Acai Optimum Reviews
Is AcaiOptimum.com Legit or a Scam?
Acai Optimum is a website that offers acai weight loss supplements through a free trial offer. It is also one of the last acai websites still allowing its affiliates to market their product through deceptive advertising. If you heard about this company chances are it was through one of the many advertisements plastered all over the internet.
The ad that you probably saw is one of the sneakiest marketing strategies developed to date, and frankly I would not be surprised to find out if it was technically illegal. When you click the advertisement you’re taken to what looks like a newspaper article profiling the Acai berry and making it out to be the miracle cure of the future.
The site is designed to look like a professional news outlet using everything from weather charts to videos and other tricks to make you feel like you’re at a legitimate news source. However this is not the case; the site has only one page on it and contains no real reports or articles, it’s strictly created to sell you Acai Optimum.
Click the image on the right to see an example of such an article. You can see that at the very top it even says “Advertorial” and you can be sure that none of the links work, they simply take you to the acai trial offer.
So is Acai Optimum a Scam?
The claim made by Acai Optimum is that taking their supplement will help you increase stamina and help your body minimize fat storage of foods that you eat. They imply that this will help you lose weight, but at the bottom of the page they do stipulate that none of the claims they make are evaluated by the FDA.
Now, I’m not a dietitian that has studied the acai berry, so it’s not my place to debate the health benefits of these products. I can tell you my opinion is that the whole Acai berry craze has been completely blown out of proportion with so many baseless claims being made you’d think it’s the next miracle cure. It may very well be healthy for you but I can almost assure you it’s no miracle cure-all.
The other aspect to Acai Optimum that causes many people to call it a scam is in their business model. Their whole purposes is to get you signed up for the trial period, however the trials is immediately followed by continual monthly billing.
It’s called a “negative option billing”, meaning you have to take action to stop being charged, and it’s pretty heavily frowned upon by the FTC. If you don’t read the terms and conditions you might miss this information which states that,
If you do not cancel your order within the 14 Day Trial Period and return the Product to us within 30 days after you cancel your order, your credit card on file will be charged $79.98. If after your 14 Day Trial Period you wish to continue to receive AcaiOptimum, simply do nothing, and in approximately 30 days and continuing every 60 days thereafter (a Recurring Order), you’ll be shipped out a fresh new 60 day supply of AcaiOptimum for the low price of just $49.00 per bottle with FREE shipping. For your convenience, we will bill the credit card you provided us for your initial order.” Remember, you can cancel at any time by contacting our Customer Care Department at 1-877-825-1528 or online at acoptimumcs.com.
From what people are saying, canceling the Acai Optimum trial seems like a nightmarish headache since they want you to first contact them for a Return Merchandise Authorization RMA number and then ship the product back to them. Many customers have complained of telephone numbers not working and staff being unresponsive. If you need more canceling instructions call them at the above number.
Acai berry products are in really high demand right now and their price reflects that. No one is giving them away for free and if you have signed up for a seemingly “free trial” I can assure you that you’ve just signed up for an overpriced continual billing plan and that you will have a heck of a time trying to cancel it.
After doing a fair bit of research, I’ve found only one legitimate business that sells acai supplements online. They’re certified by the BBB with zero complaints, sell 100% pure freeze dried Acai (highest form available), and offer their products cheaper than the scam sites and with no sneaky re-bills.
AcaiBerrySite.com is by far the most reputable retailer of Acai products so if you do decide to try it, I would definitely advise you to purchase it there.
Would you like to add your review for
April 9th, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Same here! Thought it was a good product to try…after charging me 99.00 twice and again for that same amount! contacted the company, sounded very fishy. Same guy, foreign accent said mail in the rebate info etc…mailed it in, nothing. repeated all the steps again, sent it certified..nothing, WOW..called and called, no answer, no answer. That was a year ago!
Yes I feel very violated! not right. To those who do wrong, it will come back to them..I pray this company will be found and out of business once and for all!
March 18th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
I too totally fell for this scam; I can’t believe I have been so stupid. I am only glad I read all these reviews so I can cancel my card immediately. I was under the impression I was just paying for the postage and only noticed to my horror the actual amount taken from my bank account for purecolon and hcgultra.
August 29th, 2011 at 1:33 am
I found no problem cancelling, my order. I tried it only for a few days about 18 months ago, It was not suitable as it interfered with my epilepsy medication.
July 31st, 2011 at 12:11 pm
so aside from being scammed money wise.. is the product any good? does it work?
June 29th, 2011 at 3:49 am
Same as everyone else, this is a total scam and it was a nightmare trying to get my money back. My credit card company got my money back for 1/2 off it. I also ordered the Advanced Colon from some article saying to use both and it turned out, the article was a fake not U.S. News at all! What a nightmare. Not only because I spent $200 for it, but it does not work one bit. And when I called customer service, and sent in my mail in rebates, I never did get the rebate money back and they told me they don’t do refunds, give it to friend! I learned my lesson!
June 1st, 2011 at 3:02 pm
I also read free trial 99 cents to get it. well they are so stupid and eager to charge you let me tell you, I had a prepaid card with only 10 dollars I had gotten all the bottles totaling up to 4 in a couple days and I realized the prepaid card was charged the 10 dollars right away after ordering. oh well that’s all they got and I got away with 4 bottles haha:) Isn’t that karma for them?
April 14th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
I got scammed by these jerks too! My Credit Card was charged (unauthorized) not once, not twice, not three times but four times! The total amount of charges were approximately $400!!! Their website claimed that it is a “FREE 30-DAY TRIAL” and only pay something like $3 for shipping. They got me good! I filed a complaint with the B.B.B. in Arizona against the company: “Calais Naturals, LLC”. Nothing was ever resolved. The B.B.B. marked my case as “Unresolved”. What a great help they were! All of us that were mislead and ripped off by this company should get together and file a law-suit against these bastards and sue the crap out of them!!! That is, if we can ever find out what happened to this company? Ever tried getting in touch with them? Impossible!
***EVA SUZUKI #191: YOU MUST WORK FOR THESE CROOKS, OR YOU’RE A LAWYER (THAT WORKS FOR THESE CROOKS) THAT ACTUALLY READS THE PAGES AND PAGES OF MISLEADING BS!!! IT’S A SCAM, LOOK ALL OVER THE INTERNET! SO, YOU THINK YOU’RE SMARTER THAN THE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE THAT WERE SCAMMED, WELL DO YA???***
April 5th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Another victim I am afraid of this now very obvious SCAM!
I cant believe how naive I was to apply for the trial of Acai & Colon cleanse.
I contacted my credit card company to report this but was told that they cannot block the payment and that cancelling my credit card would not stop the charges being made. They assured me that in the meantime they would contact the company and look in to it, but meanwhile charges could be still made to my account?! This does not seem right and I would appreciate some advice. My gut feeling is just to pay off the balance on my card & cancel it ASAP.
Anne
February 16th, 2011 at 10:12 pm
I too fell for this scam, i have been trying to contact them since oct last year so they can refund my money with no luck at all. i ordered the trial version but it came from an address in the uk but when i contacted the number on the receipt it never went through and same as the US ones. They charged me £66.96 twice and another for trial version £0.79.
Those from the UK, how did you get refunds?
January 13th, 2011 at 1:19 am
This is a scam. Ordered initial trial and immediately cancelled the next day. Website indicated “cancelled” and approximately 2 weeks later, product arrived despite website indicated “cancelled” on account screen. At that point, credit card was charge $99 and checked website again. This time, the “cancelled” was removed and deleted. Customer service claimed I never cancelled and I could cancel for $20. Immediately closed credit card number, disputed transactions, filed report with Internet Crimes Bureau in Washington D.C. and filed report with credit card company. Luckily, I had printed out statement initially from site stating “cancelled” and sent as evidence. Charges were dropped from my credit card. Incredible amount of work. Company is actually in Panama or someplace in South America and a complete scam.
November 11th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Acai Optimum/Colon Cleanse – Complete Scam – I feel a plank for falling for it and ended up worse off financially after being stung for $99.96 twice for each product and numerous odd small amounts with zero help from their customer service team. Cancelled the card to ensure no further transactions could be taken.
October 20th, 2010 at 11:11 am
I also was duped into “free trial” offer on July 13, 2010. they were offering 2 different products for only shipping charges of $1.49. when i looked at the charges they billed me for a total of $101.45 each (1.49 S/H $99.96 for the product)stating there will be a “mail in ” rebate for total charges of $0.00. there was no “mail in” rebate. i had to find it online and download it. on August 2, 2010 i mailed in the 2 rebate forms that stated “please allow 2-3 weeks to process your rebate. Your rebate will be in the form of a Visa gift card.
It is now October and still nothing.
I don’t know what to do that is a lot of money that they stole from me.
October 8th, 2010 at 11:51 am
I talked to Peggy, a supervisor, on 10.4.10. She ASSURED I would receive an e-mail from the company confirming a refund of $400+ dollars. It has nearly been 96 hours and I have received no notice. I understand the actual credit to my card may take 10-14 days as she said but I want the confirmation e-mail NOW! Otherwise I will start with the Better Business Bureau on Monday and proceed from there. I have returned ALL product and was advised by my doctor not to take it.
October 1st, 2010 at 2:05 pm
This is a terrible scam. You can call and they give a cancellation # and then say wait 24 hrs and you never get an email. Call again and they want your email address again then another cancellation number and another operator. More run around!
Canceled my card and filed a report with the RCMP’s scam dept
My bank said that they are very familiar with these guys. So never order a free sample of anything. It is for sure going to be a big problem.
I got my cancellation today Oct. 1 after fighting for two months exactly, so my advice is fight as hard as you can, but do not let them win your hard earned money.
Gail Wiltse says:
February 25th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
I too have unapproved charges to my credit card. Will notify my credit card company today. I do not have the orginal invoice, therefore have to contact information.
It would be extremely helpful if you could provide me with their contact phone number, address, email address, (anything)
I am sorry it was so difficult for you to implement your cancellation, and am pleased it finally happened.
Thank you for your comments and hope to hear from you.
September 29th, 2010 at 2:29 am
I requested a free sample of acai optimum (miracle?!!) pills and billed 1.97USD. Never got them
but was charged not once but twice in one day $USD 99.95 and 99.96 dollars.
I’ve BEEN RIPPED OFF !!!!! BIGGEST SCAM. Didn’t even get the pills.!!!
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:03 pm
I too was charged 99.96 twice. I filed a complaint with the BBB and have received my money back into my account! Worked wonderfully!
September 20th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
I was caught too by ordering what I thought was a free trial and giving card details to pay for postage. I was told on the phone today that they do not offer free trials and that I should have read the conditions etc… These were not obvious and only obtainable by clicking on the small print ‘Terms & Conditions’ on their email confirming the order.- a bit late. I live in UK and the stuff was sent from a UK address -I managed to cancell by phoning the Arizona number (several times!)they say they will send no further supplies or make amy more debits. Today I am still trying to get them to refund the money they had already deducted. I was in touch with UK ‘Consumer Direct’ today and they are preparing a case to submit to Trading Standards Institute. Obviously the more examples they have the better their case so if you are in the UK and have been stung in this way please contact Consumer Direct.
September 16th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
I was also scammed, basically same as the rest of you. I did however manage to get my money back. I sent them a mail with all of your complaints, with the heading- NOT A SCAM? I promptly received a mail “after reviewing my application for a refund” they decided to give my money back. Although it took a few more mails, the refund showed up on my account yesterday. It is worth a try you guys! I have however learn a valuable lesson. Opened a separate account for online purchases, and will only deposit the purchase amount in there.
Good luck to you all, keep on mailing them. Don’t bother calling them though, it only causes your blood pressure to rise!
September 15th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I ordered on line for 1.19 and got charged 1.19 plus 99.96, was told i would get back my 99.96, but now they said that i ordered it. so no refund.It is a rip off.
September 14th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
been there done that …and I feel like a total idiot. I felt for the fake website (the one that looks like a news website ) right after I ordered on 08/05 I was charged 99.97 and $3.00 ( both on the same day ). then on 08/06 I was charged $1.19. I also had to pay $2.00 for a “Foreign Transaction” I called and canceled I went on the website and canceled. on 08/31 they took $1.45 out of my account again…. I think if my bank didn’t send me the email to tell me that there is something strange going on on my account they would have taken more money out. because it did said it was a pending charge and the company hasn’t send the total amount yet ( or something like that ) . I called my bank and I called the company and they said I would get the money back. I didn’t … I lost the rebate but I don’t even care about that anymore … and after reading everything here I better call my bank and get me a new card because I’m sure they will take money out again …ohh and the product didn’t even work ..just my luck …
September 10th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
This is a joke…supposed to get a trial sample for $1.19…next thing I know my bank account was robbed of almost $100. By the time I got thru to the company, to a rude customer service rep without a grasp of the English language, I was totally frustrated. I was told I now have to go online and find a rebate form, and they refund the money with a Visa card…I said I’d better not be getting any more of this junk…I was “assured” that wouldn’t happen. This company is a total scam and should be put out of business. My next project is to find every place that I can to complain about them…they’re criminal.
September 7th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I also tried acai optimum and was also unable to reverse the charges or return all of the product to them intact. They said it wasn’t part of a Mail In Rebate program, so I wasn’t eligible for the rebate. What a load of dung. We have to get this to the Justice Department for Fraudulent behaviors. Please send your complaints about this company to the U.S. Justice Department so that something will be done!!!!!
September 6th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
A (false) Facebook link led me to this company where I could get a FREE 15 Day Trial of ACIA Optimum for just the cost of shipping, $1.95. They charged me (immediately on placing the order) $99.96. Refused to cancel the order because they said it was a Rebate program, but failed to inform me that the Rebate was void if I cancelled the 2nd shipment in 30 days (which I did, not wanting to be charged $99.96 again!). They also charged me the $1.95 shipping AND $2.00 for a “Foreign Transaction”? Then they refused to refund my money if I returned the product, BECAUSE IT WAS A REBATE PROGRAM! I have disputed this with the bank, but who knows if I’ll ever see that money again. BUYER BEWARE! This company is bad news!
September 5th, 2010 at 3:52 am
i fell for it, JUST CANCEL YOUR CARD!
September 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 am
I also got scammed. I fell for the online add and decided to sign up for the “free trail” for the shipping costs of $1.95. Only when I called to get my RMA# and cancel they tried to tell me I had signed up for the real deal not the trail and would still be charged $99.99!!!! OMG!!
Now I am going to have to try to get my credit card company to stop payment. How can they do this kind of stuff?
