On Your Side
Ron Burley
The Scam Stops Here
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THE COMPANY:
Central Coast Nutraceuticals
THE COMPLAINT:
Free trials lock you in
THE RESULT:
A $1.4 million settlement by CCN
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IT’S A SUCKER PLAY.
You go for the free-trial offer online.
You pay for shipping and handling
with a credit card. Then, when the bill
arrives, you find the trial was anything
but free—you’ve signed up for an ongoing supply at a hefty price. People
are taken in by such ruses every day,
losing from a few bucks to several
hundred dollars if the company makes
it hard to cancel an order. How can
practices like this be stopped?
Here’s how. I’d received complaints
about Central Coast Nutraceuticals
(CCN), seller of AcaiPure and Hoo-diaCore, and was getting stonewalled
by them. Then I learned that Terry
Goddard, Arizona’s attorney general,
had filed a civil suit against Phoenix-based CCN alleging consumer fraud.
Goddard’s account matched the
letters I’d been getting from AARP
members: CCN had hooked them
with a trial offer, then shipped them—
and billed them for—products they’d
never ordered.
I knew what to do next. Like Wood-
ward and Bernstein, I followed the
money. CCN’s online sales are by
credit card. Card issuers want to cut
down on dubious vendors, don’t they?
They’d at least suspend CCN pending
a court ruling, wouldn’t they?
Ron Burley has a new On Your Side column every two weeks at
aarp.org/money.
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HOW TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK
If you believe you were a victim of CCN’s
deceptive marketing, file a complaint with the
Arizona Attorney General’s Office by August 17
to be eligible for restitution from the settlement.
Request a complaint/restitution form by calling
800-352-8431 (602-542-5763 in Arizona) or by
visiting azag.gov.
18 AARP SEP TEMBER&OCTOBER 2009
