Proactiv
reviews and complaints

I ordered Proactiv for my roommate who did not have a debit card. I received her first box and it did not work for her. I received an unwanted second box. Because I never signed up for receiving more than that first box, I did not know I had a 60 day money back guarantee. Working 3 jobs and with being out of state and including the havoc of the winter season/holidays I did not call to inquire for a while. When I did call I was told to return my box and I would not have to pay the $67.84. I did that. I kept receiving bills but ignored them because I knew the issue was taken care of. I opened a bill today and called because I should not still be receving these.

I am now told that if I don't pay and they have to send me 2 more statements I will be sent to a collection agency. They did not receive my returned proactiv, and the call they saw they received from me was late December, so even if they do receive it I returned it past my "60 day guaruntee." I do not have $70 to spare. Nor do I care to reduce my credit score when I work 3 jobs just to pay my other bills on time. Their lack of communication (not telling me to get a confirmation/proof of mailing) AND unauthorized billing is really stressing me out and the customer service I received was NOT about helping my situation but about proactiv receiving their money.

Help!

I have nothing good to say about Proactiv, nor their business practices. I bought a 30-day trial for $32.57. I felt safe to try it because on their site it says you can cancel if not satisfied. My daughter started to use it and she had little results.

On 2/08 I notice that my credit card was charged $48.68 from Proactiv! I called them because I did want their product especially for that price. They told me that it was to late ...to stop the shipment even though they charged my account that morning. I told them I felt that their business practices was misleading and I would never buy their products again and to stop all future orders. A week later I received their product and kept it because I did not want to deal with their horrible customer service or wait on the phone for a long time. I was lead to believe that was my final charge. On 3/10 I noticed another charge of $29.95. I called them to complain that they charged my account for a third time. I found out that the last shipment was not $48.00 as i was lead to believe but $108.00 and that they were going to charge me again for my last installments.

I writing you because I want everyone to know what a scam proactiv has going. I do not want anyone to fall into their trap like i did. Their product is not that great and they are not clear on the prices they charge. Also, their first trial shipment came in half size bottles. If anyone is reading this, save your money and head to the department store for your facial cleanser, better yet go to your dermatologist. STAY AWAY PROACTIV! Please share this message.

This company's website and billing is extremely misleading or cannot be trusted. I ordered the Proactiv 3-Step System for my son for $19.95. Without my consent for reordering, additional shipment and bigger bills just continue to arrive. I finally wrote to them to request that they stop shipment and billing me for products I did not order. The products stopping arriving, but bills continue to arrive for the next two months. I had to called my bank to reverse those charges.

I am writing in reference to Proactiv solution. I was very dissatisfied with the customer service I received from Proactiv solution. I have been a loyal member for more than 5 years and I have never missed a payment or even been late with a payment. Last year, due to financial reasons, I called an cancelled my membership. I was sent one last shipment shortly after and I sent a check through my online bill pay from my bank. After 6 weeks, the check never cleared the bank. I called Proactiv a month after the check was sent and they still had not received the payment. 2-3 weeks later, I called and cancelled the check I sent to Proactiv. Luckily, my bank did not charge me a cancellation fee this time. I then sent a personal check to the company which cleared the bank shortly after. A few weeks later I was sent a reimbursement check from Proactiv solution. I wasn't sure why this was sent. I could only assume that I had a credit on my account. Ever since, I have been getting billed $45.90 by the company. Upon calling them, Proactiv advised me that my check was bad and I still owed them $45.90. I informed them that my check was not bad but that I had to cancel the check because they never deposited it. I also told them that I wrote a personal check which they deposited. They advised me that I still owed the $ and that the first check I sent was paid online and they don't accept checks from online bill pay. I got several different stories from several different people from proactiv. The last correspondence was a couple of months ago when I called and spoke with an account supervisor. I told her my concerns and that I was very upset that I've been a very loyal customer and that I was being treated unfairly. Even after faxing a copy of the cleared check from my bank, I still received notice that they were sending me to collections. I AM VERY DISSASTIFED AT PROACTIV SOLUTION AND I WOULD TELL ANYONE THINKING OF ORDERING NOT TO TO AVOID ANY GRIEF IN THE FUTURE.

