional charges. They said yes and that if more than 3 charges were charged to me they would cancel the account and send me a new card. So I won this round...my lesson is to check the websites I am ordering.

I hope everyone on this site is able to recoup their money as well

To Whom It May Concern, I do not want your acaiberry dextox I finish the product and it did not work so please don't send me this product again my free tail is over and I dont want this thank you Diane Leighton

do not send this acailberry dexto my free tail is over with it didn't work so don't send me this thank you

I have been billed for Norton Security and have not been able to download it. How do I proceed? Can you help me install the protection ? Should I advise Visa to hold payment? Help! rjf1352@wowway.com

I too was ripped off, they charged my credit card twice in one month, on the 12 and the 23rd . I called them and got the run around, they are a rip off scam company and we need to notify the attorney general of the US to get them off the internet, as well as the FCC. These people make a free trial offer and then take you to the cleaners, for 78 dollars a bottle, , any other company charges around $20 for the same thing. PLEASE DO NOT ORDER FROM ADVANCED WELLNESS RESEARCH INC.
There has to be a way to get these people off the internet. STOP THE FRAUD< they do not fully disclose the terms when you sing up, and if you go to the www.buypureacaiberry.com website it says it is under construction, so good luck . Johanna Kelly

I too was taken by the Advanced Wellness Research. In January I decided to try their supplements but after a half hour a co-worker warned me that it was a possible scam. I then called back to cancel my free trial and I was told that they couldn't cancel the order. I had no choice but to take the trial and if I didn't like it to return it. I used their instant message customer service and luckily I printed out the whole conversation. They told me that when I returned the product they would cancel any further orders. I did exactly what they told me and returned the product (of course you can't just put return to sender on the package) and the kind postman asked if I wanted to get a confirmation when the package was returned. So I paid extra for that and SAVED EVERY DOCUMENTATION. Of course like others, I was surprised to see not one but TWO charges to my credit card. I was pissed off beyond belief and ashamed to be taken in by this scam. I called the company and after one failed phone call, I called again. After listening to people talking and not paying attention that I was on the phone wanting to speak with a customer service person, finally someone talked with me. A middle eastern woman 'helped' me and after badgering her why they charged my account, I was put on eternal hold. I then emailed them and asked why I was charged and their response was to thank me for having a question and to call the number to resolve my issues. So I called back and finally spoke to another middle eastern person (a man who said his name was Den). I kept my cool but was persistent with him wanting to know why they charged my account. After some tension between he and I (and finally I told him to just stop talking from a script and TALK TO ME about why they would do this). I told him I had confirmation of returning the product to Nampa, ID (that looks like a ### hole if you google earth it and get the photo of the area. there is no company there!). I also told him that I printed out the online customer service conversation (that they strangely don't have anymore!) and have in writing that they would not charge me or send me anymore products. BTW, they did send me more pills and when I gave him the order number on the front of the package, he said that was not an order number. Then he wanted to put me on hold so he could talk with someone and I said no since the last person put me on hold and never returned. He promised he would return and said he needed a minute. I then became stern with him and said he had one minute and better do it now. He then said he may need more than a minute and I said 'then put me on hold right now, go, and you better be back in one minute. Go, I'm timing you' His voice became nervous and said he may need 1-2 minutes and I then said, 'GO, stop talking with me and go...put me on hold and you better be back in no more than 2 minutes'. He put me on hold and I did time him. He came back in 2.5 minutes and said they would refund me both charges. I told him I wanted him to email me to confirm the refunds. He asked for my email address and I told him I already gave him the address and to repeat it back to me. He was a bit surprised by that and I said, 'repeat the address back to me. You took my name, address and email address at the beginning of the phone call, so repeat it back to me'. He then did repeat it back to me and I think I asked 2 or 3 more times (almost in disbelief) to assure me that they would refund my money. He confirmed the refund and promised to email for both charges.

I did receive two emails to confirm both charges would be refunded and I was so amazed that I did receive the refunds! I don't trust this company so as soon as my monthly charges from other vendors came through, I called my credit card company and requested they close that account and open a new account with a new number so if that fraud company thinks they can charge my account again, they won't be able to! PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CANCEL YOUR CARD AND OPEN A NEW ACCOUNT IF YOU MUST GO THROUGH THIS CRAP!