September 1st, 2010 at 12:18 pm
HERES MY STORY read if you have hope for your bank account…
OVER 5 MONTHS this company overall has charged me $10.74
I ordered last april. Cancelled RIGHT AWAY both online AND the next morning over the phone. they sent me an email saying I would no longer be charged.
(Calling and dealing with this company SUCKS. i would recommend calling early in the morning (around 9am). )
they charged me 3.95 for shipping.
I never received any product.
—four months later—
no account activity from them, no products…
then i get a $2.82 charge on my account… for no reason…
i went to my bank and informed them the company was charging me for no reason, and would like a notification if they do it again.
—one month later—
Irregular debit card activity email from my bank for another charge. this time for $3.95 (looks like a shipping charge right??)
start to freak out a little. call my bank- they had no problem canceling my debit card and issuing me another one. BIG SIGH
this company cannot charge me anymore. id say overall this was a big worrysome pain. but was fairly easy to fix.
your bank is your friend :)
good luck everyone
September 1st, 2010 at 12:25 am
I fell for it, too–charged $99.96 twice. I called them up to get refund and failed. I have contacted my credit card company and put those two amounts on dispute. I wonder if anybody did that and what happened.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:24 pm
THIS IS THE BIGGEST SCAM EVER!!! any positive responses I am certain are the people who thought about this HUGE fraud!! I am sure they pay people to write positive responses as they have so many SCAM alerts about this company on the internet. I too have the exact story as most have written. Tried to cancel-get penalized, Tried to report it as fraud to Credit Card company- They knew exactly why I was calling as they had been inundated with people calling them to report them. Called- NO HELP, Went on the Live help center-HA….. that was a joke. All I can say is what goes around comes around and these people who seem to enjoy SCAMMING all of us are sitting somewhere laughing at us all! Very Sad, at least I don’t have to look at myself in the mirror on a daily basis like they do and have no remorse.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:43 am
I agree with what everyone said! Complete scam! I did both the Acai Berry and the Colon Cleanse, hate the products and I was taken for 99.96 each twice, when promised only shipping. The rebate was a nightmare to find, and then debit keeps being charged bizarre amounts after cancelling. I was one of the “suckers” who that the article from USA Today was legit! This needs to be stopped! Then I find out the company is foreign and can’t get anyone who speaks decent English. A $400 lesson to be learned on not ordering products like this on-line! Never give out your credit card # if you don’t know the company or they don’t use pay pal.
August 30th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
I ordered the product and immediately cancelled when my credit card/debit card said i was charged like $80 as soon as it was proccessed. I was stunned but angry at myself because I didn’t read the fine print. I called customer service at 8 and got straight through. The lady was nice and explained that I had to pay $19 more dollars to do an emergency cancel. I said sure and that money was taken out. I checked my bank account online and saw that the $80 was still pending so I went and got a new check card and vola. I still got the product which I would never use
(it’s not even fda approved). And i ended up paying $19 dollars for it. This was a lesson learned and I will never make that mistake again.
August 30th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
We also got scammed! Fortunately we happened to check our credit card bill on line and noticed over $200.00 in charges for the product that was supposed to be ‘free’. They billed us before we ever even received the product! We had to cancel our credit card. We heard about the product through a facebook friend, however our friend NEVER sent it! What a scam.
August 28th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Big scam, I bought into it, and my rebate is on it’s way. However they send you 2 instead of 1 bottle so this “free Product” now will cost me 99.96, when they promised $1.95.
August 27th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Scam – ordered the free sample – when the free sample was received there were 2 bottles in the box – started reading the insert and called – the woman who answered the phone told me that I was going to be charged $99.96 for the 2nd bottle that was included with my free sample. I was advsied that I could not return the 2nd bottle -they would not let me return the full order. The literature included with the bottles said I needed a RMA # to return the product within 14 days. I received the produce 2 days ago. They refused to give me a RMA #. Spoke to a supervisior – she said she could reduce the charge to $50.00. I refused the offer as I want the full $99.96 refunded.
Will contact state and federa agencies to fight this SCAM.
August 27th, 2010 at 11:28 am
I too fell for this scam. I clearly clicked on a free trial only due to pay £1.19 postage and packing. Within minutes, I got a call from the fraud department of my bank who asked me to verify a request for £66.66. I told them I had agreed to £1.19. They knew I must have signed up for a free trial and had been mislead. unfortunately, they could only advise me to contact the company to cancel, which I did. So within 10 minutes, I placed the order and canceled it. I was given a cancellation code too. I looked on the website and my order status was shown as canceled. Two days later the goods arrived, four days later, the debit showed on my bank statement. I have just spent 35 annoying minutes trying to get someone to listen to me and it is hopeless. They will not refund my money, they are not interested in listening to me, they refused to let me speak to someone who could help. I gave up and now feel really foolish to have fallen for this scam and really angry that I have nowhere else to go. Surely someone somewhere can get this lot shut down?
August 27th, 2010 at 8:56 am
I ordered the free trial, paid $.99 for shipping & handling and received my bottle in 3 days. But then got concerned when I started reading about all the nightmares. I was going to call my card in as lost but thought I would give the company one shot. I went online and canceled my order. I had the option of sending back the bottle or paying $19.99 and keeping it. I chose to send back and got another confirmation. It showed canceled.
I still called customer service to follow up; got a bilingual customer serv rep immediately who was very nice and told me that he saw my cancellation, and that if I paid $2.49 I wouldn’t even have to send back the bottle. That’s what I did, kept the product, lost 11 lbs during the 30 days with no real lifestyle change, have never been shipped another shipment nor charged again. I do think BUYER BEWARE. I also think that all the web offers have different terms of service. My best advice is to READ the terms of service and follow the instructions. Maybe all the scams are from other sites, but the one listed above with the customer service number is the one I used and it is not a scam. You have instructions and you just have to comply with their policy to get your bottle at little cost.
August 27th, 2010 at 8:51 am
I placed an order this morning for both the advanced colon and the acai optimum and received 2 emails in less than 30 seconds. Unfortunately though I wasn’t aware of this website and the horror stories around the continual monthly billing. This nightmare has put me off wanting to even receive the trial and the possibility of having to pay for 2 lots of each product amounting in £260. So, I contacted my company’s head of security and was advised to actually cancel my order with this scam company via email and cancel my credit card, given this scam company seem to stop at nothing to try and get these payments, that’s exactly what I’ve done, although why should we have to go to these extremes.
August 24th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
I placed an order for acai optimum and the advance colon. The cost: less than $5 total for shipping with a 14 day trial from date ordered. I had confirmation #’s of order and expected confirmation via email. WRONG. No email confirm so I called the company within minutes of placing the order. I inquired about not receiving email confirmation they said wait 24hrs. I told them I wanted to verify my order. They were charging me $99 so I canceled the order via the phone. Never did receive an email confirmation from them.
I received the order 3 days later with a charge over $200 to my account. I called the company they said no refunds and asked if I read the agreement. Yeah trial bottle plus shipping (discount code) 14 days. They would only repeat their policy. It’s a scam. I’m contacting BBB and cnn,abc,fox,usa and today from the c1healthnews.com/usacaiaoptimum What a setup.
August 24th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
I fell for this but I got the last laugh.
My credit card company offers online protection by allowing me to request a “dummy” credit card number for which I can set a limit. I set the limit at $5 when I placed the order.
They sent the Acai trial plus a Cleanse trial. I emptied the bottles, requested an RMA# authorization from the website and sent them back the empty bottles as directed in the terms (which I read carefully).
Then I went to the website and followed the instructions to cancel future order; did not use phone number, just followed the online instructions.
I followed that up with an email to request cancellation confirmation which they provided within 24 hours.
They cannot charge my credit card anything more because of the $5 spending limit I put on it. So if they send me any future products, I’m not paying for them!
Consumers – PLEASE check with your credit card company to see if they offer this option. For my company it is called “ShopSafe.” Anytime I buy online, I can go to my account and request a dummy number and give it any limit I want. The charge goes to my regular credit card statement, but since the vendor does not have my real number, they cannot make any unauthorized charges.
Because of this.. I was able to get the last laugh!
August 24th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I too tried the AcaiOptimum for only 90 cents. Ninety cents I couldn’t go wrong if it didn’t work. Well, they charged me $2.82 and then 8 cents, no big deal. Almost 3 weeks later they charged me $29.95 & then 90 cents, I thought this was for another order. The first time I called about this charge they told me to go on rebate vault.com, that wasn’t easy to figure out. And then when I called again they said nothing was shipped out so they canceled my order. Now they told me that I will be credited. Whether to my account or a visa card either way is fine. Except for the first time, I got through no problem & they were very nice. So hopefully there won’t be a problem with my credit.
And to Bev, I did speak with them and they assured me that there wasn’t any other charges. So they lied outright to me. Also, on the terms and agreements it didn’t say anything about canceling within 14 days or you will be charged.
Moral of the story, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. Good luck to you all on your refunds.
August 24th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Yeah, I went to the site and when it had popups when I tried to leave, I knew something was up.
But folks, if you want to get rid of the credit card charges, just contact your credit card company and they will reverse the charges and probably will ask you to if you want them to block these scammers from ever charging your card again. This is EASILY done.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I thought this was a great offer where I’d pay for S$H initially and then be charged an additional amount for future shipments if I didn’t cancel my order (I’d done this before with other companies)
To my dismay I was charged $99.96 for the Acai/Colon combo…that’s $99.96 EACH bottle! I called immediately to rectify the situation at which point a woman named Stacy told me the rebate promised on their website was only applicable if I purchased a 2nd month of the pills at a reduced cost of $25 each. I figured if I had to spend $50 to get my almost $200 back [in the form of Visa cards] it’s better than nothing! She then told me that after I was charged the $50 for the 2nd month I could call and cancel my account and still be eligible for the rebates.
When I called again to verify I spoke with a “supervisor” named Kobe who told me that my account had already been canceled and I am therefore no longer eligible for the rebates, meaning I am stuck with a $200 bill. When I tried to return the product he said I was past the 14 day period…not because I’ve had the actual product for 14 days but because my order was over 14 days ago (it took the pills 8 days to get here!). I feel SO embarrassed and stupid for falling for this, I’m usually smarter than this :)
In terms of the actual efficacy of the product…the acai may do something to help curb my appetite, but the advanced cleanse is worthless and actually tells you not the use the product for over 7 days (they gave me a 30 day supply!)
Hope this helps others!
August 21st, 2010 at 7:21 pm
I am soooo glad to have come across this site!! I’ve just been onto the “C1 news report” webpage and like almost everyone else on here, was sort-of taken in by the revelation of losing so much weight in a short space of time. Then I read the terms and conditions (sorry Michael K, but they are clearly visible on the site for you to read).The wording re: the refunding process has obviously been drafted very cleverly by their lawyers to mislead. I was unsure and so haven’t ordered, was going to phone customer services tomorrow for a full explanantion before I committed myself. I’m happy not to have ordered…..as for those who have, I am sympathetic to your situation, however, it always pays to read the small print, and if you didn’t do that, you can only blame yourselves. I’m going to try a reputable health foodstore chain instead and see what they’ve got to offer on this product.
August 21st, 2010 at 10:18 am
I was sucked in by the “Advertorial” advertising Acai Optimum free trial for only $1.95 shipping. Fortunately my card was declined. A few minutes later my credit card company called telling me the company was trying to charge me $99.96!!!
I checked out another site and there purporting to be another investigation was a word-for-word identical “news article” under a different woman’s name.
This is nothing but fraud.
August 20th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I really wish that these comments would be more helpful! Too bad they can’t pop up on the ad as it appears on the computer! I was charged 99.96 for the product! Not only that every day I continue to find charges for 1.29 6.95 1.19 appearing on my credit card. WATCH OUT FOR THIS! I finally discovered this and contacted the credit card company and told them to cancel my card and reissue me a new #! They are being good about it!
Sorry to hear about all your mishaps with the product. Personally, I e-mailed the BBB. hope you all get retribution on this matter. Take care and God bless!
August 20th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
just like what seems to be everyone else, i was pulled in by their fake news station website. so excited that i could lose weight fast, i clicked on the link that took me to their website to fill in my info. free 30-day trial just pay $1.97 for shipping. i also ordered the advanced colon supplement because that too was a free 30-day trial, just pay shipping.
after ordering both, i checked my card balance. i had almost $200 missing. i was charged $99.96 per bottle. i immediately canceled both products, contacted my bank (i was dealing with a debit/credit card), and the company itself. the company assured me that my accounts & orders had been canceled. however when i asked for a refund, they refused to give me one saying that in the terms & conditions it says that one won’t be refunded. i asked to speak with a supervisor who said that the most he could do would be to give me only half of my money back (roughly $100). better than nothing, right?
i filed an unauthorized transaction dispute through my bank. they got me my $200 back but i was told that if any product arrived, i should ship it back or else i would be charged for that product. after receiving a bottle, i have honestly sent out ten emails in the past five days trying to find out how & where to ship acai optimum back but they just keep telling me that i don’t need to ship it back. and if i don’t want it, to just give it to a friend. however, i did still get refunded the $200 with the help of my bank.
this is a shady company to be dealing with. i do put some blame on myself for being dumb & not reading the terms & conditions before a)dealing with a company online who i hadn’t heard of before that day and b)handing over my credit card info. hopefully someone sees this review page before they sign themselves up for a nightmare.
August 19th, 2010 at 11:08 am
I ordered the Acai optimum and colon cleanse “free trial” on 08Aug, received optimum on 11Aug, tried it and found I was so dehydrated that I needed to stop taking it so cancelled it on 17Aug (within the required 14 days) according to the T&Cs “By placing your order today you’ll be shipped a 30 day supply of AcaiOptimum (just pay S&H). If you feel AcaiOptimum is not for you, cancel within 14 days from today to avoid the purchase fee of £58.98 and enrollment in the auto-shipment program which sends you 2 bottles every 60 days starting 30 days after your trial period at the low price of £34 per bottle. Your credit card charge will appear as NTR*acoptimumcs.com. To cancel anytime call 0808-168-3410.”
Found my credit card has 2 debits of £66.11 made on 13Aug- so much for a free trial. Customer services lie to you about the T&Cs. Refuse to refund me. I still have not received the colon cleanse. DO NOT GET DUPED!
August 19th, 2010 at 6:41 am
i phoned them back two days later on the english number, gave them a piece of my mind, they have cancelled my account. But will not return my money even if i send t items back. But he told me what a bargain i got £130 for 4 bottles, i said if they dont work do i get my money back!!!!! he said i need to read the terms and conditions!!!!! i said he should read this web page and how could he work for a company that is conning people with wrong information and they should look up the word “FREE” because this was not FREE as they advertised.I told him again i signed up for the FREE TRIAL and only pay for shipping, he said read the terms……SO MAD, GOING TO SPEAK TO MY C CARD COMPANY TO SEE WHAT THEY CAN DO, MAY REPORT MY CARD AS STOLEN IN CASE THEY DONT CANCEL THE PAYMENTS, (LIKE SOME ONE SUGGESTED) Good luck everyone . x
August 18th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
“Click here to get a free trial of Acai Optimum. Free offer. Pay only $1.97 shipping by using coupon code ‘WEIGHTLOSS’”.