OKAY A LONG TIME AGO PROACTIV SENT ME A CHECK BASICALLY THREE FOR NO REASON FOR 99.00 OKAY I CASHED THEM AND THEN THE CHECKS CAME BACK, SO COUPLE YEARS GO BY I GET MY FIRST JOB I MAN COMES INTO THE STORE AND HARASS ME ABOUT A CHECK I CASHED AT HIS STORE AND IM LIKE WHAT AND HE IS LIKE WE ARE TAKING YOU TO COURT HOW AM I RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT PROACTIV SHOULD BE BUT THEY ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT SO NOW I HAVE TO PAY IN TOTAL 300 PLUS THE RETURN CHECK FEE AND DID I NOT MENTION I DIDNT WRITE THESE CHECKS THEY WERE FROM THE COMPANY PROACTIV SO IF SOMEONE WOULD PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHO WOULD HAVE TO PAY THE MONEY BACKK ME OR PROACTIV

I am pissed! In Nov 2010, I recieved a proactive shipment which my wife decided she wasn't going to use it any more. So I called customer service and had them cancel my account. The Customer service rep said the account could not be closed all the way due to the outstanding balance due. I informed her that my wife wasn't going to use it, and asked if I could send it back. The CS rep said that I could send it back and the amount would be credited, and my account would be closed completely. I sent the shipment back within a couple weeks of receiving it. (Well within the 60 day refund period)

So I get a bill Jan 24th, 2011 stating that my payment is 2 months past due. I call CS again, and they tell me they recieved/processed my returned shipment on Jan 20th, 2011. But they said this date was outside of the 60 days for the money back guarantee, so they would not credit my account. They told me I could pay for the amount and they would ship it back to my house. I told them I didn't want it, and since they had the unopened product why couldn't they just credit the account. She continued to tell me they wouldn't credit the account. I the spoke with an "account specialist" who told me the same thing. I inquired why it took almost 2 months for them to receive and process my return, and they told me it usually takes about 4-6 weeks to process the return. So they told me if they didn't recieve/ process it within 60 days then I don't get my money back. I am !@#$ pissed off now, because they have the product I sent to them, but won't credit my account because they were to lazy to move things along quickly. Sounds to me like they just take thier time "processing" returns to make sure you are stuck paying for it whether you like it or not. The best they can do is ship the product back to my house! I am never giving anyone else a good review of proactive, (oh, and even used properyly it doesn't work). Let me know if you know if you know of someone who I can contact to resolve this poor CS experience.

I purchased the Proactiv Solution online for the introductory price. Little did I know my one-time purchase was going to turn into them continuing to mail me product, although I had never requested it or agreed to purchase it. I was told I would be receiving a full refund once I sent the product back - this was in November. (Unfortunately, I had been going through several personal problems over the summer, and this had taken a backseat.) I sent the product back, being assured that I would be getting a full refund. I am now receiving collections notices, and I cannot get anywhere with the customer service department. I believe this is deceptive marketing, and on top of that there is no help or compassion from customer service. I would strongly recommend against purchasing from Proactiv. They will never receive my business again, as there are several products out there that work just as well, and who treat their customoers much better.

Never never ever order from this website or by phone. Only order from their kiosks. My wife ordered off their website and got a great price. However by ordering that initial shipment of their product, you are now joining their club. That means that you are agreeing to allow them to send you their product at FULL price every 2 months. The product that they send is enough to last more than 2 months. Then when you try to cancel they say OK no problem, but than they keep sending you stuff. We had to call 4 TIMES and finally got them to agree to stop sending and stop charging. STAY AWAY FROM THESE GUYS! I am seriously considering lodging a more formal complaint. It is a great product but their marketing of it is the worst.

1. Taking us to collections for $19.95 product that we never received.

2. Deceptive business practice, we had stopped buying, they offered us a 'trial' offer of newly introduced product, one tube of new acne medicine, for $19.95, then hit us with surprise monthly charges, claiming that they used the key word "this will be a continuing order, " which they use to justify as adequate notice that they would bill our on file charge card forever until we got back to them.

3. Claiming that they sent us an "affidavit" when we called to stop the unwanted recurring charges, even while agreeing that they have no evidence that we ever received this. Say that we somehow should have known and gotten back to them immediately when affidavit was not received, too late to do so later.