I did the trial offer and paid for SH $4.95...then was charged on my credit card $83.80 and put on auto shipments every month. I did call the company and spoke with a phone person who says I agreed to all the terms on the internet and they will not refund my money nor take back the product even though I refused the shipment by mail, never opened the shipment! I feel the company missrepresented the free trial offer and would like to caution all who think this is a deal! Does the public have any recourse?

I HAVE HAD SAME EXPERIENCE.

I am ashamed that I fell for this. They will not stop my shipments. I sent the trial back 4 days after I received it, and sent an e-mail asking them to stop shipment. It was never taken off my bill, and I still recieved another bottle.

I am tired of trying to speak with these people.

well, i don't agree with these complaint bcoz if i m going for the product the first thing i would be doing is to through everything abt the product as it's ma harden money, so it's advise to all the people whop have no time for there harden money is confirm everything then go for the thing...

I called them on Monday to cancel my trial and get a refund of the $78 they charged me. They sent me an email confirming the refund will be issued. I check my credit card statement today and there is no refund ... but a charge of $83 on march 23rd the day i canceled ... I immediately called them and the guy tells me that they sent me a new bottle on march 22nd which is a Sunday so that's what they were refunding me for... I called back again and asked a different person if they ship on weekends and he said no... I called back again trying to speak to a supervisor and they told me they are in a meeting... When i talked to someone on Monday they never said i was being sent anything else Just a refund for the trial. so now i have 2 charges and no refund yet. They said they cant refund me for both. I have the first bottle which i used for all of 2 days... The people i talk to are clueless about everything and keep feeding me lies. How should i go about getting a refund for both. Can i make a dispute with my credit card even though i "agreed" to the terms and conditions which are pretty much not there on 3rd party sites where they offer this stuff. their website is not even functional so there is no proof anywhere of these terms and conditions. They dont send you the terms and conditions with the product either so how was i supposed to know to cancel? on the site i saw this advertised they said it was backed by AOL CBS NBC all these reputable company's so the last thing i though was "scam" please help me whaas85@gmail.com

It happened to me too.

ACAI Berry and Colo Flush are being charged to my credit card without my authorization. It will cost me $78.00 for each if I don't get this off my card. This company needs to be shut down. They give you nobody that speaks English so you can't get anything resoloved.

They got me for over $300 before I noticed the unauthorized charges on my account. They signed me up for 3 affiliate programs I never heard off. The only thing they would do for me was to cancel the 3 services, no refund for scam charges, cant wait for my next month statement to see if they realy cancelled.

I just had to do the same thing, cancel my bank account before the full amount could be charged to it. I called and spoke to someone who, conveniently, could not find any of my information, even the order number they sent me in a confirmation email didn't work. My name and phone number came back with no information as well. I told them I knew what they were doing due to all the complaints I have read about them, so I decided to beat them at their own game. They are NOT going to keep charging my credit card for a product I have not used and said I would return to them unopened. Please DO NOT order anything from this company, unless you don't mind them taking a ton of money from you!

i do not want these pill s. I have been paying for them and havnt got them. I want to cancell everything and my money refunded

I was sent a free sample of teeth whitening product for the $6.99 charge for shipping and handling. When I received my credit card bill, I was charged the $6.99 and was charged another charge for $69.99. I called the company and was told that the free sample I sent for obligated me to terms and conditions to receive $600 more of teeth whitening product. I asked over 25 times to speak to a supervisor and was refused. Then the customer service person told me that the free sample was not really free and the charge for it was $69.99 plus the $6.99 they had also charged me for. He did cancel the $600 supposed obligation but refused to take the $69.99 charge off. He said that the companies home office was 1269 N. Wooddale Rd, Wooddale, IL 60191 and gave me a ref # for the cancellation. I ran out of time and could not further dispute the $69.99 charge. I called the company the next day and after asking 10 times was finally connected with a supposed supervisor. He said his name was Eddy from Asia and that the companies home office was in Miami, FL. The website address states Idaho. He refused to take the $69.99 charge off of my credit card account stating that he would lose his job if he did and the terms and conditions obligated him to charge me this. He then tried to negotiate by taking $40 off the $69.99 charge. When I asked to speak to his manager, he said he was busy and couldn't talk for a couple of hours and would not beable to call me back. I ask for his name and Eddy told me the supervisors name was Art but didn't know his last name because Art was new but that it started with an L. I told Eddy that no one in their right mind is going to request a free sample of teeth whitening product and obligate themselves to an additional $600 charge based on their terms and conditions for a product that we have never tried before. My credit card company is going to dispute the charge and have further investigative work done on this company and insturcted me to send the free sample back and retain a tracking number. The company never did send me additional product for the $69.99 they charge me for but if it shows up, it will be returned with a tracking as well. Please ask your credit card company to investigate this company and don't accept their charges if they are trying to take advantage of you.