Yep, that’s how I fell for this scam. All the comments from others are true; this is the biggest scam ever. Jennifer’s posting on August 9th regarding the “important part of the story” is exactly what happened to me today. I thought I was putting in something wrong, and was flustered with the customer rep on the other end of the line. Needless to say, after following all instructions, I was never informed of the $99.96 charge until AFTER I was charged. The rep tried telling me it was in the terms and conditions at the bottom. I read the terms and conditions and the only thing stated is that the product is not guaranteed and not approved by the FDA (short version). Regardless, this is a perfect example of bait and switch. I fear I am out the $99.96 I have been charged, and I am guessing I am not going to get their crappy product.
The government is probably not doing anything about this because the company contributes millions to politician campaign funds. Just a thought. Regardless, I am in the process of filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I urge everyone to do the same!! I am also looking into filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s office (not sure yet if I do it in Idaho where I live, or California or Delaware where the company has its ties). Please consider taking the same measures! This is a complete and total scam.
August 18th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Anyone who enters credit card information without reading terms and conditions is an idiot. I am assuming that everyone who is complaining here is an adult. You say that you were taken in by these news stories, but you don’t bother reading the website where you enter your personal information. Stop blaming the company for your own mistakes and own up to them.
August 18th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
THIS IS A TOTAL SCAM!!! PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE OR YOU WILL BE SORRY!!!!!
August 18th, 2010 at 2:25 am
Arrrrr!!!! So i guess i got the new scam…
I ordered my ”free” trial for both Acai Optimum and the Advanced Colon.
But then i found this site(30mins too late)-so i checked my bank account and $342 had been taken out????
I rang & they did answer – but APPARENTLY the free trial is NO longer available?? – even tho its still on the website???
And by entering my details (like an idiot) i automatically signed up for some rebate program???
Where i receive 2 bottles of each product & get charged $118 now and $118 in 30days FOR EACH???? but then receive a rebate of 1 x $118 when i send in a form…
I spent 20mins argueing and have now been told to call back later & speak to a supervisor – which im pretty sure doesnt exsist :(
so in short – i gotta wear it like the rest’v u.
Im hoping since im going to have 4 bottles – they atleast work??
August 17th, 2010 at 11:34 am
STAY AWAY THEY HAVE TAKEN 129.18 FOR TWO BOTTLES OF THE SAME…IT WAS MEANT TO BE FREE JUST PAY THE SHIPPING…WHERE DID THE FREE BIT COME INTO IT??? THEY HAVE A NUMBER IN ENGLAND 0080086558655 IM TO PHONE THAT NUMBER FRI!!!!!! SAYS THEY HAVE CANCELED THE REST OF MY BILL, MY C.CARD COMPANY CANT DO ANYTHING AT THE MIN AAARRRRRR
August 16th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Complete scam. They charged me $99 for each bottle and then wouldn’t give me my money back. So I am out $200 for a product I requested canceled within 10 minutes of purchasing. Their customer service is absolutely horrible and disgusting. Biggest waste of money and time.
August 12th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
I know there are enough posts on here to convince a whole country to not fall for this scam, but I really just need to vent. After reading the stupid “Channel 6 News Article” I decided this would be the best gag gift ever for my best friend who barely weighs 100 pounds. The final page stated that I would only be charged $1.19, but the next day when I check my bank statement, I’m $200 SHORT! $200. How the hell do I miss a $200 charge? I check where it came from, and it turns out the Acai company charged me twice for $99.98. I spent 3 hours on the phone with a ton of people who need to go back to their damn country and learn to speak english 3 days in a row, and they told me that I will be charged the same amount in 30 days unless I cancel, that there’s nothing I can do about a refund, and that I can’t return the pills.
After screaming at numerous people who I couldn’t understand, I was finally transferred to someone who told me they could cancel the future 30 day charge, and the most they could refund me is half of both of the charges. For all of you people who are having problems, if you cause enough trouble with the customer service reps. they’ll eventually have to give up to some extent. Tomorrow I will go to my bank and see what I can do about getting my money back, and also cancel my credit card to prevent future problems. And now I have no idea what I’m going to do with the 60-day supply they’re sending me.
I’m scared it’s going to affect me in the long run, like all the other scams you hear about on the T.V. Good luck to everyone else who’s still currently having problems, and my sympathies to everyone who’s had to deal with these people.
August 11th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
please, somebody do something against these people, there’s must be something to stop this fraudulent company doing business the way they do. I can’t believe the government is not taking steps to avoid companies like this to screw up the people.
August 11th, 2010 at 6:49 am
So i just read rgivens complaint above… the weird thing is the EXACT same thing happened to me, except when i ordered last april (4 monthes ago) i canceled on the same day and never got anything shipped. they told me i would not get charged. but the other day i got 07/30/2010 Debit Card Transaction NTR*acoptimumcs.com 8664 07/29NTR*acopt $2.52 on my bank statement.
what is that charge for and why did we get it on the same day???
August 9th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
If only I’d read this before I placed my order. I also placed an order for the 14 day free trial, realized about a week later when I looked at my credit card bill that I was billed $99.96 so I called the company to cancel my order and was told that it already shipped and I couldn’t. The supervisor refused to give me my money back and attempted to tell me what I ordered and walk me through what I supposedly ordered.
THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART OF THIS STORY…while I was attempting to walk myself through the ordering process again (to find out where I went wrong), my computer wouldn’t let me continue as I was already a customer, so I put in my mother’s name address and new email address and it while I was on the phone, all the data from my original order changed to what I just typed in (and I still couldn’t get in).
Three and a half weeks later, I still never received the bottles that were supposedly mailed before my call to cancel only to find out that the order hadn’t even been shipped until 3 days after I attempted to cancel my order. The kicker, it didn’t go to the address on my order, it went to my mother’s name and address that I never actually changed with the company. I was told if there were any issues to email with the fraud department.
I have put in a complaint with my credit card and have received a refund from them, but this is a COMPLETE AND TOTAL SCAM.
August 9th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
This is a total fraud. I was lead to believe I would get a $99.96 rebate and only have to pay $1.49 shipping. However, this is turns out to be only after you’ve purchased another $99.96 shipment of this crap that doesn’t even work! Of course this is all in the fine print that pops up after they already have your credit card info. I canceled my “membership”, canceled my credit card and had to be issued a new card and am out almost a hundred bucks for nothing.
I blame my own stupidity and for not checking it out better before ordering, but their tactics are definitely deceitful and it’s nothing more than a total scam. The products may arrive, but they’re the most over priced junk I’ve ever seen. They don’t work and you just keep getting socked for the price over and over!
I tried to cancel my order minutes after placing it, but the phone lines say the extension is busy. I was scammed via Facebook and it looked like my sister-in-law has sent it to me. Since she’s lost a lot of weight lately I thought it was for real. Won’t fall for another scam again, that’s for sure. Hope none of you do either. Hopefully most of you are smart enough to be reading these reviews before you place an order rather than after you’ve been scammed.
August 9th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
The company has adopted a method of doing business that is designed to rip off anyone that tries the product. It is virtually impossible to find their terms and conditions and the whole site is set up to make you believe you are getting a 30 day supply for 4.95.
It is not a 30 day supply for 4.95. It’s a 15 day supply for 4.95. If you don’t cancel during that period, you’re billed for about $80 for the next 15 days (the remainder of the first bottle), without getting anymore product. Then, you’re billed again for another $80. At least for this you get two bottles of the same worthless product.
In the ad there is no mention of the stuff they put in the capsules in addition to the acai (which may or may not actually be in there). After dealing with this company, I have my suspicions. Getting back to the extra stuff there is caffeine, grapefruit extract, and a bunch of other stuff.
I called my credit card company and told them this company did not have my permission to charge my card and that didn’t help. They were familiar with the scam which leads me to believe they are getting a lot of complaints about theses types of scams.
I called the company and canceled my account. If you do this, be sure you write down the cancellation number and the date you cancel. To give a reference point, i got 6 bottles of acai (with no other stuff) from Puritan Pride for less than $20. Personally, I don’t think it’s a good weight loss product but probably has antioxidant properties.
August 7th, 2010 at 12:01 am
OMG I’m sooooooooo scared. I fell for this too, and now I don’t know what to do. Acai Optimum, and Advance Colon are the same company. I was stupid enough to sumbit 3 trial offers, with 3 diffirent names, and now I got everything mixed up, and so far I’m out $600.00. I should have read this before I ordered it. I haven’t even received all my orders yet, and they claim to deliver it in 3 to 5 days. When I called them to ask about the product arriving, they told me it could be up to 10 bussiness days, and it’s already been more and I haven’t gotten the products yet. Plus they say it’s a 30 day trial, but they actually send 2 bottles of each product and they bill you for it!
I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m so scared that they’ll keep charging me, and I won’t be able to stop them.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I call my credit card company and tell them to stop charges from them?
I’m sooooooooooooooooooo stupid! I’m a second time mom, not working, and I’m desperate to loos weight, so I did this on impolse. I feel sick to my stomach, I’m such a fool!
Does anyone know if this actually works? Don’t fall for this, just don’t do it!
August 6th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Yes, I too was scammed by this. I tried using my prepaid card for the $1.95 shipping charge. It did not work. Ithought maybe nothing on card, then used my bankcard. what a dummpy I was. The add said nothing about no $99.96 charge just free trial offer and pay for shipping . When I completed the whole process at the end after recieveing all my information; it saysw “charged a $100 and get a 99.96 mail in rebate. I am scared to take it now ,but did cancel my debit card
August 6th, 2010 at 10:40 am
I Saw this Free trail thing and i thought i would try it out. The site said nothing about a mail in rebate, as soon as i typed in my credit card number a screen comes up with mail in rebate, i called to cancel and they were closed..Of course. so i called the next morning because my card had already been charged and they tell me they cant do anything for me, they dont refund and now im being forced to cancel my card before they charge monthly.. this is a scam!
August 4th, 2010 at 11:30 am
I too have come across an advert of free trial acaioptimum and advanced colon max, for which a charge of £1.95 x 2 would be made for shipping and processing.
To my surprise I was charged £64.52 x 2 ($99.00 x 2).
After contacting customer services, they issued me with cancellation numbers for ‘subscription’, which I never ordered, but refused to refund the main charge of
£64.52 x 2.
This is an obvious scam so be aware.
Bud.
August 4th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Thanks for putting up the 877-825-1528 number. I called and canceled the same day the bottles arrived. The person I spoke to, I wrote down their name and number & checked my e-mail to be sure it has been canceled. Now I’m going to go to my bank with the printed copy e-mail and hopefully I wouldn’t be billed, ever…THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME ORDERING ON LINE. Next time if I ever order on line, I will use a prepaid card. Wish me luck and I will keep you all posted on the outcome..
August 3rd, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Hey guys look I did a ton of research on this before I did this. I went to BBB and there have been several complaints filed against the company. The company is called sterling management solutions and they provided a number for anyone wanting a full refund I hope this helps.
1-877-823-1667
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:58 pm
I was totally unprepared for the small print that stated you have to purchase more than one bottle and pay almost $200.00 before you received such a wonderful discount! It is true….”If it is to good to be true.. than it isn’t” Do not purchase from these people.. you get to keep the product…but they do not do refunds!!!!!
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:31 am
Never order from this company. I ordered the free trial period where all I had to pay was the shipping and handling. The next day I noticed that there was a hold on my account for $99.96. WHAT?! So I called and they told me that this is what they do to ensure they get your money. Well I canceled my order because I needed that money in my account to pay some bills since according to the website my card wouldn’t be charged till the end of the 30 days. So now my order is canceled and I never received any product since I canceled within a day.
25 days later….. They took $99.96 out of my account!!! After I had already canceled 25 days later. I called customer service and the first person I talked to was very nice, said sorry about that and told me she would process my refund. Keep in mind all refunds take 3 to 5 business to return to your account. On the 5th business day I called inquiring about my refund because it had not gone through yet. The first girl was hard to understand, couldn’t answer my question, I asked to talk to a supervisor, then put me on hold for 15 minutes. I hung up and called back. The second person I talked was very rude. I told him I wanted to speak with a supervisor and he told me that my refund and the question as to why I was charged the $99.96, wasn’t a valid enough reason to speak to his supervisor. Excuse me? How is this not a valid enough reason?
He argued with me and refused to let me talk to a supervisor. Then he just hung up on me. RUDE!!! I called back and the third person finally transferred me with less hassle. The supervisor I talked to was just as rude, she yelled at me, and she basically didn’t care one bit about the fact that they took money out of account that I needed to pay bills. Her reason was “there must have been a system glitch, Oops”.
This company is so unprofessional and rude. They take your money and won’t even accommodate you for having to deal with such rudeness and headache. I didn’t even receive a sorry. That would have been sufficient enough.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:09 pm
I got suckered by this as well. And I’m an infosec professional!
Long story short, I was actually doing research on ankle arthritis (I’ve destroyed mine twice, and it’s been giving me trouble lately). Weight loss is one thing that can help, and a link FROM THE LEGITIMATE HEALTH WEBSITE I WAS ON pointed to the ‘news report’. Yeah, these guys have gotten their fake news reports into mainstream advertisement affiliation! WTF?!?
Pretty nasty stuff.
Anyway, immediately after ordering, they of course charge your card $99 (or whatever). That’s a bit more than the $1.52 I was expecting just for shipping!! Holy friggin’ scammer!
A call to them got it removed and cancelled, but holy shady business practices, batman!
August 1st, 2010 at 11:36 pm
I signed up for 14 day free trial and pay only for shipping and handling of approx $2.40 aust dollars. you had to put in a promo code for both products which I did and trial was extended to 29 July, I ordered on the 21 July. after I couple of days of placing my order, I checked my credit card and had charges for $230.00. I rang them and was told I had agreed to the rebate program not the trial. I argued with them but to no avail, I told him I wanted to cancel and that no more charges to my credit card,.He gave me a cancellation # and I told him I wanted that on a email. Didn’t happen so I rang back and then found out I needed 2 cancellation # one for each product. told then I wanted an email to confirm this, still waiting 4 days later. I am ringing them again this arvo. I also cancelled my credit card but that is no guarantee that further charges can be done. I have also made a complaint to the fair trading department. please do not deal with these people
August 1st, 2010 at 2:51 am
Beware! Even if you cancel within the trial period, you may still be charged and have money stolen out of your checking account MONTHS after you thought the matter was closed! I stumbled across a website with an advertisement similar to the one shown here.
