Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Guthy-Renker
United States
www.proactiv.com

I was a satisfied customer of ProActiv acne cleansing system for years, beginning in the mid-90s (before they used celebrity endorsements). My mother got the account for me & I used the product for many years; we terminated the account only due to accumulating a stockpile of the product. Cut to this summer, when I opened an account with ProActiv for myself. There was an "Introductory Offer" of the VitaPower vitamins for $3.99, and I accepted it. There was no information about how much the product was after the "introductory offer." When I received the product, it came with absolutely no paperwork - no receipt, no product information, no contact information, no way to accept or decline an actual subscription to the product. Due to this lack of information, it was unclear that VitaPower was a separate entity from ProActiv. The fact that there was no product information, receipt or any other paperwork gave me pause, and I did not want to continue with the product (I didn't try it; I just didn't see fit to add more vitamins to my regimen). I should have taken steps to contact the company, but there wasn't any contact info provided with the product, and I promptly forgot about it... until a month later when $33.99 was taken out of my account by the VitaPower company. I did then contact ProActiv for VitaPower's customer service number and promptly called to cancel my unwanted and unsolicited subscription, only to get a very sarcastic attitude from the agent when I declined to listen to his lecture about canceling without trying the product, and trying to keep me from canceling the account. I called back again to clarify about the lack of information about the product & subscription status with the shipment of the product & how it was a suspicious & deceptive tactic, to no avail. I then expressed my displeasure re: the experience with VitaPower and the (lack of)information given when signing up for the "introductory offer" with ProActiv, whereupon I learned that VitaPower is part of the Guthy-Renker "Family" (umbrella company) and, in short, did not care about my negative experience. I have subsequently canceled my account with ProActiv. It's shocking to me that they would be so unconcerned with complaints regarding these dodgy & cheap sales tactics, given that they actually have competition these days. I am now boycotting all Guthy-Renker products due to my dismay about their deceptive sales tactics & unsatisfactory customer service.