I had the same problem - I wish i had read this before I ordered - and to boot I received a teeth whitening and coloflush product that i didn't even order! I have called twice and very cooly they explained they don't give refunds after 14 days and when I asked for a supervisor they were all in a "meeting". I am getting upset thinking about this and I am going to try to call again now. Plus I igot charged overdraft fees! I ordered on March 14 and on March 28th they charged my debit card - didn't even wait till I received it!

Ok - I called again and now again the supervisors were in a meeting - and again got no assistance - saw three charges on my bank statement again - called my bank and since their bank is off shore i got charged for international transactions. So i went ahead and put in a fraud complaint - this company is horrible. I haven't opened the products that i don't want and they won't take them back for a refund. Will keep you posted!

I have been waiting for one month for a trial shipment of Acai that I ordered on March 5, 2009. On March 20, 2009 I noticed a charged of $78.81 out of my account from your company and when I called and spoke with Maria she indicated that it was shipped and I told her I have not received it. We verified my address and they did not have the apt # listed so she added the apt# and said she would reship it and I would have it in 2-3 business days. Well today is Friday April 3, 2009 and my mail has just come and no product has come. I just called and spoke with a not so polite gentlemen who I explained everything to again and he is saying that my address is still wrong. He said its not their fault. Ok I let the first time go even though I have my print out from when I place the trail order, but the second time and I physically spoke to someone who verified and corrected the so-called problem NO. I told him that is unacceptable all he kept saying was it was my fault for not providing the correct address I said even the second time when I gave it to the lady. He saw where she gave me an credit for $50.0o for the inconvenience. I asked for a supervisor and he said he was some team leader and we are supervisors.

So I am going to contact the better business bureau and file a complaint with this company. I find this unfair and very insulting.

I GOT A CALL TODAY THAT THE ID SAID COMFIRM ORDER AND WHEN I ANSWERED IT THE WOMAN ASK FOR CAROLYN AND WHEN I ASKED WHO SHE WAS SHE HUNG UP ON ME. I HAVE NOT ORDERED ANY MORE ACAI PILLS AND DON'T WANT TO. THEY ARE FULL OF JUNK AND NOT JUST THE BERRY. I HOPE THEY ARE NOT DUMB ENOUGH TO CHARGE MY ACCOUNT AGAIN. I AM WAITING FOR A RETURN LABEL BUT HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT YET.

As with almost everyone here, my experience with Advanced Wellness Research and Pure Acai Berry has been a complete disaster. I, too, took the same steps as everyone else. I tried it for a few days, did not like the product and called the customer service line to cancel the order and obtain an RMA number WELL within the trial period. I tried for three days, staying on the phone for almost an hour each time and could not get an answer from ANYONE. I just got to listen to the same relooped song for the entire time. I tried both options of #1 and #3 - still no luck. The first charge for the entire product price was taken from my debit card while I was still trying to reach them.

I finally sent an e-mail to a contact address that I found well-hidden on the Advanced Wellness Research web-site. I stated what I had experienced and advised them that I wanted nothing more to do with their company and wanted to return the product. I received a response stating that they wanted to keep me as a customer and offered me a discounted price ($39.00) for future orders. I sent a response stating that I didn't want the product AT ANY PRICE and wanted an RMA # to send it back. Between that time and the time I received a response - they charged my debit card for a second time for $89.95. I then received an e-mail from someone else stating that I had to call their their customer service # to obtain an RMA #, they would not give me a number any other way.