I paid the shipping and handling for two separate products on April 15, 2010, and never received any product. When I called customer service to inquire about delivery and to “cancel” as to avoid outrageous (nearly $80) additional charges as the fine print said, I was informed that my order had been cancelled by the company because the item was sold out or that the offer was no longer available (online customer service records indicated order was placed April 15 and cancelled April 19). The customer service rep informed me that my money had been returned (my bank records indicated that it had).I specifically asked, “so no further charges will be made against my account?” She replied “no”. Now here it is the end of July and I see two charges on my back statement totaling $2.52 each:
07/30/2010 Debit Card Transaction NTR*acoptimumcs.com 8664 07/29NTR*acopt $2.52
07/30/2010 Debit Card Transaction NTR*acoptimumcs.com 8664 07/29NTR*acopt $2.52
Now, if I had $100,000 in my bank account, I’m sure I would not notice $5.04 being stolen from my account. Now that I’ve seen it and am reading about others who have experienced similar situations with this company, I see that on this website and others, this scam has been public for quite some time:
And this website documents numerous complaints, and claims to have contacted or will contact the BBB have been made:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/ntracoptimumcscom-acaioptimum-c322099.html#c722610
Yet what I am wondering is why this scam continues? Shame on our government for allowing this to continue! I have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. The above website has a link to file a report of your own if you have been scammed and ripped off. I’ve read of others filing FBI online fraud reports. I guess Monday I will be going to the bank to close my checking account.
July 29th, 2010 at 12:25 am
Ive just been scammed over $200 as well, I wish Id seem this site before being fooled by these crooks. Cant believe they wont let me return the goods for a refund. Highway robbery…….. such a rip off. I will be writing to Dept Fair Trading to report this company
Not to mention I didnt lose any weight
July 28th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
These people are the scum of the earth. I too fell for the free trial only pay shipping scam. at the very bottom is the bit about free after the $100 rebate that you will never see. I have had to call my bank and dispute the charges. At least my bank will put the money back in my account with 24 hours while they investigate. If it continues I will continue to dispute the charges. Someone needs to put these scumbags in jail. If you are asked to submit documentation when you dispute the charges .. send all these pages (29 now) with your claim .. it is worth the postage.
July 28th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
This is a MASSIVE scam!!!!! I ordered, called to cancel, was given a cancellation number and they STILL CHARGED ME!!! I reported them to the better business bureau. Oh, and on top of it, I never received any product!!! DON’T PURCHASE FROM THIS COMPANY!
July 28th, 2010 at 2:57 am
Oh.my.god. I feel SO sick to my stomach. I have NEVER been duped before– although you could say I was tonight. I did it- I fell for it- I ordered the “magical berry”. I should have known better! Literally 3 minutes after placing my order a charge for $99.19 was charged to my checking account! We aren’t agreeing to this!!!!!!! (perhaps it defines all this in the terms & conditions, but that is only supplied to you AFTER you hit “confirm”). I just called to cancel, offices are closed (of course). So then I sent an email to cancel. Next, called my bank to cancel debit card. And after, filed a fraudulent claim with my bank. I will NOT stop and not settle. This is out of control and makes me sick. WE will not let these jerks steal our hard earned money, no way. Keep me updated folks…
July 27th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I made my order on the 15th july and then read all the scams regarding this, so within 10 minutes I rang them and canceled my order, and the women told me that I would not be charged for anything! That is not true! the 99 dollars has come out of my account, and when phoning them they said that I have not signed up to the free trial but have signed up to the proper thing, which I did not!!! So they are refusing to give me my money back, and so as I paid on my debit card, there is nothing I can do!! I definitely signed up to the free trial as I remember the page that said only £1.95 had come out!! honestly guys do not under any circumstances get involved with this company! be warned!!! And the cherry on the cake… no bottles of acaiberry!! so now minus money and nothing to show for this!
July 26th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Scam! Scam! Scam!The acai optimum website displayed a cancellation notice on the screen and i never received a confirmation number. I didn’t even know the order was submitted. I read the scam research on how i would be billed within 14 days so I am canceling immediately. Their business hrs. are 9-6 eastern time. Call 1877-825-1528 to cancel BE WARE of this internet scam.
July 26th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Do not use this company for this product. They take so long in shipping it that by the time the sample supply arrives, the 14 day trial period has expired and your credit card is charged $79.98USD and you have absolutely no way to cancel within the 14 day cancellation period. This company is a major rip-off, but cannot be called a total scam as one does receive the product. The product also does work. But do you really want to pay that much money for it???
Check sales for the same product on E-Bay and order that way. It is so much cheaper that a year’s supply will cost about what the original company charges for 2 bottles. I for one, will purchase from my local health store and be safe.
July 26th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
I had all these same problems, but hopefully this info will help someone. After I canceled, I first used the “live chat” online to ask about getting a refund on my credit card for the product that hadn’t even shipped yet. The person told me that it had actually shipped that morning (what a coincidence!) and that I couldn’t get a refund, even if I returned the product. She even disconnected me once and I had to go online and start over. I then decided to call. I made it a point to be very nice to the rep who answered, and he was extremely helpful. He said that he didn’t know why the person had told me it had shipped, because it hadn’t, and he said he would issue a refund right away. I’ll come back and post an update once I make sure that the refund does go through, but in the meantime, my advice is to deal with a real person, if you can get one on the line (I only had to hold for about 5 minutes), and be as polite as you can (he actually commented on how nice I was being, so it may make a difference in how they respond), and hopefully you can get your problem resolved.
July 25th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
This is a scam. I read the article about the Ch 7 reporter named Stacie and I thought maybe this was a good deal. Then I did some more research and saw another “news report” by a News24 reporter named Brenda. The first paragraph was different, this reporter was getting married in a few weeks. But after the first paragraph the rest of the “report” was identical. So much for and independent new report. Stay away form this product
July 24th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
lol. long story cut short, i also fell for the scam and tried to cancel five minutes after i placed the order because i then had read the terms. The lady that i had talked to informed me that i could not do so since the order was “placed” stupid bitch( damn thing had not even been shipped yet).. but she could cancel my account for me and i could keep the 60 day trial so i agreed. i was charged 9.90 for the shipping and handling of the product so i taught it was over and done with but was not quite sure about it so i hopped on the internet and talked to a sales representative that informed me no additional charges will be charged except for the 9.90 and i asked the question repeatedly in the conversation to be sure. i printed out and saved that information on my email of the representative telling me that(silly goose didnt know i would save the conversation)lol.( also recorded the conversation i had over the phone with them). Later on in the day i tried to use my card at amazon.com and it turned out that my card had been deactivated. I ended up calling my bank account today and they told me they blocked any and all charges to it because i had numbers of charges from acai optimum (4) they tried to charge my account about 100 dollars, which did not go threw. So i sent them an email last night telling them that my father worked for the united states government..Blah Blah( email is attached after this).. but they have not replied yet. but the bank did inform me that any additional charges they attempt to place on my account will leave them in serious consequences since i did have proof of them telling me that they would charge me any extra money which they lied..Lol Chase banking rules!.. the one thing you gotta do in situations like this is really simple.
SAVE ALL THE CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM!!!!… and review a product before you buy. but am used to this, that’s why i knew exactly what to do in this kind of situation so the joke is on them!!…mama didnt raise no fool. But the email i sent to them is attached to this so umm if you ever find yourself at the wrong end send them an email and inform them that you will be filing a fraud case against the charges you did not approve of. but as i said you really have to research a product before you buy it online or use a prepaid debit card.
Hello. My name is c****** a****** and I ordered the package for a 9.90 dollars online today July 23rd 2010..I did some research on it and it turns out you guys charge 80 dollars or more to your customer’s account for no reason regardless if they receive the trial package on time or not and also if they canceled their accounts you still manage to sneak in a fee.you guys are FRAUDS and SCAMMERS.now let me make my self clear. My father and my mother’s brothers work for the united state’s government and the Houston state general attorney office and they have been on your case for the past few months I also know that you guys are goin to scam and figure out silly loop holes by lying saying you did not receive this email or any other complains and you will be really stupid to do so considering My family has the power to get each and every one of you in jail. I promise we will track you down and put you in jail for the rest of your lifes. I do not want to see any reports on my debit card from you because we will trace it and press fraud scams…now I am going to ask for the last time to cancel BOTH of the accounts.i do not want to have to report you.i have remained calm regardless the fact i was lied to.i also know you have the power to cancel my order considering that it has not been shipped out yet.REPLY to this e-mail as soon as you get it..am not the one to play with and whoever you are, am pretty sure you do not want to go to jail so do not play any childish games. I want out and I want you to cancel my accounts NOW. And I am also sure you are the same people from all those other online scams. I want BOTH my accounts CANCELED.. If you were smart you will do this ASAP I will be contacting my father about this and we will be pressing charges on Tuesday morning if this is not cleared by Monday. And if your so called manage does not cancel my account by Tuesday we will find you all and throw you in jail.I have online conversations saved
From one of your representatives who closed the chat box on me and also a recorded phone conversation in which the person lied about canceling my accounts.I want this done now. And reply to this message as soon as you get it and I also want a confirmation that both the accounts have been closed. And as for charging my bank account further I have informed them about you and any attempts to further charge my account will have you thrown in jail.
Sent from my iPhone
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:49 pm
I got this product like 2 months ago, I never even got charged anything but like 1.19…. But anyways over the past 2 months I lost over 50lbs … I am amazed I have never looked this great since college…. but still have more to go.. THANK YOU Acai Optimum!!!!!!!!!
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:50 am
I just got the product in the mail 3 days shy of the cancellation date. I too didn’t do the homework , but I’ve got 3 days and I’m going to do everything I can to cancel this mess. I feel like it’s not even worth it now that I’ve read all the other testimonials.DO THE HOMEWORK!
July 21st, 2010 at 5:22 pm
It is a HUGE scam! So i agreed to have 1.95 in shipping charged to my acct. I checked my acct immediately after the purchase and there was 99.96 charged on top of 9.90 for shipping and handling! NONE of the agreed prices were charged. So i call them to find out what the hell is going on and the lady proceeds to tell me that i WILL be charged ANOTHER 99.90 within 30 days, this was all legitimate charges. She has no reason to refund me ANY money. Apparently i signed up for the “rebate program”. Thank goodness my fiance’ is a law student and he got on the phone and as soon as he started talking about a lawsuit they canceled the order and refunded all of the money. DO NOT DO IT!!!!!!!!
July 21st, 2010 at 4:31 pm
It’s a total scam. They offer a free trial but it’s really not a free trial since you have to pay for one month ($99.96 + $1.19 S&H) and then get charged for another $99.96 for a second month before you can get your mail-in rebate for $99.96. So, in effect, you pay $99.96 for a “free” trial. DUH!? And when I tried to cancel even before the product arrived, I was told, no returns are entertained so I’m still out $99.96 + 1.19!! I couldn’t even find the terms of the offer until after I got to the payment confirmation page!! That’s the only time I was able to read the terms in full and that’s why I wanted to cancel the order right away but I couldn’t!!! Why are companies allowed to do this to consumers? Where’s the BBB when you need it?
July 20th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Well I wish I had done my research and read all of these comments. I put in the promo code for the trial from the “professional” looking website and was shocked to find a charge of $100. When I called I was basically told I could not cancel the transaction, or return the product, blah blah blah. they would not even allow me to speak with a supervisor or manager– in fact they were very condescending. I am out a $100 but I had to go through the extra step of calling my credit card company (who could not reverse the transaction either) and I reported fraud activity and got a new credit card number issued to prevent any future shipments from being charged.
July 16th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Any company that depends on tricking people into believing that they are getting a free trial, only to sign them up is deceptive and unethical.
If the company’s product is good they don’t need to use trickery to extract a customer’s credit card info. If a company has no product or has a worthless product such as this Acai stuff, and the company otherwise can’t survive (because their products are bad) then they resort to trickery and deception to separate a customer from his/her money.
A big red flag is when a company says “free except for shipping and handling”. The shipping and handling part is to get your credit card info so that they can start billing you $69.99 for something that is not worth $0.99. These companies need to be shut down.
Free credit score anyone? You can get it but at the same time they sign you up for an expensive (and worthless) monitoring service. They are the same types of crooks as the owners of this worthless dump.
July 15th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Physical address, per a supervisor:
7012 West Roosevelt Street #100
Phoenix, AZ 85043
July 13th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
This is a scam. ordered the trial bottle and I returned it before the 14 days. That was in March of this year. And once I returned it nothing was charged to my CC. but the 1.95 for the trail bottle. Until last month when I received my bank statement there was $69.00 taken out and it caused me to be over drawn the bank was charging me over draft fees $176.00. I called my bank and they gave me the # of the company so I called them and I asked to speak to the supervisor and they put me right through to her. I told them that I had returned the trial bottle before my trail period was up and they should not have charged me anything. I told her that her company caused my account to be overdrawen, she tried to give me the run around, but I wasn’t trying to hear nothing she had to say . I just wanted them to put the money back and pay for the over drawn fees. She said that they could not do it, I told her she was a liar, and that I was going to report them. So I did just that and better yet I did a conference call with my Lawyer and the BBB and the Police. Once I got someone on the phone, they were saying the samething, then thats when the BBB, and the Police started explaining who they were. and that I was filing a lawsuit, the got a supervisor quick.
To make a long story short, The company did refund all of my money. And I’m still filing the lawsuit. So for those of you that have been scammed by this company Go a step further and get your BBB and law officers involve, and things will start to happen.
This wont happen to me again
July 12th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Thank you very much to those of you who took the time to warn the rest of us. I clicked a link that I thought took me to a reputable news agency here in Canada (CTV), I read the testimonial of the “reporter” and was surprised and elated to read the review of a “too good to be true” miracle cure….I almost fell for it. Then I decided to Google the reporter – SURPRISE – she doesn’t exist. Surprise again! I couldn’t find any other reputable news source to back up the claim, and then after many Google searches using “scam”, I found this site. Thank you thank you thank you. I’m really sorry that the rest of you had to find out the hard way. (By the way, I also agree that DR, Brenda, Inga et all are PLANTS by the company…don’t trust them either.
July 11th, 2010 at 7:29 am
I received my first supply of the Advanced Colon Cleanse, 76 days after ordering this product and Acai Optimum. I have yet to see the Acai Optimum product. I had expected the 30 day free trial but as the 30 days was up some 46 days ago, I have been charged three times for these products. I have asked my bank to stop any further deductions. I have written to the supply company but have yet to receive a reply or refund!!!!
