Proactiv
reviews and complaints

A charge for $199.27 showed on my debit card statement. I did not order or authorize this purchase. The charge was made on 11/30/17.

Please reverse these charges immediately.

The length of this report has no bearing on whether or not I receive a response. My next step is contacting my credit union and if they cannot get this reversed I will contact the Better Business Bureau.

I first ordered the trial pack back in Jan of 2015. It was ok, not worth paying for, so I cancelled the account. In April of 2015 I got a package from them and since I did not return it, I paid even though I didn't order it and the account was cancelled. Re cancelled the account. In July of 2015 they sent me ANOTHER unwanted package from a twice cancelled account charging me $138.41 USD (I did not give them a credit card thank goodness). This time I got smart and didn't even accept it from the post office, just returned it straight to sender. For 2 years now I have been fighting them, they have wrecked my credit by bringing in a collections agency.
I got another letter today saying I owed this money and I have had ENOUGH! I called them and they were rude and unwilling to help, spoke to a supervisor who said we didn't get it back, you owe us and the collection agency will get it. I am freaking out by this time. Then LIGHTBULB...TRACKING ! I called back and spoke nicely and asked for the tracking number. I was told they use Landmark Global to send packages and I got the tracking number. While they were on the phone I was on my computer tracking the package. Low and behold PROOF I sent the package back and they received it! I took screenshots of the proof and kind of lost it. I demanded another supervisor and he tried to tell me I had 6 months to dispute the charges! Are you KIDDING ME?!?! I told him I had proof, he didn't care. It was only when I threatened to sue and add pain and suffering for the 2 years of hell they put me through did things finally change in my favor. Now, they say my account is clear and if I want to order again...LOL as if i would ever order from them again...they assured me that they would contact the collection agency and set things right. I said if I got another letter from them, or the agency, I was suing anyway... Of course nothing else was done, the 2 years I spent fighting were worth nothing to them. Do Not Buy from Proactive! PLEASE

I ordered my 11 year old niece a trial kit August 20th, September 6th they charged my card for $70 worth of product! It caused my rent check to bounce and cost me an additional $110 in fees. They told me that "I knew" that I would be charged every 4 weeks, except it wasn't four weeks! Incredibly unethical. Plus, they included all of these products like body wash that I never selected. Totally just padded the order. I have disputed the charge with my bank, but it's too late for my rental fees. So angry at them. They could care less when I called. The sad part is it works for my niece, but I'm not doing business with a company that uses predatory billing practices.

I have just experienced the worst customer service ever from a proactiv customer service staff based in the UK. Not only did she yell at me she also hung up on me. Please ensure that all calls are actually listened toin order to deliver good customer service. I am a first time customer overal I have had the worse time of my life since dealing with proactiv since last week. I will never attempt to buy anything from them and I will tell my friends and family how badly I was treated by customer service team. I am very disappointed because I had high expectations seeing all the ads on t.v. I thought it will be a great experience. So far I am in tears and highly dissatisfied. Worst company ever and horrible customer service staff in the uk/Irish based company

I have ordered many times from Proactiv and really like their products, but I can't say the same about their service! Their delivery service is the worst ever and their customer support is absolutely ridiculous and unhelpful! Ordered some products and it took them over a months to deliver! All month I have been trying to reach someone from the company. They replied very slow and were completely useless. All they said was that my order was on its way, but they could not provide any details! They did not even know the delivery date! This company gave me nothing but headache!

I am getting a lawyer to sue Proactiv for 10.000.000.00 dollars.
I applied the proactive to my face on 09/10/2015 since then I have had burns to my face and I cant put on makeup so ridicule is so easy for those who look at you I haven't been to work all week lying as to why I could not come in so my job would be there when I get this straightened out I have burns on my face before I go through with a lawyer what are you going to do it is very dramatic
for me will never use your product again and will tell everyone I know the same please call me at [protected] I am so sad.

I had an account with proactiv for about a year. Last july, I canceled that account. I was canceling the card that I had the proactive on. The proactiv rep notified me that I still had a $39 balance on my account. I said no problem... Take the $39 from another account here's the number. Ok great. Thanks for dealing with proactiv...7 months later. I get a letter from a collection agency saying that I owed proactiv $39. I called them and said I canceled my account last year now it's in collections. I gave you a card number to put the $39 balance on. Why didn't you take the money out... Barely apologetically, the rep says "oh yes we do have the new card number on here... Sorry"... Sorry? You were going to ruin my credit over $39 that I tried to pay for but you just decided not to take the money out? Sorry will not cut it. I was highly upset and told them I shouldn't have to pay them the $39 now because it was there mistake which almost damaged my credit. Of course he didn't have the authority to do that. I asked to speak to a manager and he said he couldn't guarantee that they were available. I was too through at this point and just wanted to be done so I said take the money out of the account and never send another piece of mail to my house. I am livid. I'm going to call every single day until I get a manager and find out why, had they been taking the money out of my account for over a year, but refused to take the final payment out, but instead put me in collections. I am disgusted.

