Citizen Staff Writer
RealFAST LOCAL NEWS
The story: The local chapter of the Better Business Bureau has received more than 140 complaints about a company that sells, through a “no-risk free trial,” a weight-loss and health supplement (“snake oil,” according to one reader) derived from the berries of the acai (A-sigh-EE) palm.
Your take: Caveat emptor, of course. The Citizen’s online community is in I-told-you-so-mode, scolding those who purchased the company’s products through its Web site. Also, readers say, you’ll never achieve weight loss by swallowing a pill. Some representative comments:
• “Never give your information out as a condition for a ‘free trial’ of anything.” Leftfield
• ” . . . not only will you suffer the possibility of a raid on your credit card but they may steal your identity in the process.” 3795
• “Only shop online with sites you trust or have had word-of-mouth type references.” Towken1
• “The first red flag would seem to be that this vendor asked for credit card info for a ‘free’ trial.” Pclind
• “Buy one for 10 bucks and get another free? No, that just means that you were forced to buy two and paid five bucks for each of them.” Xflbret
• “Is it me, or there are there a lot of massively obese people in this Town? I mean a lot of really huge porkers . . . .” handslikeclouds
The big debate:
Complaints about a berry seller