viv3 and focus cleanse review: fraud 63

In dealing with the focus cleanse scam here are some websites that maybe interested in the comsumers plight:

I can only suggest that you report your experience to:

http://scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/693900

and

http://acma.gov.au/WEB/HOMEPAGE/PC=HOME

and

http://consumer.vic.gov.au/CA256EB5000644CE/HomePage?ReadForm&1=Home~&2=~&3=~ (or its equivalent in your home state)

From Ireland and been scammed the same way as everyone else with mbna doing a pontius pilate on it - with comments like 'you have made an agreement' 'we are just caught in the middle' they say they have had over 10, 000 complaints but still they do nothing to forewarn their customers, not that it takes a genius to guess why. No refund and no help but not leaving it at that

holy f*cking hell! viv3... you got me ! same thing. did the free trial for $1.00... then a few weeks later on 05/08/2009 $30.81 AUD was withdrawn from my visa card... three or four days later two more bottles of Acai Berry arrived in the post... and then on 19/08/2009 .. $149.49 AUD was STOLEN from my account.. and i havent even received anything for it either.. (not that i even WANT the damn things anymore) how do we stop these criminals? I WANT MY MONEY BACK PUNKS! including the bank fees that have accumulated.

I too was scammed and received an additional billing in August for additional product which I did not receive. Today October 14th, 2009 I had a C.O.D. package at the post office from them. I refused it and called the Bank of Nova Scotia to cancel my credit card and they said they would not do that and that as the initial amount had been approved they could continue billing me. My initial amount was to be $3.95 and it was on my bill for $6.62. The second bill was for $55.91 and I received nothing, I am concerned that I will have additional bills. I am printing a copy of this to take to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I will be closing my bank of Nova Scotia bank accounts. Because if Viv3 keeps billing because the bank said the original purchase allows them to continue charging us I am STUCK'... vivlabs and viv3 seems to me that this company if playing games.

Lets stop these rats! Lynda

I had recently signed up to recieve my 'free' trial of acai berry diet pills also. only to descover that not only would i be paying for a shipping fee of around 3 pounds something, unknown to me if i didnt cancel my subscription within the free trial period i would also be billed for the overall price of the product on a monthly basis. a not so cheap £69!
i was so exited about recieving a free product that i didnt think that there would be any hidden costs hidden within the small print. i am desgusted with this company! and will not be ordering anything for free again!
if anyone wishes to cancel their subsciption with them. i suggest they phone this number to cancel. it is their u.k number; [protected].
either that or i suggest cancelling youre bank account altogether. as these people can do anything with youre bank details. And will probably continue to charge you even though you have cancelled.

best of luck!

I also have been duped by these people. I have no way of contacting them to cancel my so called subscriptions and they have just charged a second lot of both! I feel sick.

I signed up to get the free trial which shipping was charged to my credit card. A month later was charged 133 cnd dollars x2 for the "subscription" yet received no more products. I called the company many times, they told me to read the small print on the website. It's absurd to me that this company has so many different phone #'s all over... In Canada @ [protected]. This company plays on everyone's desire to lose weight to extort money. Royal Bank is in the process of disputing this charge as I've not received any products for the 266.00$ charged. We'll see what the outcome is...

I have also been scammed with this Acai Berry free trial offer and charged close to $600 over a 2 month period. I haven't received any product except for the initial 2 trial bottles. I have raised a dispute with my bank because they make it really hard to stop them charging you as there is only a phone opt out and our time zones make this difficult in Australia. I have also written a letter to the company which is probably to no avail.

Be warned that even if you cancel your card they can keep charging and the bank can hold you liable for the charges. Keep copies of any correspondence and dispute their charges via your bank. And watch put for the fact that they use different company names to charge you.

I work for a credit card company in the UK and have come across a lot of people who have been caught out by this. The main problem with companies like this one is that once they have your card details, they then have a 'continuous authority' (kind of like a direct debit) set up. If it's on your bank account, then you can phone the bank and cancel it. But if it's on a credit card, it's up to you to cancel it as you entered into an agreement with the company. Canceling your card doesn't always stop them taking the money, as if it's blocked as lost or stolen, then any continuous authorities you have set up will move across to the new card. And even if the account is closed, continuous authorities can continue to take for six months (horrifying in this situation, but imagine if it was your car insurance & you hadn't gotten around to changing the payment details yet).