Do not order from this company. Discuss your health concerns with your local Naturopath instead.
July 9th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I went to the Federal Trade Commission site and officially filed a complaint as of July 7, 2010. After talking with my credit card company, I now know that every state evidently has been having complaints about this company and no one has been able to get any progress in closing them down. Everyone above with remarks should consider going to the FTC site in No. 24 above from Chloe and filed their complaint also. Only by taking action can we get any further results of furthering actions to close down this company. Good luck.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Guess I should have known it was too good to be true. I ordered the trial offer for $1 and then upon using for about two weeks, tried to contact at the telephone number in the brochure. For over three weeks i tried to reach this number and had my credit card company attempt to reach them also. Line was always busy and was never able to reach them. Had my credit card company contact to get a usable telephone number finally and tried to get cancel. In the meanwhile another shipment arrives. It has taken me over four months to get this canceled for a total cost of over $130.00 and who knows how many telephone calls. After finally getting canceled, working to get last shipment reversed, they now offer a $50 gift certificate in lieu of reversing the charge. They refuse to reverse and refuse to allow shipment to be returned. A very expensive lesson to never order any further “trial” shipments. This is a total ripoff to get monies.
July 8th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
I ordered the “free trial” on 6/30/10 when my order confirmation stated my acct would be charged for $101.45 (and I would send in for the rebate for $99.96). The confirmation also said I would receive an emailed receipt…..8 days later, and I still have yet to receive a receipt. I checked my acct the very next day and I had two charges from AcaiOptimum; one for $101.45 AND another charge for $99.96. I immediately called the 1-800 # listed next to the charges which are for Acai Optimum customer service. The gentleman I spoke with (whom spoke very broken english) assured me that both charges would be removed and he had cancelled my trial order and set me up instead for a “testimonial program” for $9.95. He had told me that the ONLY charge I would see on my acct would be the $9.95. I checked my acct today and found that not only was the $101.45 charge still on my acct, but I have also been charged $3.04 now.
I contacted the customer service # again, and again reached som eone who spoke little english and didn’t seem to understand much of what I was saying. What I did make out was that I was sent 2 bottles and I would need to send one back and then a supervisor could refund $99.96 of the $101.45 charge. I was originally told if I kept the original trial for $101.45, I would be eligible for the Rebate of $99.96 and it contained 6 bottles and if not I could do the testimonial program and get one bottle for $9.95 so I am unsure why they sent me 2 bottles in the first place. Befoire I even took the 2nd bottle to the post office, I called my bank and cancelled my debit card to be sure they COULD NOT make any further charges on my acct.
I then went to the post office and shipped the 2nd bottle back with a “delivery confirmation” and the day it is delivered, I plan to be back on the phone with them making damn sure they credit my $101.45 back to me immediately. I only chose to try this (not-so-free) “free trial” after reading the article from the newscastor who was attempting to see if the product really worked. Clearly, the newscastor is a phoney and she or the news station she works for should be sued as well for false advertisement and luring innocent ppl in to this SCAM! Remember the old saying: anything that seems to good to be true, PROBABLY IS!
A little advice, anyone who has recently given this company ur banking info, change ur acct # immediately! Your bank is happy to do this for you free of charge….yes, FREE.
July 7th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
This is a total scam. The free offers i was supposed to get never came and they said they do not have a phone number for me to call and cancel even though they are the ones that offered it..so now i am getting charged for stuff i never got. DO NOT order this
July 6th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I followed a link to this site and read the “article” written by the Channel 7 “reporter” Stacie Sandler. I was almost lured into trying the free trial because I thought the article was legit. A little voice in my head told me to do some research first, and luckily I found this website. I am SO GLAD that I didn’t fall for their scam! To those people sprinkled throughout this site that try to claim that the product is legitimate, I say: How can a product be legitimate if it is based on lies? I would imagine Channel 7 would be very interested to know that this company is using them to sell their product. I haven’t tried this product but it must be too good to be true. My brother is am investigative reporter in Texas and I will let him know about this product today. Hopefully he can do a story on it that will expose this company and their fraudulent practices. Good luck to all of you who have lost your money.
July 1st, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Here’s what the Better Business Bureau has to say:
http://www.bbb.org/central-northern-western-arizona/business-reviews/vitamins-and-food-supplements/sterling-management-solutions-llc-in-phoenix-az-1000008416/
According to them: Sterling Management Solutions has advised BBB that it will issue a full refund to any customer that is not satisfied with their product or service. Consumers should call 1-877-823-1667 to obtain a refund.
Good Luck!
June 30th, 2010 at 7:29 am
I normally check product reviews before purchasing anything online but with this product Acai Optimum (ACAIBERRY PURE) and advance cleanse I didn’t as I fell into their scamming technique … and I canceled after 14 days trial and they promise me of the full refund and still waiting for after 3 months of waiting and involved several phone calls (and spoke to Janice, Hajis, and Garielle) then they telling me there would be no refund cause the cancellation was mad after the 14 days trial and what a waste of time that was …. and my $159.96 gone down the drain … so wish for these people to have some sympathy and conscious or may be need to lend them some brain tissues for them to think straight … hey guys what are you doing on earth? your place is in HELLLLLL
June 29th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I have to admit. I failed to call within the “14 days” to cancel. I DID take the product for a couple of weeks and stopped because A) I saw NO benefits B) I became very constipated (it took awhile to clear it up)and I had abdominal pain. (I noted in one of the other reviews someone said they believed they suffered rectal bleeding from the product).
My credit card company called to question the legitimacy of the charge when my “automatic reorder” was posted. I called acaioptimum then and told them to cancel. They argued with me about canceling and told me even if I sent back my “reorder”, I could not get my money back.
“Red Flag”: ..anytime someone won’t take back an unopened, unused product that I don’t want, I feel they don’t care about conducting a reputable business and it just screams “I’m a SCAM”.
I hope I’m done with this company and won’t see anymore charges. I learned an expensive lesson and hope someone else will be spared by reading this review.
June 28th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
I ordered this a few days ago, today on my bank statement is not only the $0.97 shipping I paid but two charges of $169.95, I went to the police station and filed a fraud report and went to my bank, had to cancel my card and they are working on getting my money back. I am also going to file with the BBB and FTC, these people need to be stopped.
June 28th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
This is nothing but a big scam!!! They don’t sent you the products in the mail but they keep charging your credit card. so far I’ve been charged $79.98, $98.00, $69.00, $2.52. I’ve been fighting back and forth and they keep promising a refund but all I get are more charges. If you go to CNN news there’s a big section on Acai Berry Diet Exposed and it tell you about their scam. The Complaints Board also has interesting things to say about this scam, Don’t order it!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 28th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
The product – Tried it for a couple weeks, cannot say it did anything for me above and beyond diet and exercise.
The service – Did the ‘free trial’ thing. Canceled order only to find I was billed, then sent more product and billed again. I had canceled by phone, e-mail & post (with return product) only to be told I had canceled the ‘plan,’ but not the ‘product.’ They confirmed the cancellation of the ‘cleanse,’ and the ‘plan’ before trial period up but refused to acknowledge that even maybe I’d meant to cancel the ‘product’ as well, even though I’d sent it back. I can verify they received the package, the e-mail confirmations and that I phoned them, but as they can say they didn’t get the cancellation it doesn’t matter. I have half dozen different confirmation numbers from the transactions but none of them help me.
Observations – Beware ‘free trials.’ Read ‘terms and conditions’ with extreme care. Notice the highly deceptive nature of some of their advertising. While I thought I’d dotted all my i’s crossed all my t’s, the rules are very convoluted for something so simple and the company’s service extremely poor where cancellations are concerned.
Conclusions – While I cannot speak definitively on the product I’d say definitely avoid this company. Find your acai somewhere else. For those of you who went through facebook tell your friends before this company gets them.
You could also do the world a favor and contact
Federal Trade Commission:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
Better Business Bureau:
https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/getstarted.aspx
cheers
June 28th, 2010 at 4:08 am
I am from Australia. Ordered the ‘Free’ trial on 10th June, Shipped 14th June from the UK
Arrived in Australia 21st June, Billed 24th June on my Visa Debit card TWICE a total of $184AU. Have been trying to cancel the bloody thing since on Brisbane, Melbourne & UK phone numbers and keep getting the Philippine call centre, the same old bunch you have all written about. My bank has changed my card number but I am without money for up to 10 days and will have to go to the ‘Salvo’s’ to eat, just an old pensioner you see.
The bank said they will put up a claim for fraud but I hold little hope. The US – Home of the free Home of the brave, Home of the scam, at 73 I have learnt my lesion the hard way!!
June 27th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I signed up for the 14 day FREE trial but after reading the 75 complaints posted I waited to see if I in fact would receive the product in the mail. No surprise that I did not! When you place your order they give you the actual day you will receive your product. The day before I was “suppose” to receive it I called my bank and reported my credit card lost. Therefore, this company could not charge my card! I STRESS TO ANYONE READING THIS…..CANCEL YOUR CREDIT CARD SO THAT THEY CAN NOT CHARGE YOU!! It worked like a charm!
June 25th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
SCAM — SCAM — SCAM — PLUS A FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE WAS ASSESSED. WHY? PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO HAVE MY MASTERCARD CREDITED FOR $79.98!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 25th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
So I just checked my MC account and they billed me twice on shipping!!! I’m soo mad! It stated my order was incomplete!!
June 25th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I just signed up for this an hour and I’m glad I read the testimonials. I logged on to see the status of my order and it states INCOMPLETE ORDER. Does that mean my order did not go through? Please help as I do not want this company charging my MC!
June 24th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Beware that when you sign up for the “free” trial you actually signing up for a subscription that you must cancel before the 14 day trial is up. If you don’t do this, you will be charged about $80 – which is nonrefundable. So even if you cancel after the 14 days, you are charged, without hopes of a refund. I had problems accessing my account, so I sent an email. They gave me a ticket number, blah, blah, blah, and then a few days later got back to me with an email saying that I should contact them by phone. When I did, I was on hold forever, which ate away at my phone minutes. Since this took so long, it lost priority in my mind, and the 14 days were up yesterday. I got a call from my bank saying that I had multiple charges from this site. Now there seems to be nothing that I can do. And the representative I spoke to on their online chat (since I was at work and couldn’t make the call), ended up being extremely rude and telling me that I didn’t read the terms & conditions so I didn’t know what I was signing up for. I proceeded to tell her that she is seriously lacking morals working for a scam company like this, and screwing people out of $80+. PLEASE do not order from this site!
June 24th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Listen, I dont know if it works or not I am just writing about the underhanded way they squeeze money out of you. That first bottle you thought was free is 70-something dollars! You can return it first class but if they dont get it by a certain day they will bill you ( and you better believe they will lie). So then they say lets make it easy and you just pay 19.95 for what you have and its all done.
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:26 am
I too have been taken in by this scam. I had no trouble canceling this morning although I noticed the cancellation confirmation number I was given is not the same as the number on the return e-mail. I plan to check that out tomorrow. I did not read the small print and feel pretty silly about that. BUT my biggest complaint is over the custom declaration from Gifts Ltd, PO Box 13579, Linlithgow, EH49 9AH UK to me in Canada is $19.99 so until my credit card bill arrived I had no idea my first shipment cost $84.38 and my second shipment $105.37. This company has no return policy and no way of stopping a shipment.
My credit card company assured me that once I had canceled my order then they would stop payments on my account. I hope this is true.
The product has made me more aware of eating less as to weight loss we will have to wait and see.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:03 pm
I’m baffled by you all saying you was mislead by this company. By the testimonies read on this website it seems that each and everyone of you never planned on ever getting this product you only wanted the free offer which is probably wht the companys marketing team knew from the beginning so therefore it you dont take the time to read all the terms and conditions then its your fault not theirs. My question still remains DOES IT WORK!!! The billing methods to you may be less then right but did any of you even take the time to see if the product works I dont believe so you just wanted to SCAM them for a FREE something with no intentions of ever trying their product so you got scammed trying to scam! KARMA IS A B**CH AINT IT!
June 21st, 2010 at 1:56 am
What I see from as many of the 87 commentators above, I find that only every one of them, failed to check the terms before ordering Acai Optimum Trial Offer. If you’re really interested to use Acai Diet supplements, then you should see that you’re not limited to trial offer alone. Because any product for that matter is not going to show up any improvement within 14 days. I myself availed this trial offer and I got the product arrived to me within 8 days of my order. I am using this product for almost 5 months and found it to be effective in controlling my weight gain.
If you’re really interested to test this product, then please keep in mind that you think of using this product for atleast 40 days to see the effect of this product on improving your health. I bet any body this a scam had only intention to avail it free for ever, which is incorrect.
bye bye
June 20th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Im so angry since 16th april I have been fighting this awful company to try and get my money back. I had to cancel my card because of them and to make matters worse i received bank charges. I live in the united kingdom where i believe this bogus company operates, from my bank are being very unhelpful about this if anyone has any ideas how i can get my money back PLEASE let me know im running out of options.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:44 am
HOW TO EXIT THE SCAM!!!
Contact your bank asap. Tell them that you’ve come to be aware that the company is a scam and that people have lost $100′s – $1000′s. What they’ll need to do for you is CANCEL YOUR CARD and re-issue you with a new card with a new number. Your previous card # will be processed as a stolen card and all further transactions should be prevented. Get your bank to DISPUTE any fees that are not legitimate, including any associated International Transaction Fee’s. That should be it – you should receive no further debits from these companies.
p.s. Speaking to the company will get you nowhere but do tell them that you’re canceling your subscription asap and also tell them that you’ll be canceling your bank card.!!! To be refunded of your stolen $$$ you’ll need to CONTACT YOUR BANK and FILE A DISPUTE ACTION against the fraudulent debits. This dispute action is the ONLY way you’ll get any of your money back.
June 16th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Yes I too have been burnt by this company. Except in Australian dollars I was stung $100.30 as I bought two products I was billed this twice, so I am down $200.60 plus all their little charges. It is a complete rip off.
I didn’t even receive the product within the 14 days, I haven’t taken the pills but after seeing my credit card statement and couldn’t work out who or what these large amounts were for, the penny finally dropped. I have spoken to the company and canceled. I asked them if they would refund the money they have STOLEN. She kept telling me I had not read the terms and conditions properly. I am soooo angry. I am going to contact a tv reporting show to warn everyone else.