I called 3 months ago to cancel our subscription as ProActiv DOES NOT WORK! I wanted to send the prodcuts back but the representative on the phone convinced me to keep the box at a discounted rate so I wouldn't have to go through the hassel of returning the products. I agreed but told him to cancel all future orders as the product does not work. Big surprise- I got another shipment in the mail of ProActiv. I called again and big shocker- they have no records of me canceling my subscription! They refuse to credit me back my $84 saying it's past the 60 day money back guarantee. I even spoke to a supervisor and she did nothing but essentailly said I had to pay for their mistake. I am refusing to pay them another dime so it looks like they're going to put that $84 on my credit report. THIS LOUSY COMPANY HAS MADE A BILLION DOLLARS AND WON'T EVEN CREDIT ME BACK $84 EVEN WHEN I AM SENDING 2 BOXES OF PRODUCTS BACK TO THEM! DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM! My daughter sees an acne specialist now who worked with the dermatologist who was developing an acne treatment that the two founders of ProActiv STOLE before he had the chance to patent it. They didn't stick around long enough to see the results of his finished research- and that's why ProActiv doesn't work!

I'm ashamed to say this, but I fell for their scam twice. The first time, I'd ordered the 3 month supply from them and paid monthly. At the end of the third month, Proactiv informed me that I still owed them the total amount for the 3 month supply. This came as a shock to me since my bank account clearly showed the charges that had been made and Proactiv had indeed gotten paid. After giving them this proof, they somehow determined that the charges on my credit card had actually been made on behalf of some other person that had received shipments from them - someone that I had no idea about. I told them that either they'd made an error or this individual had somehow gotten access to my card through them. After some back and forth with the so-called customer service agent, I was informed that I would not be receiving the money back and that I would still have to pay for the shipments I'd received.

Stupidly, a year after all this went down, I decided to give them another try and went ahead and ordered a one-month supply using my paypal account. It was to be a one time order and nothing more. Well, months later, I received notification from paypal that I'd authorized a payment to proactiv for $39.86 (which I definitely did not do), and what's worse, no shipment actually followed this charge. What the heck?! Not again, I thought. I called proactiv and they informed me that they could not find my account and so there was no way to resolve the issue. The so-called customer service rep named Brian stated that he couldn't help me. He gave me a fax number, but couldn't provide me with a phone number of anyone who could indeed help. Right now, I'm sitting in limbo wondering if another unauthorized charge will come in next month with not even the product to show for it.

I purchased product from the Proactiv Kiosk at Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, WI -- in August we purchased a bottle of Xout for $65.00...again in August (8/13) we purchaed other product and the clerk (Precious - and yes that's her name) said I could bring back the bottle of X-out for my $$ since we bought the Proactiv+ and get my $65.00 back. When we went back to the Proactiv Kiosk in the
beginning of September - IT WAS GONE... CLOSED -- NO MORE. I checked with the mall staff they gave me a # to call which I did -- and they said they can't help me. I called another number that I was given by employee Mark his employee # is: 54774 which didn't work either -- Mark said I need to take the product back to the kiosk at Mayfair -- i told him it was closed, he said Sorry - can't help you then. This customer service on these 800 & 866 numbers are AWFUL I spent over 2 hours trying to get someone/anyone to help me.
I called the corporate office @ [protected] and they said they would have the owner of the Kiosk get ahold of me... So we'll see. I'm very disappointed in this customer service from Proactiv -- absolutely awful. And I'M STILL GETTING EMAILS FROM THE MAYFAIR KIOSK on Sales Promotions! AND THEY ARE CLOSED~~ UNREAL... I just want my $65.00 back..

Proactiv is an awful company - it ranks as awfully bad as Comcast (worst service in the United States, look it up). I have used Proactiv for years starting as a teenager. When you are a teen, nothing sounds better than solving your esteem-crippling acne, especially when endorsed by young celebs at such a cheap price. Especially when you're desperate. I tried and after awhile and perfecting the science of when to use it, I was acne free. HOWEVER, I am also afraid of trying other products in case my acne flares up again. I am chained to this product.