I finally got someone on the customer service line, an Indian female who told me they had no cancellation on file. I gave her the information that I had already cancelled the order on 2/26/09 and had received an e-mail with "RE: Cancelled order on 2/26/09" in the subject line. She argued with me for quite a while, stated there was nothing she could do except cancel any future shipments. I told her I hadn't ordered the FIRST shipment and wanted my money refunded immediately. She told me that she could nothing about it, but again, she would cancel any further orders. She talked over me throughout the entire conversation repeating a mantra of crap about the fact that they are a reputable company and have quality customer service WHEN the customers follow the proper procedure for cancelling.

I still have had no luck in getting my $160 some dollars back from this company and truly don't expect to. BEWARE OF ORDERING ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY. They have no integrity and could not care less about the people they are scamming. I don't care how well the products they sell might work - get them somewhere ELSE and save yourself the frustration and the cost.

Did not receive product until after trial date. Unauthorized billing to my credit card and then to a subscription never authorized and will not refund money for product not received.

I saw an add with an endorsement (I now know it was a phony endorsement since I've seen the same thing with other teeth whitening products) claiming if I use these two different brands of whitening products I would get rapid results. It was an add to get free samples. The other brand was called Celebrity Smile. They have the same scam going.

I signed up for the free sample. No where during the sign up did I see it being a monthly membership. I got my free samples. I received a package today and knew I was being scammed. I called the number on my credit card statement where I had been charged for the free sample. The person on the other end who I could barely understand due to there heavy indian/pakistani accent told me I was being charged $54 or something like that since I could barely understand them.

I asked for a supervisor and could not understand that person so I hung up in frustration. I called back and made sure they canceled my phony membership. I am returning the product and will call my credit card company immediately and get charges reversed.

I too have been scamed and will just swallow the two $86.00 charges. I am leaving now for the bank to cancel my debit card and get a new one with a different number.

I am still trying to get my money back. I returned the "trial" kit because they automatically billed me for my next order, $91.00 Canadian. I have been batteling this company since November 2008, I am now going to phone them again today.
They played all kinds of double talk, telling me that I'm loosing you connection, I can't hear you very well, please put your headset closer to your mouth, you need to speak to my supervisor, which I did and he claimed that they started a new billing program and he can't find my account. I will check with the department in charge of refunds... they owe me $134.64 I did not see anywhere in the trial offer that they would bill me ahead of time for my next order, did anyone else?I am not going to give up, I am going to hound them for loger even, if I don't get my money back.
I will never again try a sample of anything, this is twice I got scamed, but it won't happen again.

Linda

I just got off the phone for the 4th time with this company trying to get back the $4.99 that was charged to me for a product that was never received. All of the customer service people kept asking me to wait for a couple of more days, and they were sure the product would arrive. I was able to cancel the future shipments (maybe--we'll see), but when I asked to speak with a supervisor I was first told that the floor was too big that they couldn't find him, and then when I persisted, I was told that he was in a meeting with management (this is what I had been told during the first call today, and was told to call back, which I did). This company is a SCAM! They are relying on people to not try to get their shipping costs (or future shipments costs) refunded because of all of the trouble and the stalling techniques that they have been taught. I will be checking my credit card, and will request that any future payment requests from them be denied.

Learn from my mistake---DON'T ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!

I too have been duped and when I checked with the BBB, there was no record of any complaints against this company! I have their email and I've emailed them some pretty nasty letters yet when I put that address in the BBB complaint form, it says its an invalid email address and won't send. This is really pissing me off! Even after canceling, they've billed me $70 and $55 in the last 2 days. If someone is organizing a class action lawsuit, I DEFINITELY want in!

I too took the bait, willing to pay S&H for a free sample of this NEW product.
It may be a new product, but it turned out to be an OLD scam. These crooks
also wanted me to try out their COLON cleaner (yuck). How appropriate would
that have been? I have instructed VISA to disallow the charge, but I still have to
pay the $ 78.81 while they investigate... I cannot believe these guys are given
space on the web pages of AOL and other service providers! This is criminal.
Are the feds really unaware of what is going on? Doesn't ANYONE know someone
who can raise some hell about this ripoff? I'm just a voice crying in the wilderness...