June 16th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Thanks guys – i ordered this stuff about 20 minutes ago, but after reading the reviews, I called and canceled immediately. I could care less about a .99 cent charge on my card…Ive been burned by one of these companies before…and will avoid them until I die- the Indian gentleman couldn’t understand why I was canceling, as I politely insulted the company he works with, their practices, and their policies. He then put me on hold, and played me a message, which offered the SAME pills (49.99 a bottle) for an unbelievable 9.99 a month. He got back on the line and asked if I was interested, and i said , NO WAY!! I thought you were selling crap a minute ago, and now I am completely convinced. Devaluing a product from 79.99…to 49.99…to 9.99? This stuff made out of powdered feces? Dont order, dont sign up for anything, – if you have, cancel immediately. These guys are clowns…
June 16th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
File a complaint here.
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
Also, after much haggling I found their headquarters address and will be sending in letters.
Acai Optimum
7102 W. Roosevelt St. 100
Phoenix, AZ 85043
I spoke to a rep ON THE PHONE and canceled within the 14 days but when I found the $79.98 charge on my card I called in to ask for a refund. Honest mistake right? Nope, they have no records of the THREE phone calls I had with their company and refused the refund. I got on the phone with a supervisor (Allison Perez – Supervisor 00) she offered me a $50 restaurant card and when I refused that, she issued me a $50 “courtesy refund” but NOT the $79.98 full amount. I am now sending in complaint letters.
June 13th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Scam artists. I canceled my credit card because of this. What a joke. I will never ever sign up for anything like this again.
June 12th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
I fell for this just like everyone else did and I feel so stupid and angry. How can these people continue to get away with this? I ordered the “free” trial and took a few of the pills. Seeing no remarkable change in the first few days I returned the unused portion of the “free” pills and thought everything was fine……until I got my credit card statement today with a $62.00 charge that I didn’t recognize. After checking into this we found all these comments that were written about this scam. My husband called the credit card company and the man said he would dispute the charge and give us a new credit card. We’ll see. I’d like to see this wonderful miracle pill be exposed on Dateline NBC or one of the other major networks and put these crooks behind bars. Grrrr!!
June 10th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
OH MY GOODNESS .. i am so upset with myself that I did not read the terms and conditions .. this is a disgrace. they charged me $79.95 2 weeks after my COMPLIMENTARY BOTTLE and then another $98.00 this month .. this caused an overdraft in my account and you know what a headache that can be. This company is running a crap organization and their business ethics do not exist. This is a shame for everyone that gets involved with them.
June 10th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
This website is a scam, i ordered the trial bottle just to find out 4 days later that it was a scam, i sent the bottle back certified mail and called me credit card company, they had already had my account flagged because of this scam, they immediately shut down my account and issued me another credit card, thank god for that, please people don’t fall for even news scam’s, we are bad about believing everything, prove all things…
June 9th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
I’ve called them 3 times to confirm my cancellation…I ordered the colon cleanse and the acai berry, I’m just going to need it for extra energy. I paid 19.95 twice for express cancellation and unsubscribe to any further supplies or charges, and I confirmed this 3 times with 3 different agents, so I’m sure that I won’t be charged anything further and I get to keep the products.
I hope nothing else is charged to my account. $40 and never hearing from them again is better than being charged over $100 every few months!
June 7th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
i feel awful knowing these dirty crooks can get to keep my hard earned money i fell for this awful scam as well they need to be stopped theft is a criminal offense and that is what this horrid company is getting away with everyday it makes me so angry when will they be stopped?
June 7th, 2010 at 11:29 am
I too was taken by this marketing scheme. Saw the ad on weatherchannel.com – “News 6″ report made it seem legit. I was not so impressed with the product at all. I take Green Tea capsules which I buy from Walmart for about $10 (90 capsules/bottle) that work better. I did cancel my subscription (I hope) after being charged the $79.95 for the “free bottle” trial. PLEASE read the Terms & Cond carefully as I thought the $79.95 was for future shipments. If you want the “free bottle”, I would recommend canceling your order the second you receive the 1st bottle because 14 days comes up quickly and I totally forgot to cancel until 1 day after the 14 days. No luck of being refunded your $$. I ALSO now have some foreign fraudulent charges on my credit card and this was the only international purchase I’ve made so my bank and I figure this is how someone got my info. Now having to cancel my card and get a new one…What a mess! I will NEVER do this again!!! Buyer beware! Find something local to purchase if you want Acai berry supplements.
June 5th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
This product and company SUCKS!!! Of course the trial is for 14 days and they send you a bottle of 60. So if you want to cancel it, they said you either have to send it back and pay S&H again or just keep the bottle and pay $19.99. So much for a free trial for just the S&H. Anyways, when I called to cancel it the girl talked me in to extending the trial length. So like an idiot I did it. So when I went to call back to cancel it for good, I was one day late in calling (I did call on the last day I was allowed but they had closed so I left a message asking for them to cancel my order and asked them to call me back….of course they did neither) and they would not refund my money. They told me the $80 was already billed to my account. I asked to speak to a manager, she told me he was busy on the line with another customer so I told her I would wait. She got back on and told me he was still on and that I should call back and I told her I would wait again. Then she finally puts me on hold for the manager. I literally held for 30 minutes and then someone hung up on me! The only reason I didn’t pursue this is because I was a day late in canceling. But I WILL NEVER FALL FOR ANOTHER SCAM LIKE THIS……LESSON LEARNED!!!!!!! Don’t fall for it ; (
June 4th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Im also unaware of there terms and condition when i found out on credit card billing me of for acai optimum and advanced colon for CAD 87.95 each bottle I was totally shock i immediately called my credit card co. and try to canceled but they say that i should call that nutrition craze panama first who charges me with that amount. this should have to stopped!! i wish they go to jail . when i called them to cancel they said they just shipped the next order that i didn’t even order.. they are bullshit …. crooks go to hell…
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
My experience is similar to 95% of the others but is they sold my name and bank information to a third party, a debt counseling company of some kind. I only found this out after reviewing my bank statement and found an unknown $40 charge. Again, got the song and dance about the “Terms and Conditions” bull. This Acai scam can apparently sell your info to a third party who will also start draining your bank account without your knowledge. These people need to be stopped!! They are a lower class of life form than slugs, and would probably sell their own mother for a few bucks. I had to cancel my card to get them to stop. My bank said this will be sufficient, that they can’t keep collecting money (a post above said the bank told her she would still get charged even if the card is canceled). I need to find a lawyer and sue these crooks.
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I also fell into the TRAP of the FREE trial offer which cost 4.95 plus an INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTION FEE from your bank. My mistake was not reading the TERMS & CONDITIONS of my order. Sixty days after receiving my FREE TRIAL , I was billed 79.98, and 98.00 for other products that i did not order nor did I authorize payment for. BUYER BEWARE READ THE FINE PRINT IN THE TERMS & CONDITIONS. if you order these products, be sure to CANCEL your subscription within 14 days or you to will be charged for more products.
May 30th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
I found the info here for this program:
http://www.online6reports.com/Canada/Top-Diets/index.html
When I click on the links, one takes me to a different website that has no Acai Optimum on it, rather, it’s a slimming tea: http://www.choyung.com
If I click on the “Colon Cleanse”, it opens to a site selling ProCleanse Gold: http://www.procleansegold.com
This site is presented as a legitimate “News” site, but all their top links lead back to the page itself.
A scam it is indeed.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Ordered this product end of March, received it 12 days into my “trial” period. Called to cancel 4/5/10–received RMA number and was offered option of paying $19.95 instead of returning product…which I accepted.
All seemed to be taken care of painlessly…until today. I just re-checked my acct and it still says canceled…and I JUST RECEIVED TWO MORE BOTTLES OF THIS JUNK. Tomorrow I will cancel my CC but I may already be charged AGAIN. This product does NOT work, and the “BLEND” offers NO amounts of individual ingredients…so the ACAI may only be 1%…WHO KNOWS? There is certainly no specific amount listed on their label.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I was also duped into buying the Acai Optimum by reading the phony articles by the newsreporters. When they say “free” it is NOT free. It’s only free (minus the shipping you already paid” if you cancel within 14 days. I received the “free” bottle later than expected which did not give me ample time to try it so I called and they extended my trial period an extra week. I saw absolutely NO benefit from taking this product. I went on line to cancel. I also called cust. service to cancel. The foreign speaking woman Joy #010 gave me a hard time. She offered me the “testomonial offer” at $9.95 month instead of $40 per month with free shipping & I can cancel at anytime. I received a 2 month supply in 5 days. I just happened to check my credit card statement on line and they charged me $98!! I called today and spoke w/Bell #029. She said the $98 was the membership fee. I told her I was NOT told about this charge nor did I agree to it and was offered $9.95/mo. I told her I wanted a credit, was put on hold while she conferred with her supervisor, then was told they decided I could get the credit, which would be 3-5 days and I should send the product back to Phonenix ASAP! She gave me a RMA #. I told her when the I see a credit I will send it back. I am also really ticked off that nowhere on their website does it say you will be billed internationally so now I’m getting international processing fees from my credit card company though the product is being shipped from AZ. I will be watching my credit card statement carefully and will cancel my card if I see any more charges come through and file a dispute and call Better Business Bureau. THIS COMPANY IS VERY SNEAKY … THEY ARGUE WITH YOU ABOUT THEIR FEES, RETURNS, ETC. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND GO TO GNC OR VITAMIN SHOPPE AND BUY YOURSELF A FAT BURNER!
May 28th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Hi, I ordered the cleanser on the 14 day trial and received the product just 2 days before my trial period was over. As per their terms and conditions, we had the option of calling them to cancel or canceling online of which I did the latter. Funny thing was – I received a confirmation that my email was received with a link to this page. I followed the link only to find that the status of my request was closed – with the subject heading “SPAM – CANCELLATION REQUEST”. I reopened the ticket saying this wasn’t a scam, it was a genuine request by they closed it again…I suggest if you want to cancel, best option is to call direct. But beware, they will try and talk you out of it by offering 50% off the next shipment or to join their Testimonial Loyal Program where it would only cost you US$10 per month…If you’re calling to cancel from Australia like I did, you have the option of sending the item back to their warehouse in Phoenix at your own cost or just pay US$19.95 not to send this back. Which ever option you take, you will get the RMA number required or an expressed cancellation code. I went with the latter as the exchange rate today was alright ie cost me $25 to cancel. It could of been cheaper if i sent the bottle back but I just wanted nothin further to do with this company…so all up this “experience” cost me approx $35 but I still will check my credit card statements to make sure. And yes Faye, I received the product from the UK…but had to call the US to cancel…hope this info helps someone
May 24th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Ordered one last month , and yes they said I have 14 days to try product and cancel if not satisfied .I did not receive product in that 14 days period so I phoned them that I will cancel order, but then Leo (agent) said they will extend trial period-another 14 days, they are persistent, so I said ok. So I have till May 24 to cancel, and since I read a lot about these reviews, I decided to just cancel today, but lo and behold the credit card has been credited prior the cancellation period! Can’t even get the return address from them and their phone connection keep breaking up, how convenient, can’t even hear the person on the other line. Anyway I got cancellation e-mail,even got a number from phone. What I did too is changed credit card number just to make sure my credit card won’t be charged again next time. Did anybody receive product from UK? coz my order came from UK? I’m from Canada.
And oh by the way, that Karen Simpson now is using Green Tea and colon cleanser in their website? What happen in her Acai Berry promotion? It’s a SCAM folks.
May 23rd, 2010 at 5:16 pm
THEY GOT ME! I just got through with Supervisor Mike. He would not budge to rescind the $79.98 charge which just prior to my call to him was charged to my bank. (Pending). I plead senility in that I was unaware, 14 days having passed, that the $4.95 bottle offer was 80 bucks. He kept referring me to the terms. Well, Gang, WE WUZ ALL TAKEN! I do have a cancellation number, however. Should there be any further charges-then there will be prosecution for fraud.
May 21st, 2010 at 10:21 am
I just ordered the acai optimum with the power cleanse, they just charged my card 79.00 and change and I am pissed! I called to cancel this because I did not even have this product for 14 days, little did I know they start from the date they ship the product. what bull! This company is a complete Scam and I advise anyone to please do not purchase from this company, and by the way there is no number for the power cleanse product to cancel. so know I have to cancel my old credit card to avoid getting charged from these crooks!
May 17th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
April 25,2010 I received two packages acaioptimum/paraslim.
I took the pills immediately after dinner that same day. I woke up the following morning dizzy. I know its from the acai pills.
April 26, 2010 I called the company and told them of what the pills did to me. And to cancel the transactions and any future transactions. I was told to call May 2, 2010 to confirm the cancellation.
May 2, 2010 was a Sunday. I called, no answer, so I left a message to confirm the cancellation. I waited for their call.
May 6, 2010, I called them to asked about my refunds.I was told I never made the cancellation. I reminded them of all the phone calls we had. Then I was told to mail the products before they give me refunds.To give them the confirmation receipt no.
May 10, 2010, I mailed the products. Immediately after i returned back to my house, I called this company to provide them the mail confirmation no. This time they told me They will never give me a refund because I made the cancellation after the trial period. I contacted the Credit Card Department of PAYPAL and made the complaint, provided them all the dates, contents of my conversations with acaioptimum co. and forwarded CC department a copy of ACAIOPTIMUM/PARASLIM TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
May 17, 2010, I called ACAI again telling them I am still waiting for my refunds. That heavy accent lady again told me they will not give me a refund because they have no record of me calling them to cancel the transaction. I called CC DEPARTMENT again to make a follow up of this complain. The debit card department worked hard to help me.I got my money back with the help of the Debit Card Department of PAYPAL
SO. Ladies and Gentlemen, set an account with PAYPAL. Paypal will protect you from all thieves. And make sure you make a record of your transactions so you have proof.
ACAIOPTIMUM/PARASLIM CO. IS A BIG SCAM. Their terms and conditions is a big FALSE ADVERTISING. If you happen to order from this company make sure you cancel your Credit Card and get a new one before you cancel with them. Because they will steal your money before the trial period ends. Then they will go through your account monthly without prior notice.
May 17th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
I fell for this scam as well. I got duped into the 14 day trial offer, went on vacation and forgot about all this and have paid the first 79.98 fee. I just canceled today via their website. Has this worked for anyone or will I still get charged monthly because I’m still part of a plan or something?
May 16th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
I was on another website cannot recall at this point when I received a trial offer to try AcaiOptimum. After reading a testimonial by a news reporter who claimed to lose 25 lbs I was excited to get started. I filled out all of the fields but did not complete the order because they asked for my cc information. I opted not to do so due to problems I was having with my PC. A few days later I received an email from AcaiOptimum stating that they noticed I had not completed my order & they provided me a promo code to complete the order. As fate would have it I experienced technical difficulties in accessing the website. I tried it twice and still the same error which provided me with an 800 # to place my order. I have been thinking about this product a lot as I have not met my weight loss goals and thought this could accelerate it. I decided to place my order tonight but googled it and found this link AcaiOptimum scams. After reading everyone’s story I am so grateful I did not conduct any business with this organization. Thank you for sharing your experiences I hope all of you are successful in recouping your money because you deserve to be reimbursed.