4. Proactiv Solution's 'Cole' indicates that we must pay, no other choice, or it goes to Collections immediately. May go on our credit report, which is currently spotless, after many thousands of dollars over many years paid to Proactiv Solutions.

Do not get mixed up with ordering the $19.95 proactive offered on internet and TV..it is a scam!...They say you have 30 days to cancel but when you call to cancel in less than 30 day they say the shipment has already been sent and they have to charge you...it ends up costing you over 70.00 even if you do cancel within the 30 days...there advertizement is all a lie to cheat you...beware!

Dissatisfied customer!

Wont refund money
When you order from proactive you are now signed up for an automatic billing and shipping program every 2 months! Once they have your information they will continue to send out new shipments (And bill you before they are even sent)! Customer service told me they can not stop the billing so I will have to go to bank to fight the charge. I am ver disgusted with this manipulation if the company is so great why is it that they are deceiving what they are really about and that is money. I am really upset, I trusted them with my debit informaion I don't know what else to do it is just a scam, then they will attach vitamins to your account if anybody has any information on what I can do to stop my account with them, they are telling me I can't thanks kathrine trochimowicz

I ordered the discounted trial version of proactive and then the next month I was billed and sent another kit that i did not order, the shipment frequency option on my account with the website was frozen so I could never change it, I finally told them I wanted the longest time in between shipments possible accepting that they will always just ship me them every so many months. Well they shipped and charged me for a MASSIVE size proactive kit that will last me a year, and I DID NOT ORDER IT. I asked them to not send me ANYTHING for the 26 week period. They are ripping people off and scamming them, it's nearly impossible to get it through to them that you want to buy a product when you want it not when they decide to just charge you for it.

ProActiv charged my credit card even though I never received the product. I called the customer service. After 20 minutes on hold waiting for the response, I was told that they had a delivery confirmation. However, they didn't have my signature. My guess is that the package was dropped in the hall instead of the mailbox, even though it is big enough, and got stolen.
They promised to send me a form to report it and reverse the charge. I never received. After spending another 20 minutes on hold, I gave and reported the problem to my bank. I got a response from the bank that they investigated the issue and canceled the charge to the credit card.
I kept received invoiced from ProActiv however. Strange that the form that they promised never made it to me, however, there was no problem with their invoices. Finally they even sent me to the collection agency.
Never again will I use their products! I was stupid enough to continue buying them from their kiosks.
Clinique is my best friend now! Works great and NO SCAMS!

My wife ordered some Proactiv from their website. There was no rhyme nor reason to the billing. My wife is not very good at keeping track of these things and the billing varied from about 30 dollars a month to over 100, and some months nothing was sent to us. 3 months ago I had her call the company to cancel the orders and the account. They complied and said it was done. The following month a charge appeared on the Visa bill for 106 dollars. I had her call again and she was assured that the accounts was cancelled. I just received another charge for them of 35 dollars. We called again and they refused to even provide a cancellation number. They said they would `send us one in the mail`but I do not believe them. This is abject fraud. We called Visa. They reluctantly credited the charges but this still means that Proactiv will get paid. I had my card numbers changed but Visa warned me that they could still try to "force through" the charges. It seems rather hopeless but if it happens again I am going to have to cancel my credit card.

After using Proactiv for about three months my skin was sensitive and dry and dull. Yes my acne went away but it came back worse after a couple of weeks, because of my dry skin I guess. I decided to cancel and the service rep told me that my latest shipment was in the mail. She said I would have to mail it back to them and get a "proof of mailing." In case it got lost. In March I sent the package and got that proof of mailing. Then no more bills or shipments came and I moved in May.

Today I got a notice saying I owed them $60 for a shipment. I called and the first person I spoke to said they had no record of my shipment being received and asked if I had my proof of mailing. I said no, because I had thrown out the tiny slip of paper after three months. The rep was quick to point out that 5% of shipments are lost in the mail. She said there was nothing she could do and I'd have to pay.