That said, by using your credit card you tend to have a higher chance of getting most, if not all, of your money back, as technically it's not *your* money... it's the bank's. Unfortunately, if you have willingly given your card details, it's not a matter of fraud. From the bank's point of view you are disputing a transaction you had with a retailer you chose to deal with. Even if that company happens to be fraudulent.

Oh my God,

I been charged with the same 118 USA dollar for nothing, I receved the matterial late and I call before the end of 30 day of order
I call UK no. they said, you should call withen 15 days, how came, I receved matterial late, they said not our problem
they did not refund me, but I will try disbut through my bank and I will see

I work for the dispute departement for a major financial instituition and recieve MANY dispute request for this company. I've never actually tried it but I did go on their site to read the "Terms and conditions" basically, it stipulates that if you do not cancel within the 14 day trial (whether or not you recieved the free trial bottle), you will automatically be enrolled in their " Elite club" and they will charge you an amount of 87-90$ per month and will continue sending you bottle of their partner companies. It also stipulates that there is no obligation and you can cancel at anytime by calling their toll free number. ( If it doesn't work, call your bank and they can provide you with a functioning number) Personally, I have called these companies for my customers and they have a very professional customer service and will cancel right away at your request. If you haven't recieved the bottle they will refund you and if you have, and wish to get your money back, all you need to do is send it back with a tracking number and the RMA# they provide you with and should be expecting the refund in a few days. If they fail to do so after 30 days, call your credit card company and they can start a dispute as"credit not processed." Honestly, there is a way to get out of this, cancelling your VIsa is NOT necessary, and it is impossible to put a stop payment on a VISA card. This may be very misleading in the marketing, but it is NOT fraud! You must be very diligent as to who you give your credit card information to and always read the merchant's terms and conditions!

I also been scammed with this company, they charged me AUS7.40 for the postage each bottle one for acai berry and another AUS$7.40 for cleans THAT NEVER WORKED! they said its 30 day trial period and the stupid tablets didnt come until about 18 days and when i call their UK office told me that its over 15 days cancellation period that they charged my mastercard already (guess how much! AUS147.90 per bottle - so that is AUS295.8o - freaking rip off) and i said how can i cancell in 15 days if your item didnt arrived until 18 days! how am i suppose to have a trial if i dont have it!

Im calling my credit card company and organizing them to default the charges they charge on my account.

This scam should be stopped, fooling a lot of people!

Their claim was right wasnt it - lose pounds in weeks! I lost about £200.
Basically unless you cancel the free trial within 15 days you get charged the full subscription which is about $75 per order.
If you havent been charged yet then call [protected] and ask them to cancel the subscription. The lady i spoke to was very helpful but said Iwas unlikely to get a refund as they hadnt breached the terms and conditions.
If you want to try and get your money back you need to write to:
Trading Planet, Attention: Legal, 56 Thornton Close, Palton, Chester-lelStreet, County Durham, DH2 1QH.
I guess a letter doesnt hurt but it is probably one we will have to put down to experience!

I have been scammed too. I think the best way to get back at them is to inundate them with lots of orders with phoney credit card numbers?

I am from Canada and was also scammed by this company, Viv3lab Ltd. The agents of my credit card company that I have dealt with has not been very helpful except for one, who gave me a local number to call ( instead of a long distance UK number as posted on my credt card statement) in order for me to cancell my so called "order". Just wonder any one from Canada has any successful experiecne in getting their money back and can share. I was told by this one helpful agent that there should be a Pickering address in Ontario that I can send back my shippment, however she did not have this address with her. I wonder if anyone has this address and can provide it to me. I swear that I will never purchase anything similar from the internet again. I wish the authorities can do something about this whole scam.

UK here. I too was fooled by their scam, I managed to cancel my order but still am £76 x2 poorer! It seems unlikely that I will get my money back as I didn't read the small print and I didn't ask for a refund within the 15 days stipulated. so miniscule it couldn't be read easily. What a con! Has anybody been successful in getting their money back, if so how?

Arthur

I got scammed by this people. I paid for the postage, and I agreed for a free Acai Berry Detox, know they charge to my Visa card US$ 124.96.
Carmen Molina

Desde Santiago de Chile encargue (lo encontre en FACEBOOK) a Viv3 Focuscleanse un frasco de GRATIS de Acai berries, solo debia pagar por el flete, primero me cargaron en envio y cual sería mi sorpresa cuando me cargaron US$ 124.96

Creo que en facebook se debieran responsabilizar por tener este tipo de publicidad ESTAFADORA.