May 14th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Thank you! I had my credit card out ready to go but I googled it first. Thanks for all the warnings. Sorry about everyone’s awful experiences, it sucks.
Thanks,
JP
May 14th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Just got my trial bottle and after reading the reviews on here I immediately panicked and called to cancel my order (I still had 5 days for my trial period). Someone answered promptly and I canceled and was given my RMA # as well as a cancellation #. Then he put me on hold and had me listen to a prerecorded msg offering the same pills but for $70 off.. Yeah for just 9.95 a month I get the same thing. What??? Ummmm being that I had not yet tried them I went ahead and got enrolled into that plan. I also called back to ensure they canceled both the pills and any “plan or bonus gift” they may have subscribed me to. The agent said nothing else would be billed and to just return the empty bottle within 30 days from today, so here’s hoping I don’t have one of these awful experiences, I’ll keep you posted if I do… and I’ll also keep you posted of any results from taking this product.
May 14th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
This is a complete scam. The trial is not even a trial. How can you try something like this in 14 days considering you get the product 5 days after you put the order? I will never ever fall for a trial order like this.
May 14th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
total scam. don’t take the product either as the ingredients are listed as “proprietary blend” which is how they get around not detailing whats in it. BMO mastercard no help at all as the dispute rep says it’s totally legal even though they get called constantly about the scam. negative billing should be outlawed. contact your mla or consumer protection group to get these guys shut down.
May 8th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
DON’T BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!!! CANCELING THE 14-DAY TRIAL PERIOD IS A NIGHTMARE!!!
I followed the directions to cancel to the letter, even had a customer service rep confirm that I would not be billed nor would I receive any further shipments….NO SO. $98.00 and another shipment arrived a month later.
They stated that I only canceled the subscription, not the product. That is absolutely not the case. I even received verification stating that I would not receive any shipments, but I did.
Just don’t do it! Go to GNC or The Vitamin Shoppe.
May 5th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
They are nothing but a scam.
Tons of hidden charges.
I am very unhappy with this company, had to file fraud.
please take my advice, DON’T GET ROBBED BY THIS CROOKED WEBSITE!
PS.They make a lot of FAKE positive Review pages, don’t be fooled.
May 4th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
No Inga – get a clue! It does NOT work! Only diet and exercise work. What works is how they sucker people in and get them on their auto ship – no refunds – just try to get someone on the phone who speaks english – to cancel scam!!!
Brenda – it sounds like you are a ‘plant’ one of their employees who is trying to make them sound okay – poor misunderstood Acai Optimum people!!! NOT!!!
This company is very sneaky and unscrupulous. Do NOT trust them! Do not give them your credit card info. They are foreigners who are totally scamming the naive American public.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
These people are TOTAL scam artists!!! I cannot stress enough – do not deal with them or order anything from them! Do not give them your credit card number unless you want a recurring nightmare! They do not make their terms and conditions clear, send the product with NO shipping invoice (so you can’t return it) and when you call to cancel you are given a definite run around and told you cannot return the product! Not even if it’s unopened! I have never heard of this anywhere! When asking to speak to a supervisor you are told they are busy and will have you on hold 20 minutes or more and they cannot make outbound calls to call you back! Super scam! They speak very poor English so you have to ask them to repeat themselves many times. Is this so you don’t understand when they say “NO refunds”?? I have never dealt with such an unscrupulous company in my life! I should have known better then to order something like this off the internet! Please be warned – do not ever do any business with these people. In my opinion they are total crooks!
May 3rd, 2010 at 11:59 am
i think they must use a voice distorter, it’s ridiculous that you can’t even hear them. Must be some way to cover their asses. and ya it’s all bull, i didn’t even get anything in the mail! have the trial charge as well as the 79.95 on my credit card. AND they said they have no records of charging me and gave me a phone number for a different company to ask them…what?
would anyone be interested in a group lawsuit? how do those work? i feel like we have a good case, and these ass bags need to give us our money back!!!
April 29th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
My bank just won my case against Acai Optimum! Incorrect billing and billing fraud tactics were used and thus failed. $79.98 has been recovered and secured. NTR*ACOPTIMUMCS.COM 8778 04/14NTR*ACOPT is now officially declared a fraudulent agency operating within the United States. Also, This is considered a terrorist threat and is currently under investigation by both FBI and CIA. Nice doing business with you.
April 29th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
I honestly don’t know what everyone is talking about. If you would have read the terms and conditions you would’ve had a better understanding.
I planned from the beginning to cancel and return the empty bottle after I received the product (if you don’t return the empty bottle, you will be charged 80 dollars). I canceled online, however i did notice that you couldn’t cancel the “bonus gift online weight loss journal”, so i called, someone answered within seconds, confirmed my cancellation for both the product AND the “bonus gift”.
I did not get any kind of run-around and the rep didn’t even ask for a reason. He gave me simple instructions to return the bottle within 30 days of the cancellation and I will receive no charges.
The pre-paid credit card is a good idea for ordering from an online site. I didn’t do that but I am making sure that my empty bottle gets returned BEFORE my trial period even ends. So far all i’ve been billed for is shipping and handling so i’ll update if I receive any other charges.
I hope all of this doesn’t keep anyone from trying the product. The first day of taking the pill I felt much more energized! Although I’ll warn everyone to not sniff the pills… REPULSIVE!! It almost made me think twice about taking them at all, but taking the pill isn’t bad at all. No gagging or bad aftertaste. I would recommend based on my experience so far.
April 28th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
If anyone really wants to try this product, buy it from a top rated seller on ebay.
April 28th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
If they charge your credit card, dispute it & do a chargeback. I have never had a problem doing a chargeback, don’t even bother calling customer service.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Acai Optimum scam.
This Acai scam is being promoted by the following company:
Eagle Web Assets / EWA Network
Phone: 847 630 1550
EMail:
Ryan Eagle |
ryan@eaglewebassets.com
Tom Eagle |
tom@eaglewebassets.com
Address: Eagle Web Assets Inc.
207 Willow Parkway
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
United States of America
AIM: nXo
SKYPE: EagleWebAssets
GTALK: RyanEWA@gmail.com
MSN: xCellEagle@hotmail.com
Ryan Eagle on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tacox
http://www.eaglewebassets.com/contact/
http://www.ewanetwork.com/contact/
April 28th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
This company does not honor its return policy. Please be very careful about purchasing from them. I have been trying for over 2 weeks to get the money back for the product. They keep telling me “Oh, it’s still in process, and will take 3-5 business days.” Well, they received the product on the 19th of April, and this is the 28th of April, and still no money.
April 27th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
This is the worst scam that I have every had to deal with. What this company is during starting the trial period the day the order is placed not the day you receive the product. I was in the hospital on April 7-10 having surgery on my gallbladder when my trial period ended on the 10th. My product didn’t arrive to my home until the 13. I call and inform them I would provide the necessary documentation to prove my case they didn’t care. This company has know compassion. I will report them to BBB and there need to be a class action suit. I will cancel my credit card.
April 26th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I too fell victim to this company as well as another called acai balance. And like an idiot I did my research AFTER ordering. But thanx to a few posts I read on here, all I had to do was go to my bank and have them cancel my old debit card and get a new one with a new number. My bank confirmed that they CANNOT charge me any further now. I did receive my product from both companies and plan to try em. I think im still gonna call to cancel but the company can jump in a lake if they try to harass me for more money. They cant get anything out of me without my new card number! Hahaha! Has ne1 had issues with these ppl contacting u by phone or mail if u dont call to cancel and send back products (if needs be) and they cant get money from ur card?
April 26th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
This method of marketing is used for teeth whitening products, diet products, toe nail fungus products and numerous other products. They put up banner ads with links to advertising websites set up to look like news and/or evaluation sites. They offer “free trial periods” and cheap shipping charges. The free trial period does not mean you get free product to try,it is just a delay in the initial (and very expensive) billing for the first shipment. The “free” period starts the second you order and can end before you even get the product.
You are now signed up for regular shipments and billing until you jump through some hoops. These companies are lightning fast at charging your card, but they can take 30-60 days to refund your account. They move and change their phone numbers frequently. They change the name of their products and their company name also. Once you have seen one of these sites the format will leap out at you when you run across another version of it.
Look at the “testimonials” and read the “researchers” self-serving comments. Read the “conditions” of the “free trial period”. These companies even put up “scam buster” sites that discuss whether their site is a scam and then confidently decide it is not!
April 24th, 2010 at 12:58 am
Thanks everyone for telling us about their experiences. I was about to get a free trial thinking it’s only a few dollars for postage.
But then decided before I try, to do a bit of research. I also found all the fake scam websites (with fake reviews) and then I luckily found this website with everyone telling how they were scammed.
They have lost a customer!! I’m so glad I did not order it. and I will now put this link on my facebook and tell everyone about the scam. I would advise everyone to do the same. TELL EVERYONE!!
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:46 am
They are nothing but a scam.
I hope there is a lawsuit… I keep trying to find info on one so that I can donate money to them(the lawsuit).
I don’t care if they sell their product, but they should do so in a decent manner.
April 22nd, 2010 at 5:29 pm
This is a total scam; the product does not work-at least not for me. And judging by the company’s no-return policy, and hidden terms my guess is that it doesn’t work for many if any at all. The company clearly survives by scamming people out of the initial order and on hopes the auto ship goes undetected. This is the only way they can unload their product.
I had no idea of the terms, so needless to write, I did not cancel within the 14 days (got the $80 charge) and an additional $100 charge for an additional two bottles. The company did not take back the shipment or in any way entertain a refund. In fact, I actually got a call from a rep from Acai nearly two weeks prior to the shipment confirming my address. I stated that I did not want additional product and the rep said that nothing was being shipped this call was only to confirm my address and receipt of the initial shipment. You think she would have let me know at that time that I was on auto ship, and that I needed to call another number to cancel the auto ship (which I didn’t even know I had). My credit card company will not reverse the charge since they cannot cancel a “contract” between the company and me. So $180 of my hard earned money lost to crooks…infuriating.
April 22nd, 2010 at 4:28 pm
i ordered trial period of the acai optimum after reading about it on the internet. i didn’t even receive the bottle in the mail for 17 days. when i tried to call to cancel the order i was told i could not cancel it and that i was being charged 79.98. i explained that i had just received the bottle the night before and had not even opened it yet to try it. they told me they would not cancel it and i was being charged. they gave me the run around for about 30 minutes and would not let me talk to a supervisor. when i asked one lady hung up on me. the next lady said a manager would call me and took my info. no one called so i called back and the next person i talked to told me that they do not do call backs so the other lady (nadia) lied to me. he then transferred me to a supervisor named amy. she put me on hold for about 20 min and finally came back and she said she talked to a manager and was going to refund everything. i would never recommend this company due to the way they charged me and gave me the run-a-round. it was a horrible experience and i wish i would have never ordered their product. havent even had them long enough to open the bottles yet so dont know if it works or not.
April 20th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
What a horrible way to do business. I also authorized a .99 charge for AcaiOptimum. Only to find a $79.98 charge on my credit card. When you call to get a credit I was informed I should have checked the box that would have shown the terms & conditions. The terms and conditions are not posted unless you check that box. Boy what a rip off this was. I called back 3 times trying to get a credit, but got the standard so sorry Mam nothing we can do. I should have checked that box so the terms and conditions would have posted. Also cannot do a charge back with the Credit Card Company because of this.
April 20th, 2010 at 11:27 am
DO NOT BE SCAMMED BY THIS PRODUCT!!!!!
Ordered on 3/27/10 paid the shipping 1.95 for the “free trial”. Received the product 23 days after I ordered it, company states you have within that 14 day free trial period to either cancel order (if product was received or call and extend the “free trial” offer if product was not received, you will then be charged 79.99 enrollment fee. Company also states product is usually shipped out within 5-7 days of order placement, also states they they have no control over shipping. I called my credit card company and they had already put a hold on my card due to numerous charges and foreign transaction fee which were not authorized by me. All starting on 3/27/10. I am disputing all charges from this BOGUS company. Hope this helps
April 19th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
i ordered this product two weeks ago, twenty min after the order was placed online (after business hours), i canceled it online, then the next morning called and canceled to double check. i got an email saying “No further action is necessary! You will receive NO additional charges or shipments!” in red and in a red box at the bottom. everyone else says i need to return the bottle to not get charged… which isn’t what the email said,
BUT i have NOT received anything from this company except for shipping and handling charges. Again, it has been two weeks. if i never receive the product i can’t return it, so what do i do? i haven’t gotten any $80 charge and hopefully wont but if i do and still haven’t received anything what should i do?
does anyone have any advice?
April 19th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I got my free trial today, called the number to cancel (though my free trial does not end until the 26th) and spoke with a gentleman who helped me cancel my pills AND the plan. I got cancellation numbers for both, and he says I do not need to return the bottle or any unused pills.
April 18th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
I too was scammed by these guys. I called a number of times and even the supervisor hung up on me, twice!!!! Do not order this product.
April 17th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
I went to the “free trial bottle” website, chose the free trial, then said “no thanks” to the other offers & my computer froze up, like it never would finish processing. I immediately called the company, said I didn’t want to order anything. All i had wanted was the free trial, they said the only charge to my card would be the $1.50 for shipping. My order was canceled, i was assured my card would receive no more charges & all was canceled. I emphasized all i wanted was the free trial, and wanted EVERYTHING canceled. I got the bottle, no information packed with it, no return info. 2 weeks later, I got a $79.00 charge on my Visa. I called & said I had a confirmation email from them saying that it was canceled, i would receive no more charges. The girl on the line says, “o, but there are 2 accounts. you only cancelled the one.” Supposedly I’m going to get another confirmation email tomorrow, for canceling the 2nd account, the”Plan”, which i didn’t order in the 1st place. Because I didn’t send the bottle back when it came. It’s all VERY misleading. I still don’t know if they are going to stop charging me. I’m going to call my CC company to see if i can change my card number.
April 16th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I believe this organization is not even in the US. No one can speak understandably, they say they are in Phoenix, AZ, but why is there a foreign fee charged by my bank. Wish I had run fast in other direction!!
