The FREE sample of Advanced Skin Anti-Wrinkle Serum is NOT FREE.
I made a mistake. I clicked on a Facebook ad offering FREE samples of anti-wrinkle cream. I then gave my mailing information and supplied my credit card details to pay for the postage. A few days later my “fountain-of-youth” product arrived. So did my credit card bill for $400. While checking the strange transactions for the postage with my Credit Card Company, I discovered that I was charged almost $400 for my Skin Balance Anti-Wrinkle Cream and Advanced Skin Anti-Wrinkle Serum.
I had missed the fact that the Terms and Conditions – which I had skimmed over quickly, and had agreed to during purchase – stated that I must cancel the contract within 10 days of purchase or I would pay $198 for each product. However the T&Cs were not enclosed with the samples, when they arrived, so I did not know that I had signed a contract.
Fortunately after much negotiating with the seller, I was able to cancel the contract and get a refund.
If you ever make the same mistake, read the full story on how I got my refund and cancelled my credit card on this other Karma Kreatives blog post about Skin Balance Advanced Anti-Wrinkle Cream.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on the SKIN CARE SCAM
You might also want to watch this excellent investigative video by CBC Marketplace: Free Trial Scams: Don’t click that link!
If you have been scammed, it is not easy to watch and hear that there are hundreds of these companies taking advantage of consumers like myself and the other women who have shared their comments below…
As the reporters at CBC say, the only way for us to STOP them– “Don’t click that link!” – after all nothing is really FREE on the internet or on facebook. I wish there were other ways to stop these scammers but neither the credit card companies or companies like Facebook are likely to make it stop for us.
Please note:
- First of all Karma Kreatives has nothing to do with the skin cream companies in these blogs. I was SCAMMED too – just like YOU were.
- And as an on-line seller, I want everyone to know that there are many ways that you can fight the battle if you are not satisfied with an internet purchase. The first is to contact the seller and ask for resolution.Another way is to contact your CCC and ask them for their help in resolving the problem. And don’t forget to cancel your credit card in the process, and get a new one.
Here at Karma Kreatives, we hope that your on-line shopping experience will always be a highly satisfactory one.
I really liked the skin balance anti wrinkle cream but there is no price list and I was charged $196.00 for the free trial and then $186.00 for 1 bottle of advanced skin anti wrinkle serum. It would be nice to know the actual cost. I would be more inclined to buy it if I knew the actual cost per bottle!
Unfortunately the cost of the cream will continue to be approximately $200 per product per month. You have agreed to purchase the creams EVERY month – until you cancel the contract. To me that is an outrageous amount of money when you can buy similar L’Oreal products at Walmart (which is what I use) for about $25.
You must contact the company and CANCEL the products/contract or they will continue to charge your credit card $400 per month. That is the “real cost” to you.
Hi,
The cost of the Clearskin is $207.77 Canadian, & the cost of Skinfinal is $198.68 Can. The customer care # is 833 227 0982 which is toll free. or customercare@webonlinesupport.com.
Also the number I got from my mastercard co. is 1 855 269 8287. They advised me to call this number first & be assertive. If this doesn’t work call your credit card co. & ask them to open an investigation with the dispute department. They say this is a long process, so tell them when you call & they are holding back you plan to do this.
Does anyone have a telephone number that I can contact this company. My credit card has been debited $400.00. Or an email address. Thank you
Hi,
The number of customer care is 833 227 0982, or customercare@webonlinesupport.com. The number I got from my credit card co. is 1 855 269 8287. This is the # I called. They emailed me my cancellation. She said I should have called. How can you call a company that only shows an address is P.O. Box 1108, North York. You need to cancel the contract before 14 days. What a scam!!! Beware. Do not click. Hope this is some help for all.
Thanks for sharing your experience and the details with other readers
Does anyone have a telephone number for these people or email address. They have scammed men $400.00!!!
Virginia, I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you also. Unfortunately there are hundreds of businesses that are conducting this scam so it is impossible for me to give you the information that you require – emails and telephone numbers. I provided the website, email and telephone number for the companies that scammed me but when I last checked they were no longer valid. These companies close down and start up again as fast as someone catches up to them.
The FASTEST process that you can take is to contact your credit card company and ask them for the information. If they have approved a transaction then they should have “contact details” for the company that posted the transaction. Otherwise if they are posting these transactions to companies that they cannot verify, I would they are doing something illegal or immoral.
You should also check with your credit card’s fraud department to see what other actions you can take. They are really there to help YOU – not the scammers.
I recently tried to explain how the scam works to someone and why it is so difficult to take action even when you are wronged because the products arrive in the mail WITHOUT invoices or instructions and that people like you and I have no way of cancelling the subscriptions even once we realize that we have been duped. And since our original purchase came from an ad on Facebook or Google, we cannot even trace the company through the purchase process.
However, all we can do is cancel the credit card to stop the transaction and work with the banks / credit card companies to get the contact information to harass the senders of the product for a refund. Please see my other blog on the Skin Balance scam and Karen’s comment for more information on how we did it.