I have one question...how the hell does this happen in America? Story after story of people being ripped off and harrassed. I too was a victim of this fraud. But really-I feel like a COMPLETE IDIOT! Who gives their credit card offer to an unsecure site to try a 'free sample'? Like mom used to say "if it sounds too good to be true..." well you all know the rest. If you gave this company your credit card number than CANCEL IT. ASAP! Dont bother with the phone calls or emails. YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR MONEY BACK! Lesson learned. I emailed the Florida Attorney generals office and filed a complaint through them. Hopefully someone will shut these ### down! If you got your money back, consider yourself lucky. I did the phone calls-the emails-threatened to contact the BBB-they dont care. They make their money by ripping people off and thats that. Someone is making a hell of a living off suckers like us!

I am also having the same problem with them. They over draw my account by $304.85. I am calling the PA attorney general and filing a formal complaint. I am also including the name of their spoke person. According to their advertisment she is suppose to be from my home town. Also their customer service personnel are very rude. One person hung up on me. We need to file a class action law suit.

Same as everyone else, charged $4.99 S&H for the free trial, then $19.99 that no one will explain, then twice for $78.81 and twice for $83.80. $350.20 for a little bottle of TOTALLY worthless product. Below is one of the email replys. I also called customer service and was told no returns and no refunds, period.

it is assumed that the customer wants to continue with the subscription; hence the card is charged with the actual cost of the product i.e. $78.81 on the 15th day. Further you also get automatically signed up for our monthly subscriptions for $83, 80. This information is clearly stated in the terms and conditions on our website when you go ahead to process the order online.

I would REALLY like to know what is the best approach to get my credit card company to back me in this dispute and get my money returned. I have a card with Citibank. I think with so many complaints and investigations on this company, it would be interesting to find a comparison of which banks back their customers and which banks back the merchant, since this merchant is CLEARLY a thieving scam artist.

Joe

I placed an order for a "free" trial of Acai Berry weight loss supplement on 3/22/09. It was a free 14 day trial, however, the product did not arrive until 4/1/09. Little did I know that the "free trial" started on the day the order was placed. So for 14 days, I took the product, it did not work. I lost no weight, and I really wonder on the chemical contents of the product, because the label says it contains caffeine equivilant to 2 cups of coffee. So why could I take it and go to sleep? Hmm. So, today is the 14th, I have trialed it for 14 days, so I go to cancel my order, and I notice my bank account was charged $78.81 on the 10th. I really only had 9 days to trial the product, which is really not enough time to give a product a chance to work. I was on the phone with 4 different customer service reps in India, they refused to let me speak to a manager, said they were at a meeting for 4 hours. They were rude, one agent hung up on me. They all refused to refund me money, said it was "company policy". Finally, they said they will give me a $40 credit. We'll see. ADAVANCED WELLNESS RESEARCH COMPANY AND ACAI BERRY PRODUCT are both scams.
Don't buy from companies that outsource! EVER!

Hi,

I have just been on the phone with American Wellness Research, what abunch of crooks! They claim they informed me fully in the text when I ordered a teeth whitening product. I never got the product! And then 14 days later, they put me on their regular subscription and charged me $78.93! I called and gave them hell, which is hard to do because the people work in India and they don't understand the nuances of American anger over such issues, and the effort I had to go through to obtain just a partial credit was increidble! Long waits, put on hold, etc. I've contacted Visa, but we reallyneed to initiate a class action. I have filed a complaint with the FTC. Please also do so so that we can stop this. The company has a US office in Florida, and my complaint emails to them are replied to with canned text explaining that I am mistaken, I've agreed to a subscription, and I have to pay the charges. Amazing! I still have no product. Visa is sort of namby pamby about the issue. I'm sorry I didn't use my Amex card instead. Let's act and do something about this. Also contact your state attorney general!

This is a dishonest company. I paid once, but will not pay again. (Not sure I should have paid anything). I told the person from a foreign countryl that I did not want any more product. He agreed. This man was very stubborn. Advanced wellness research is a total scam outfit. Put them out of business.