April 16th, 2010 at 11:20 am
I’m half way through the second bottle. When I first started it curved my appetite and gave me energy, but not too much. I have lost 5 lbs in the last month, but I have also been dieting and exercising. I have a very hard time taking weight off, so this may be helping. When I ordered the first bottle as a trial promo, I thought it was a scam after ordering because of all of the negative stuff people were writing. I called to cancel and it was super easy. I got someone on the line within 3 minutes and they canceled it with no problems. They never asked me to send it back, so I kept taking them. After I nearly finished the bottle I figured I should keep trying. I am now half way through the second. I can’t say that I have lost a significant amount of weight unfortunately, but I’ll take the rest of this and see where I am at.
April 15th, 2010 at 4:17 am
THANK YOU JEFF!! I have no idea why everyone is so mad at the company they really aren’t scamming. EVERYTHING is in the terms and conditions that’s why you have to read everything there no matter how long it is but of course most people think it’s so much easier to just click accept instead of reading ” those long terms and agreements I’ll just trust them” then they get “surprise” charges. I always buy with a prepid debit card from sites I’m not 100% sure about and I did the exact same thing that DR did and had no problem. I also called customer service just in case and they were extremely helpful and polite I canceled and returned the 14 day trial(after taking out the rest of the pills of course) about a month and a half ago and they have not sent any more bottles or billed me. Oh and for INGA I lost 25 lbs in a month and had a ton of energy. I completely recommend them
April 13th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Thank you. Almost paid for this stuff. Instead I will go for my evening run. Its nice out.
April 13th, 2010 at 12:44 am
I got scammed too. Was reading testimonials and decided to ring my bank and block my visa and order a new one. Feel a bit better, would love my $86.14 back though. Will try and ring them to get it back.
April 12th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
THANK YOU!! I fell for this Acai crap today and ordered. after doing research I called my bank and canceled my card. They can’t bill me if they dont have a card number right? I will still call in and cancel the order as soon as I get the trial so I know exactly how many places I have to call.
April 12th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
So far I don’t see anything working, so I called to cancel. got through fairly easily, but now they want to send back the bottle with the rest of pills. The shipping was $5.00 and now another shipping. who knows if they will continue to charge the card.
I am filing the federal trade commission complaint: it is total scam. Class action would be right thing to do
April 9th, 2010 at 8:17 am
Canceling is easy…and I had no problems. Folks having issues need to be more diligent in reading the “terms and conditions” prior to ordering. I canceled using the link provided in the “terms and conditions”…immediately received the RMA#…and sent the empty bottle back in the original package. This was 4 months ago…and I haven’t seen any additional charges or received any additional emails.
Lesson for those having trouble…READ BEFORE YOU BUY!!!
April 9th, 2010 at 3:34 am
I ordered this trial product and canceled once I realized I would of been charged monthly. When I called to cancel no one never answered my calls had to call my bank and cancel my bank card. What ever # you give them (account #, card #, etc.) you need to call and explain the situation and cancel that number and receive a new one. I called and cancel my bank card and received a new one and there were no charges from this company. They can’t get the new number unless you give it to them.
April 8th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Hey INGA how about you shut up the people on here have much bigger problems than whether or not this scam product works or not!
April 8th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
you should all complain to the FTC (federal trade commission) about this stupid company
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
try to stop them!
April 8th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Still no answer as to if the product works!! Who can answer this question for me?
April 7th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
I called to cancel today, so far I’ve been told that there was no further action needed on my part… and since I knew better I pushed farther and the lady went on to tell me I did need return the product. After the call, I got another cancellation email (the first one was from canceling online which did NOT work). Just to double check, I called again about three hours later, my account was still canceled, but my cancellation number had changed… does anyone know why?
April 7th, 2010 at 7:52 am
I received my product yesterday after waiting seven days for the shipment. I heard that this was a scam and went on line (after business hours) to cancel. I was provided an option to cancel my account but pay $19.99 for the 60 capsules that I received. I selected this option because I wasn’t sure the product would be received before the 14 day trail period was up. I saved the cancellation confirmation provided by the company. Since I’ve read comments above, I will make sure to continually monitor my account to make sure the cancellation is confirmed. I also will call the to verify.
April 6th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Have been using the product for the past two days and all i have is a sudden caffeine rush. I will attempt to cancel and after reading the reviews I am simply gonna call my credit card company and have a new card reissued just in case they try to BS!
April 6th, 2010 at 11:54 am
it’s easy to cancel and call in it only took me two mins to cancel and the lady on the other line couldn’t hear me at first but she was very happy to help me. I do recommend canceling directly email and phone you won’t be charged as long as you send in the product back to them. I canceled like two days before my trial ended. It’s really that easy if you just cancel in a respecting manner they’ll listen to you.
April 5th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
WHY DID I GET MYSELF INTO THIS?? i looked it up and everything. then i ordered, figuring that 3.95 was nothing and i might as well. im about to cry.
Please help. is there a way to not get charged at all? this is embarrassing and i cant afford it. i feel retarded and just wish i never did that. i ordered it at 6:00pm ish and canceled online at 6:30. it says my order has been canceled… i will call tomorrow to see but im still so worried. has anyone done this? will i still get charged?? please let me know
April 5th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
This is BULL! I saw this also on facebook. Was totally excited! Thought i would do a little research. Hopefully get myself motivated with some success stories but saw this instead! I called and canceled!! Even tho i ordered 30 min ago they still charged me for S&H!! I called canceled and they gave me a cancellation number but will not give me my S&H back even tho they haven’t shipped anything! These guys need to be SUED!!! :(
April 5th, 2010 at 12:36 am
Everything that “DR” says is true BUT the tricky part is when you initially order Acai Optimum as a “bonus gift” they offer you their Acai Optimum Plan which is their online weight loss journal.
I canceled online and got an RMA number but I was still skeptic so I called the customer care number and she told me that my Acai Optimum Plan has not been canceled. The lady asked me when did I initially placed the order and I could tell she was trying to calculate whether or not I was close to the end of my 14 day trial period. I canceled online the day after I received the product.
The rep gave me a cancellation confirmation for the Acai Optimum Plan and I received an email shortly after confirming my cancellation.
Don’t be content if you cancel online and receive an email with RMA and subscription cancellation confirmation. You must call and also cancel the Acai Optimum Plan which is what screws you over and ensures that they keep billing you.
I called my credit card company to inform them of my ordeals with this company. They agreed to make a note that I called and the credit card company rep advised me to obtain Acai Optimum rep’s name and ID and cancellation confirmation number when you talk to them. She also said that it is unfortunate because these companies can continually charge you because when you agree to the 14 day trial period you are enrolled in a “recurring” order and many credit card companies are aware and trying to figure out a solution to end this problem for their cardholders.
Acai Optimum Plan Customer Care
866-355-2030
Acai Optimum Customer Care
877-825-1528
Good luck!
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Damn…i researched for 2 weeks before i ordered this product and had no clue about this website or the horror stories im hearing…i just ordered to earlier today and there customer service is already pissing me off…im DEFINITELY going to cancel this crap once it arrives in the mail and ima call everyday until each person i talk to confirms that it is canceled…they got me messed up if they gonna hit me with an $80 charge……ill keep yal posted in a few days when it arrives…
April 1st, 2010 at 12:09 pm
I contacted this company two days after my 14 day trial period asking for a refund. I was in the hospital while my trial period ended, obviously unable to call. I was in the hospital due to rectal bleeding believed to be caused by taking this product. The company basically said too bad and would not refund my money.
March 31st, 2010 at 11:33 pm
all of you are complaining about what a scam it is because of how much trouble you had terminating the free trial. did any of you actually try the product? was it effective?
March 31st, 2010 at 8:52 am
Like so many others here, I believe I was duped, but I should have known better. Ordered the trial, which turned out to be a complete 30 day supply. I was not even through my 14 day trial period and a $79.98 charge hit my account. By the time I got through I was two days over the trial period and they would not refund my money, nor take the product back. Regardless if the product is any good or not, I have learned to not deal with this type of offer on the internet. You can go to your local vitamin or supplement store in your area, and ask for acai berry products. It is quick and easy and I found e bit cheaper than the headache I have experienced with Acoptimumcs.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:54 am
I’m not sure why everyone else is having trouble. I ordered it, paid 99 cents shipping, it got here in 4 days, and I hopped online to cancel. It was super easy, never even had to pick up the phone. Here’s how I did it:
I went to their website, clicked on Customer Service, then a window pops up with 3 options. I clicked on the middle on – online customer support status. Entered my email and zip code, then canceled the order. I was instantly provided with an RMA#, even a shipping label to print out, and was clearly told that I needed to return the bottle within 30 days (even if it’s empty, they say) in order to not be charged $80. I’m just sealing it up and returning it in the same box it came in. I’m going to get a tracking number through USPS so I can verify that they receive it and have proof that I sent it back. But…I don’t see why people are having so many problems! I hope I don’t end up with any unexpected trouble, but so far it seems fine.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:08 am
I ordered the free trial. I am not sure about what the problems everyone else is having but that’s because i haven’t ran into any yet. First off i would like to give an example of what can be done to prevent any drama. When ordering online from a place that your are not so sure of..USE A PREPAID DEBIT CREDIT CARD. You can get them from anywhere local store like walmart or even like a cash express . That way they only can take money that you load on your card. That’s what i did.So even if they try to dick me and charge my visa they arent gonna get any thing lol. I Just ordered yesterday but tried to call today to cancel..The representative told me that i couldnt cancel until i received the item. I can respect that so well wait until i get the item. Until then i’m good with the situation thus far.
March 25th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
they also populate the first few pages of a google search with phony articles.I had to go through 3 or 4 pages before I found this link
March 25th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
What a load of crap!! This company is incredibly sneaky with its “terms and conditions” I am so sick of hearing
about that I could scream. Most companies would take back a product if the product hasn’t been opened yet. Not so here! DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
This morning I called between 8-9am pst. They were experiencing a high volume of calls and had to wait said the computer. A customer service man came on the phone who spoke quickly in an accent that made it hard to understand him. I have in laws that talk quickly with an accent and I can understand them, he I could not. I had to keep asking him to repeat himself or talk slower throughout the phone call. When I asked to cancel my trial order he asked why with a snide tone and asked why did I place the order if I am canceling now. I said I changed my mind and don’t want to try to product. He kept insisting I go back on line and sign up for more orders. I raised my voice and repeated that I don’t want anything and want to ensure my order was canceled. He said that what I canceled online was just for the journal.
That is not clear at all on the website! I am so glad I called! He went on to say that I ordered a bottle for $79.98 and that I had to options to return it!! I could not believe this. I read over the Terms and no where did it say I ordered that bottle. It did talk about being automatically sent that bottle and obligated to pay but it did not say I ordered that bottle and he said. I told him I just placed that order last night during closing business hours and that I want to cancel right now and shipment or orders. After a long discussion and interpreting his words and asking for him to repeat himself slowly, he said he would attempt to cancel all shipments. He gave me a cancellation number that was supposedly for shipment and cancellation of account. He said I would not receive any shipment but if I did then I should send it back; he said if I am charged the $79.98 then they would refund it. I said I hope that I don’t have to call back and he said I won’t have to. I hope this is all true!!
March 23rd, 2010 at 2:36 am
I just logged back on to check the account status again, and now the Order Placed and Order Canceled are listed again. This is nerve racking. I hope these people go to jail
March 23rd, 2010 at 2:29 am
I fell for this stupid scam through facebook. I am so angry. I am embarrassed to tell my fiance that we might not be able to pay our rent if this company charges his credit card. How can these people be stopped???
Literally, I ordered the free trial with a PROMO code stating all I have to pay is shipping of $1.95. Then, I looked up more information on the company to see what success stories I could find for losing weight and increasing energy. All I found were these scam articles about them!! Within 10 minutes of placing the free trial order, I canceled the order online. I opened up my account page and it said order placed on 3/22 on one line and order canceled on 3/22 on a second line. I emailed the rep asking to confirm my order was canceled. I logged off the site and continued to read about these horrifying experiences with the company charging credit cards!
So I went back to their site and checked the status of my order again, and this time the second line the earlier read “order canceled” was no longer there! But the “order placed” was still listed on the order status! I emailed again asking what was going on and wanted to make sure my order was canceled.
I have to wait for a response from either email now. Tomorrow morning I am calling the number and hopefully will get a reaffirming response that my order is canceled. This is so aggravating. I don’t think I will sleep tonight.
March 21st, 2010 at 8:27 am
I called the number above1-877-825-1528 and got an answer. I canceled over the phone. I hope! I know I will have to fight the charge on my card. They got to me through facebook, using my friends name saying that it came from her. They are a scam company. They need to be stopped.
March 17th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
I am trying to cancel this before I get charged. I have been calling the number given upon ordering that I was supposed to call to cancel (same number as in the above reply… 1-877-825-1528) ALL DAY & keep getting the same message “extension 0002 is not available, please leave a message”
This is a bunch of bull$h*t! I’m so angry. Although, I guess mostly at myself for falling for the *trial* scam. I am going to send an email to them now. I don’t know what my next move should be considering they won’t pick up the phone. I think I will call my credit card company to inform them of the situation & also call the BBB. How can they conduct business like this & get away with it? We are on a fixed income now that I am staying home with my newborn son. I simply wanted to try to use this as a boost to my daily exercise & diet. It will totally put us under if they take these charges out. How horrible to do this to people.
March 13th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
I just came off their website. It does sound too good to be true. However, there is a whole complete page that is dedicated to how the billing will work. They are pretty upfront in telling you that you will be charged unless you cancel. They even list a customer service phone number to call to cancel and warn you you have to cancel. I mean how much clearer could it be? Here is more info:
Email Support
We handle emails during normal hours which are
9am to 6pm EST. Please include your full name
and zip code on your inquiry
support@acaioptimum.com
Phone Support
7 days a week, 365 days a year
From 9 am to 6 pm Est
1-877-825-1528
Here is a big fat link to their terms and conditions:
www.acaioptimum.com/terms_conditions.html
March 11th, 2010 at 9:05 am
Yes, this stuff is a complete scam. My wife tried it…she was unaware of the 14 day trial until we got tagged for $160. We called and canceled…we had to get the number to their customer service from our credit card company as they had moved their website. They said they canceled at our request and the next charge, sat in “pending” for a couple of weeks and disappeared. Problem solved. Yet another $119 charge has appeared.
Calling their first customer service number, they claim we did cancel a month ago and they have no record of a charge to us…calling their other customer service number only gives you voice mail and you get no call back. The card company has put this in dispute, however, they say they are not allowed to stop a “recurring charge” at their end as it’s viewed as an agreement between us and ACOPTIMUMCS.COM. They tell me even if I cancel my credit card, I’ll still get these charges…so now we’re stuck doing one dispute after another until it finally stops somewhere down the road.
DON’T DEAL WITH THESE CROOKS!!!!!