Trapped in acai berry hell

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In May I ordered a free sample of acai berries + $5 shipping. Like an idiot I gave them my credit card number. They charged the $5, then fifteen days later they charged $75, and in June they charged $80. Each one of these is billed by a different company name.

I have received nothing from them, not even the free sample. My credit card company says that I'm bound by the Terms & Conditions, which stipulate that 15 days after they send, they are entitled to monthly charges on my credit card. And where is the proof? If they say so, that's the proof. Then they demand that I return the bottles for a refund. What bottles?

Is anybody else in this bind? This is going to cost me $1000/yr.!

Does anybody know how to make it stop?

Cancel the credit card and eat the loss. If they say you received the items, well, they are bigger than you, and in a he-said she-said kind of fight, they win.

I'm sorry this is happening to you but you did save at least one person from suffering the same fate (me).
You can't find it OTC.

Acai berries and acai berry products (juice; fruit pulp; supplements; yogurts, trail mix, etc., etc., etc.) are available at any Whole Foods store and at virtually any health food store--and for affordable prices. A little on the pricey side, but not remotely in the same stratospheric league as what you have been dealing with.

(Of course, you haven't actually been buying acai berries, have you? You've been buying the promise of acai berries. I'm sorry this has been happening to you.)

I agree about the credit card. This is an out-and-out scam. Of the times I've gotten free samples, all I've ever been asked for was an address to send them to. It's a shame that the credit card company isn't willing to step up more and direct you to the right authorities to deal with these people, shoot, somebody must be trying to stop things like this. But it's true, the odds are good that they have crafted whatever sneaky little agreement they have with the customer in such a way as to cover their heinies.

Not to mention that the acai websites hack accounts and spam! Got several messages about acai from the yahoo account of a friend who must have visited the website. She most certainly was not the one sending the spam.

Most drug store and supermarket type stores have acai in the weight loss, vitamin, or supplement sections.

cut out credit card if u cant get rid of it otherwice just take all money out
get new bank account

please tell us if this helped

There's something else weird going on - I got an email from them consisting of many, many pages of gibberish, no spaces. Any ideas what that might be?

they got pissed just delete it or if u want copy and paste it and ill make spaces

This really ticks me off.

You can demand that this company can no longer demand a credit card payment and your bank will say "we can't stop them" so you have to cancel your entire card.

Whose side is the bank on?

you mean paste it here? it's very long and i'm pretty sure none of it is words.

I think the bank needs to remain credible to merchants. It's merchants who decide whether to use a credit card in their store. What if word got around that one of the credit card companies was "judging" a merchant and cancelling transactions? It might be fair to the customer but the merchants would take that credit card out of their store.

About 25 years ago, my uncle told me that when he handed over his American Express in a store, the clerk would ask if he had another kind of card, because other cards paid faster. That's all they would have to do.

As for me, I'm on disability and can't get credit cards - if I cancel this one, then I have none forever.

But we're not talking about legitimate merchants here, we're talking about those acai scams...

You need a savvy advocate. Do you have access to credit counseling (they may be able to help with the fraud) or is there a consumer protection service of some sort in Canada?

In the fine print of your CC agreement, there should be instructions for how to contest charges. Of course, it all has to be done in writing to make it as inconvenient as possible.

I would really urge you to find an advocate of some sort to help you, someone who has experience with both fraud and CC companies.

Good luck

I didn't actually order any, but I did fill some of my information in and change my mind. They have bombarded me with phone calls and junk.

Please everybody, don't click on these ads! I wish WP would stop showing them.

Though I do enjoy messing with the people who call me.

You can buy a credit card for about four dollars from WalMart in the U.S. in denominations of fifty and one hundred dollars.