I called back thirty minutes later steaming that I would have to pay for something I SENT BACK. This time the rep said they had a record of my return being received on June 18th. So the first person blatantly lied to me. She said that since it was past the 60 day return period, I'd still have to pay. After a lot of arguing and asking about ten times to speak to her supervisor, I informed the rep that I WOULD NOT pay for a product that I sent back and pay a company that lied to its customers.

She wouldn't let me speak to her manager, but asked me to hold. A minute later came back and said my balance was cleared.

This seems like such a swindle and a scam. Not only is the product bad, but the customer service was absolutely horrendous. If you like the product, buy it a mall kiosk. The online service is the worst.

Let me break it down for you readers:

May 2010 - New customer to Proactive. I asked for a 90 day kit with a 3 payment option (1st month - $27.94, 2nd month - $19.95, 3rd month - $19.95).

June 2010 - Got my shipment of Proactive, but was NOT 90 day kit. Called customer service, told them there was a mistake. They told me that I did not order a 90 day kit, I told them I did. Went back and forth for a while. The CSR (Brian/Bryan) told me that what I did receive was a better saving, when in fact it was not. I tried to break it down to him, but he would not listen. He then told me "...perhaps you don't know your math as well as you think you do." NO JOKE. I told the CSR that I wanted a 90 day kit with the 3 payment option, he told me that I would have to keep what I got already and that he would change my order for the next time around... which is a 90 day kit with the 3 payment option. Problem sovled? Not quite, read on.

August 2010 - Got my shipment of the 90 day kit of Proactive BUT was not billed for the 3 payment option, instead was billed for a 2 payment option (1st month - $37.92, 2nd month - $29.92). Called customer service and first thing I asked her(Cheryl/Sheryl) "What payment option do my records show?" Her response, "The 3 payment option." I then explained to her that my bill showed otherwise. She then RETRACTED her statement by telling me that "I was indeed on the 2 payment option." I explained to her that I had originally asked for a 3 payment option with the 90 day kit (see May 2010) and then thought the problem was corrected when I had called back in June 2010. She then explained to me that "...in order to have a 3 payment option with your 90 day kit, you have to ASK for it when you FIRST set up your order with Proactive." Uhh... I did. But according to her, I did not. Also according to her, Brian/Bryan, the CSR whom I talked to in June 2010, HAD CORRECTED the problem by changing it to the 90 day kit, but "accidentally clicked the wrong payment option" when I spoke to him. There was nothing she could do for me. So I cancelled.

Moral of the story, huge multi-billion dollar companies like Guthy-Renker hire people to read off scripts when people call and treat their customers like robots and to assume that the customer is always WRONG.

When did it become this way? Why has it become this way? I remember when you could call a company when there was a mistake and that company would actually FEEL BAD and would try their hardest to correct the problem... not to mention try and make you feel like they actually cared about you.

Humanity is lost when it comes to... money.

I tried it for a couple of months but ProActive did not work for me. I returned a shipment, UNopened. Proactive kept billing me for that shipment. I wrote to them and then called them. At first they said they never received it and they demanded proof of return. The post office never gave me any kind of receipt that I handed the box to the lady behind the counter. Then, after checking ProActive ADMITTED that they really did receive the unopened shipment. Now I just got a call from a collection agency on behalf of ProActive to "collect a debt of $45.80." RUN from any ad you see for ProActive! Terrible company. Crappy product too, you can buy a tube of benzyl peroxide at Walmart for two bucks that will work better.

I used proactive about like 4 months ago.. the first couple weeks were normal but then my face started breaking out pigmentations and wierd cycsts..i want to do something about this..i have been like this for 3 months already and it's leaving me real bad scars bigger than a dime size!.. I want to sue proactive solution because i have been waisting alot of money going to like 3 different dermatolgist and even hospitol. i can provide pictures for proof of damage. I just don't know how or where to start.

Please do not order from these guys. I got my first order for $29. Then they proceeded to charge me $78 without my permission for a 90 day supply. They charge your account without your permission, they are a scam. ProActiv worked at the beginning for me and then it just dried out my skin really bad and made me break out even worse. I cannot believe their customer service. I asked for a reference number or cancellation confirmation e-mail from them and they wouldn't even do that for me. The customer service agent I talked to even gave me a fake name; his English was horrible and said his name was Bryan Smith (yeah right). Horrible Horrible service, and it is theft.