Change your bank.
I have contacted my bank also, as I have been scammed as well by this so called company.
The bank has told me that payments had to happen three times, before they could cancel my card. What a load of crock. Anyway it has been mentioned to them, they are aware of it, and now I do not want to have any money in my account for them to help themselves to. I am sick of being ripped by these people, and it seems to be happening all over the world.

i also got scammed by these pple calle viv3, when i hadnt received it yet i contacted them on [protected] they said they wud send it cos there was a mistake.with my address, after 2 weeks when i contacted them again, whiles i had not received none of the products, they said they couldnt refund the money back to me and they kept hanging up on me, i had to cantact my bank to cancel my payments of 73.85

I'm so relieved right now - just got my new credit card and could see that I got everything back. What a horrible, horrible thing. I guess I can sleep well again. Good luck to those trying to get their money back, just keep emailing and phoning!

Hi,

I have had the same problems as all of you and I have just emailed the Food Standards Agency in the UK. It seems to me that these things are making people sick so check out the following:

http://www.safesupplements.co.uk/what-are-licensing-laws-regarding-supplements.html

I have contacted the fraud squad, I suggest that anyone who has been scammed cancel your credit cards straight away. These people are thieves and will keep stealing from you if you don't. I am from Dublin and have contacted the health authoritys over in the UK to find out if these things are dangerous. I will send them the still sealed containers for testing as the ingredients advertised are different from those on the bottle. This seems to me to be the best approach as the UK police weirdly enough has no online fraud investigation facility - I checked. Don't be fooled by potential offers of getting your money back - you won't it's a scam. If you ring they will speel off the terms and conditions line and hang up. Your wasting your time other than it may make you feel better to roar at them. Remember it's pointless. Another person kindly wrote here about the 30 day refund as a posibble avenue to explore. I rang them they said you "may" get a refund not "will" get a refund and then hung up twice. Thanks for your kind efforts but this avenue will not work.

This is organised crime you will not get your money back. Crooks are not in the habit of reimbursing their victims. The only way to seek some sort of redress is (in my humble opinion) to alert the Food Standards Agency in the UK to a potential health hazard. This is all a pain in the ### as I'm sure you'll all agree but they might be caught under the trades description act. Maybe - don't hold your breath. Whatever you do don't take these tablets they be harmful.

Credit card companys seem to be aware of this yet they do nothing to warn there customers about it. I would have thought that is negligent but good luck with that one also.

Anyway, I think it's important that noone suffers physical harm from these things so you should email:

foodfraud@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Good Luck to you all,

The email I just sent them is below:

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I have recently been the victim of a credit card scam by purchasing food supplements from a UK company Viv3.com. I believe the food supplements are not what they have advertised as the ingredients listed on the bottle are different to those advertised on the website.

I suspect that the products are not what is advertised and, according to people who have used the supplement they make you sick.

The scam seems to be well documented on the internet through various ripoff sites etc. I will provide the links below.

In a nutshell a customer orders the food supplement on a free trial basis and then your card gets billed repeatedly if you do not contact the company about ending a supposed "subscription" within 15 days. Internet money scams are obviously not your concern but I just mention this to give you the background.

I am concerned that not only is the food supplement that I received not what is advertised but according to internet blogs it appears to be dangerous to human health - there are reports of diarroeah, nausea vomiting etc. The food supplement I received has not been opened and is still sealed in its original casing. I would like to send both bottles to you for testing as I suspect they might be harmful to the public.

According to the website - http://viv3.com/ - the ingredients contain the following:

Colon Cleanse
Slippery Elm (bark), Aloe Vera (leaf), White Oak (bark), Gentian (root), BuleVervain (whole plant), Golden (root), Psylium (husk), Senna (leaf), Lactobacillus acidophilus (providing 90 million CFU at the time of manufacture).

Resveratrol
PolygonumCuspidatum, Resveratrol, grape seed extract, Quercetin, natural mixed Tocopherols, base of natural palm oil, Beeswax, Hypromellose.

According to the container the capsules contain only some of the above ingredients and a number of different ingredients.