And when they tell you they cannot do a “refund” or that it will take an approval or a few days – we just need to keep on harassing them. In my case it took repeated calls and threats to report them to Better Business Bureau etc.
In the meantime, I will keep publishing comments and responses in the hope that some people will find resolution through this process.
Thanks for sharing your story with us. Maybe someone else will respond with additional information to help you.
After being scammed nearly $300.00, my account was debited with 12 different amounts, some only $2.34 and $1.25 (I don’t know what they were about) over a period of 2 days, and as I am in Australia, each amount had a conversion fee to Australian dollars. The company names were all different, Skin Balance Co, Tryskinadvance.com, Freshskin, Skin by ?.
I finally contacted someone on a number 855 303 3110, and they found my file. I complained bitterly to them threatening Fraud Squad etc., initially they agreed to refund 50% and I said that wasn’t good enough and they TELL me that they have now put into motion to have the two large amounts, totalling $362.41 US refunded to my account. We will see??!!!
Thanks for sharing your story about the Advanced Skin Cream scam. The more we share, the more likely we prevent others from experiencing the same thing or at least give them information on how to resolve and stop it when it does happen. I hope you get your refund as promised.
Hi Judi,
I can’t thank you enough for writing this blog. You don’t know how much you are helping women out there who fell in this Trap.
Unfortunately, I too ordered a free trial and got to know about the hefty deductions :Cad 400 yesterday. Thankfully I came across Judi’s blog and followed each word she wrote because I was assuming myself in her place. Ladies we really need to FIGHT BACK and stop letting people fool us – as nothing is free.
I called on the Next Skin no. And they picked my call. I simply said I want to return the package as I am not satisfied. She simply said we cannot return the package as you have passed the 14 day trial and that’s the reason for deductions. I got furious to know that and I said you are fooling people by having hidden charges that too cad 400. Are you crazy. And I put down the call.
Again I called them by reading their terms and conditions and luckily I got a catch. Their terms and conditions stated that “If you are not 100 percent satisfied with the product , you can return the product within 14 days from the day of delivery. And I was on the 11th day. I called them and they again said no. As per the terms and conditions, You Can return within 14 days from the day of order. I said. Can you go through your own terms and conditions again as you don’t know them. She got rude and said I know the TnCs and nothing can be refunded now. I drafted a mail giving them all the proofs: of the date of delivery, of their TnCs clause and there was no reply
After this mailed them again threatening them that I will take the matter to the BBB.
But no reply.
Now I called Credit Card person and told them about this unauthorized transaction. He explained me the reason and ask me to return the product. I said I asked for the return but they are not agreeing to it. He said he is cancelling my card and issuing a new card on my name. And will investigate this matter further on their own considering it fraud.
And you know what at night 9:30pm yesterday I got a mail from Next Skin people “Refund for this order has been issued ”
I hope to see my amount getting refunded as I called credit card representative again today and got to know that my amount will be refunded fully.
So Ladies I am writing this comment to make you understand the power of fighting Back. Please don’t just sit back. Fight back.
Thank you so much Judi for your support. Love you!!!
Divya,
Thank you so much for sharing your story – to give hope to other women that – YES, we can fight the fraudsters and scammers.
I want to emphasize that sometimes it takes persistence to “try again” as you did – but CONGRATULATIONS for getting your refund.
I know we cannot stop this type of scam but at least we can make them work harder and reduce their profits by demanding our money back.
And I have to remind everyone – “nothing is FREE on the Internet” – especially make-up or face cream!!!!
I wish I had read these posts earlier. So much for good deals online! I thought I was careful reading all of the terms and conditions and then ordered a Free Trial of product and agreed to pay around $10. for shipping. Yes – on my credit card. A week or so later the product came. Not great but ok for $10. Then yesterday, I opened my credit card statement. Shocker – The $10. expected amount is there.. PLUS an additional $400. ++ I emailed the company and then phoned to dispute the $400. However, when on the phone with this company disputing the Additional credit card charge of over $400. CAD, they directed me to their website and a Word ‘Terms’.. Under that word is a paragraph that appears to be their entire Terms. Only when the rep told me to Click on the Word ‘Terms’ (that does NOT appear to be a link) did I see a new window pop up showing their (Hidden) Terms that Agree to either return the product within 14 Days or pay the full amount !!! I didn’t receive any cancel or refund ‘Terms’ in the package. I have put a block on my credit card to prevent all further transactions. SCAM
I also got hooked into this deal and didn’t see any information regarding the 14 day cancellation clause. Now it looks like I’ll be paying through the nose. I won’t be getting caught again
I hope that you cancelled your credit card as well as your membership in the scam so that you won’t continue to pay the exorbitant fees being charged by the scammers. We all know that what we agreed to was NOT a free trail of “Advanced Skin Anti-Wrinkle Serum”. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Could you send me a phone number so I can talk to someone about my order.
I am sorry that you have been scammed – but Karma Kreatives has NOTHING to do with this scam. I simply wrote this blog to share my personal experience with this scam.
Please contact your Credit Card company to get contact details (phone numbers, websites or email addresses) for the company that charged your credit card – and contact those folks directly. And be persistent until you get the action that you are satisfied with. Good luck.