Acai Berry company ordered to pay $10 million in refunds

[pocketrockets]

Ouch.

Boca-based company ordered to pay $10 million in refunds
Florida Attorney General's Office launched investigation in December

By Erika Pesantes | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
7:02 PM EDT, June 25, 2009

PALM BEACH COUNTY - A Boca Raton-based, non-prescription dietary and health supplement Internet company reached a settlement Thursday with Attorney General Bill McCollum's office that has resulted in $10 million in customer refunds nationwide.

The company, Aton Solutions, and its subsidiaries, GIC LLC, SFL Nutrition LLC, Globalnet Pharmacies LLC and Glades Distribution Services LLC, allegedly offered free 15-day product trials, including Acai berry supplements, that triggered an automatic subscription that customers would have to cancel before the end of the trial period so as to not be billed for the products.

But thousands of customers complained that they could not reach the company by phone, e-mail or through the website to cancel future orders. The company continuously billed customers an $80 monthly fee.

The Attorney General's Economic Crimes Division started investigating the company in December. Under the settlement, Aton Solutions has agreed to disclose the conditions of any trial, how products may be returned and offer customer service personnel to field cancellation requests. The company has also agreed to pay $250,000 in attorney's fees.

Boca-based company ordered to pay $10 million in refunds -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

 

[nachoninja]

owned

 

[Shaqsquash]

LOL So that gives you a rough idea of how much these acai companies are making.

 

[machinecontrol]

So which acai advertiser is this

 

[Spliffic]

And that's a drop in the bucket in terms of what they actually made.

 

[zeroglory]

ouch

 

[Dr_Ngo]

cost of doing business

 

[johu]

So which acai advertiser is this

South Florida Nutrition, LLC

 

[thunderlips]

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

 

[Refrozen]

Sweet. F

 

[Dullspace]

Berries in a bottle and I'll sling 'em till the day ends.

 

[gerMAN]

cost of doing business

chump change.

 

[HookUPcom]

Berries in a bottle and I'll sling 'em till the day ends.

Nice... That product would be nothing without affiliates.

 

[kimboslice]

10 milly?

Whatever... no problem...

 

[rfss4]

dayyyyum this seems to be pretty common practice with some of these companies though. I tried canceling within legal limitations of 3 days using certified mail, they just rejected the mail piece. Lol it's funny when you get a scam company b/c they act like everytime is the first time they are hearing something

 

[CPAPIMP]

just the beginning, it's going to hit every one of them

 

[memaily]

just the beginning, it's going to hit every one of them

"But thousands of customers complained that they could not reach the company by phone, e-mail or through the website to cancel future orders."

That's the problem. There's nothing wrong with Acai, or rebills - only the greedy/illegal companies are going to go down.

 

[majorbta]

just the beginning, it's going to hit every one of them

Unlikely. Acai, just like bizop is getting hit for fulfillment/customer issues, not the billing model or product itself. The issue at hand here was that the company was not allowing customers to get refund and cancel. Regardless of your product or billing model, if you do not provide the appropriate service you will get in trouble one way or another.


Not every acai, colon, rebill company does this.

 

[nvanprooyen]

^^^ That. At least I hope they all don't do it.

 

[canucksfan19]

anyone see a dip in convertions with this released?