I have contacted the company after a painstaking effort and they have hung up on me twice although I was cautious enough to remain polite so as not to give them any cause for prevarication. I have emailed them (main email address I received an automated rejection response) and have not received a response. I have not taken any of these products as (based on users' experience they appear to be very dangerous. I would appreciate if you would contact me and I would be happy to send you the sealed products by registered post for inspection. At this point I am not concerned about getting my money back but I am worried that they might cause someone grave harm.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Kind regards,

M

For anyone having trouble ringing to cancel, I got through on this number:

+44 [protected]

I GOT MY MONEY BACK! Yes, thats right... I got it back, all $237.26 USD of it. Just keep emailing stating the terms and conditions 30 day money back guarantee... you will be refused at first, but email again and they will give you a refund.

clay.douglass@viveraglobal.com;
hostmaster@viveraglobal.com;
clay.douglass@localbillinglimited.com;
claydouglass@gmail.com;
mitch.platt@localbillinglimited.com

Good Luck!

have placed this order for Acai Berry and Life Cleanse on August 5, 2009 and was charged twice for the product. I got the product by courier in a week's time. I have been repeatedly calling the toll-free number but there is no response for that number.
The website is www.acaiberryexclusive.com. There is a fine print in the terms and conditions which says that we will be charged repeatedly unless we call them and cancel the order. If we repeatedly email them or use bad language they will not refund the money. Is there some law that can stop this fraud?

hi everyone,

they are cheaters, i have request that please dont buy anything from this company.

they charge me $150 for just 60 tablets, they are nothing more than a fraud company.

i have also been scammed and have paid 4 lots of 75.35 i have rang them and cancelled the so called agreement! and i have been told that i will be reimbursed. but as to when that will be is anyones guess. if i had the money to swander away and if the thing actually worked i wouldnt mind so much, but as single parent with lots of debts to pay, this has seriously left me in alot of trouble with my bills and rent! i now have to cancel my card and open a new account. ithe bank is looking into it and i am also contacting trading standards to try and recoup my losses. i think that in this day and age its totally disgusting that we have to go to these lenghts to get our money back. i will keep you posted as to how long it all takes. nikky

I've finally got a hold of them, very suspicious: The only times I've got answers was when I mailed to chris@phytoscience.co.uk . Phytoscience is their shipping company - he forwarded my complaint and suddenly I go a response that they were going to refund me 118.63USD (which is 1/4 of what they have charged me). Today I emailed again (one of the mails was sent to Chris@Phytoscience again) telling them I wanted the whole money back - with the answer that " Your account will be refunded for the charge of the product for the amount of 355.89Usd since these are charges indicated in our database. Please note that this might take up to 5 business days ". Well, I hope it'll work, alread faxed my credit card company those emails, but also telling them to stop giving those pigs the opportunity to rip off people like that.

the same thing happened to me... ordered a "free trial", which came no problem, but then two invoices and two further bottles of pills turned up, costing £80 each, which had already gone from our account. Phoned the 0808 uk number on the invoice to cancel, which was supposedly done, but was told that no written confirmation would be sent, only a reference number! cancelled the card so they can't take any more money, (already £160 out of pocket) and the company, (whatever they are calling themselves now) told me there would be no more money taken, but could not tell me whether I would be reimbursed for the goods already paid for, even if they were returned unopened! sending them back anyway recorded delivery, and hoping for the best! wait and see whilst contacting bbc watchdog, trading standards and the police. my advice to anyone considering using any of these sites is DONT DO IT THEY ARE PROFFESSIONAL CON ARTISTS STEALING MONEY FROM INNOCENT UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE ACROSS THE WORLD!

Same happened to me, I'm in Germany. I called Barclaycard today, only aware of about 160€ they charged me. The nice lady on the phone told me that there's another ~70€ charge as of Friday. Then, I cancelled my credit card and I faxed the fraud department. And the lady also forwarded this to the fraud department (in addition to my fax).
I also tried emailing them, only to get the answer back that they don't offer email support. Also, I've tried calling them, but for me, the international number did not work. It said the number is not available...
So, the lady on the phone said that the Barclaycard fraud department is going to call me later this week, after checking my case. I hope I'll get my money back... as a student I don't have much :(
I think it's also very suspicious that you order at viv3labs or something but the charges are from focuscleanse...

Hi i to was scammed... It said FREE trial, did'nt read the conditions as ai should [my fault] as a Dyslexic i just did'nt ! lesson learnt
They had the £3.95 then started charging me £160 ! phoned them got an Australian lady who was sooooo rude so i have cancelled my credit card ..i can't believe they can just start taking money like that there must be a way of stopping them trading [Sheba]

They did right by me. I ordered it and had a friend order, too, because it was a good deal and I liked what I got. Both of us had good experiences and called to cancel and were treated professionally. This is the number I called +[protected] but I also found this one which was a free number [protected]. Lots of grousers on this site...or maybe some of you guys are their competitors? Who knows. Anyway, I can only speak from my experience which was positive.
Lisa Cotton

On Monday 24/08 I cancelled the order, i made it on 21, the date in the invoice was 22..I called +44 [protected], the person there gave me 3 cancelation codes (8 digit numbers), one for each product. I checked mi VISA on line info and found the debits for shipping..
there is one descriptor for each product, they are:

NATUREBERRY - FOR ACAY BERRY
FOCUSCLEANSE AND VITALITYCLEAN FOR LIFE CLEANSE AND RESVMAX (I guess). In the agreement says that any CC charge is going to refer to Trading Planet Ltd. wich is not true as you can notice.

Today we went to the bank (my husbad is the card owner...) Cancel the credit card to avoid future charges, they said that with this it will be 99% chance to stop the debits..they said that some of these internet sellers make sure to acces your new card trhough the credit card brand with some insurance policy...i hope our scammers can not...

Since these people refuse to provide any written proof of cancelation the bank made copies of the invoices, terms and asked me for the cancelation numbers. I hope this works.

By thee way ..I lost 4 pounds in 3 days because of the worries and stress... sorry for my english...wish luck to all of us...

I also experienced the same as most of the above. I agreed to a `free trial`paid for the postage recieved two plastic pots and 17 days later had an unauthorised withdrawl of £74.10X2 taken from my bank account by a company called Focuscleanse.Spoke to them, there comments where, It was up to me to cancel the contract? what contract, it was a free market they could charge what they liked for there products.Telephone number [protected].Then spoke to VIV3LABSto find out if they knew what was going on, they did.Telephone number [protected].I shall now pass all this on to the fraud department of my bank and email VIV3LABS until I get my money back.H.V England

I LIVE IN CANARY ISLAND SPAIN I HAVE ASKED FOR THESE PRODUCTS THAT OFFERED ME FOR ONLY 3, 95€ ALREADY THEY HAVE TAKEN ME MORE GIVE 240 € GIVE MY ACCOUNT, I HAVE GIVEN FROM FALL TO MY CARD AND CHARGES CONTINUE HAPPENING TO ME, ALREADY I HAVE DONE THE DENUNCIATION TO THE POLICE AND TO THE JUDGE OF MY COUNTRY, THIS IS A FRAUD IN INTERNET, I HOPE THAT THEY COULD RETURN MY MONEY TO ME, And THAT STOP THE PERSONS IN CHARGE, THIEVES!

Hi I am from Australia and the cheeky ### took $141 & $146 out of my credit card without my consent. I emailed the scamming ### and told them to cancel my order and refund my money.

yet another sucker here in the uk. bank cant or wont do anything. they gave me some phone numbers but they are unobtainable. i will have to cancel my credit card or they will keep on charging. i will go to watch dog and whoever else i can think of to get my money back

RING YOUR BANK AND CANCEL YOUR CARD! I have just had the same problem... I just called my bank to cancel my card, the lady was really nice and I ended up talking to her about it. She said that 25% of her calls each night are about the same thing... same company. I asked her what the success rate of getting the refund was like and she said because it's relatively recent (all in about the last two weeks or so - which you can tell by the dates of all these complaints) they haven't had many refunds YET. But she said that they were pretty confident that people should be getting their money back. Also check out the advice by this helpful person:
Viv3Labs Acai Berry Detox — How to Get Your Money Back and Legitimate Contact Info

The terms and conditions state that you can get a full refund within 30 days of placing the order. So there's another avenue for you to get the money back if you are still within the 30 days.

Good Luck everyone - DON'T LET THEM WIN!

I have had the same problem my account has been charged twice £30.76p.

I did order a free trial but i never agreed to any subcription. My bank said they would cancel my card, but that still doesn't get my money back. If anyone has the number for these companies please let me know i have been given numbers that transfer to someones home.

I have four children under the age of 9 and going through a divorce i thought i try this life cleanse to help me feel better abt life, only to be scammed and out of pocket with children to feed. People need to understand that there are bad ramifications to these kind of scams.

Yes I'm a poor sucker as well. I spoke to Barclaycard the first time I noticed the postage was charged for in US DOLLARS CYPRUS and told them that I had no idea who this company was. I was refunded straight away by Barclaycard, but was hit by another bill from Focuscleanse. for £73.64... To add insult to injury BC tried to sell me credit card protection...By the way there was no box to tick to agree to Terms and Conditions.