THIS IS NOT THE HUGE ISSUE. THEY ARE A TRAP.

Every single transaction - and I do not exaggerate - has had bad consequences. An extra package I never ordered but had to pay my own money to send back, an extra billing that doesn't get refunded for six months, ignorant customer service representatives that argue you into not cancelling, other customer service representatives that answer the phone to let you know that they will call you back (and never do), mixing up your order in general, not sending things you've ordered...the list goes on. You can believe I am going to look into a better quality product that treats me like a customer and pays more attention to us than it does its marketing. Not enough endorsement from celebrities could get me to come back.

The vending machine at the Hamilton Mall said they could not contact my bank for the visa card used, so it cancelled the order, however the bank DID approve the transaction. I called Proactive and explained the situation and they advised if I did not get any product and did not receive a receipt the transaction would reject and the money would go back on the card but they couldn't do it for 5-8 days. Now it's 3 days before Christmas and I don't have the extra money to purchase another product. They were unwilling to do anything to help. Their customer service didn't care about my problem. It was not my fault and I am being penalized.

I started ordering Proactiv a few months ago. I received 2 packages in total. After that, I called them to tell them I will no longer need their product. They somehow convinced me to remain with the company, explaining that there would only be a shipment every 6 months. I agreed to that.
They withdrew $22.95 out of my account a month earlier. When I called them to explain I did not need it and it was only supposed to be sent at the end of the following month, they said they don't see any charge. I asked for a fax number so I could fax them a statement. The number did not work, someone picked up. I called Proactiv again asking for another fax number so I could send my statement to get this cleared. The representative spoke with me as if I was stupid. She even asked: "Who picked up a fax number? Was it me? Is this the number you called?!" So I became irrate. I don't really care who picked up, the point is I haven't been able to send the fax. So I started writing emails to Proactiv, both on their website through their form and to a general email address.
I called Proactiv again, for the third time. Explained the situation again. I told the representative I didn't need this product and I want my money to be refunded. And also that I will not pay to send back a package that they sent in error. He attempted to apologize, said he would "make an exception in this case and send me a label so I don't have to pay for shipping." The refund process?! 4 to 6 weeks! And now I'm wondering if they really sent this package, if there will even be a product to be shipped back to them! If I receive it, I will be sure to get both a tracking number and a delivery confirmation. If I do not receive it, but they continue to bill me, after I specifically said multiple times that I wished to cancel my account, I will get in contact with an attorney. I cannot be dealing with this nonsense all the time. It is both nerve wracking and time consuming. At the end of the day, it simply isn't worth it. I don't care how good your product is, you will lose customers with shady billing practices. I will never order Proactiv again!

The phone operators are very unprofessional when it comes to account info, billing, blah blah blah. I called to put a hold on my account back in maybe sometime in June, the lady told me that the last payment I would make is in October, and I would receive that last package. Then be billed again in around January, when the account isn't on hold any more. So, it's November and I got billed again. WHAT! So i called, the guy this time I told him about the hold that was supposed to be on my account. He informed me that there was never a hold that was put on my account. GREAT! I have to much of the kits just lying around waiting to expire. Like 4 of them. So, he tries to tell me how the billing and everything works, okay honestly yea its confusing. But i went through my bank account and my packages that i received before and i get it now. So, anyways, i cancelled my account but the guy wanted to know why besides the fact that i have to much kits. UHHHHH, thats personal duhh.. but if you want to know i cant afford to just pay every month for this stuff, dont use it and just throw it away. I said its too expensive, he goes "well you do have the lowest priced kit". DA F*CK!? Because I [censored] $20s month.. Whatever.. Worst customer service ever even smaller businesses i talked to over the phone that messes up are better than them.

I'm a firm believer in the product itself, but the customer service is horrible. Telecommunication is unfortunately very unprofessional, as every time I call in to place my order something always goes wrong. I've been ordering from them for almost 8 years, and every time I call in I've always had to follow up with my order. When I do follow up with my order, nothing is ever followed through from their end. It's exhausting and it's been a nightmare, because the idea of calling them is just like calling your mobile company (Rogers, Bell, ATT, etc...). The only upside is is that the product does work, but they're just a nightmare to order from. I'm writing this as I'm trying to follow up with them yet again. Apparently, when I put in my order on Sept. 19th, they still haven't sent it, and it's now Oct. 28th. I called last week, and they told me my order was sent on Oct. 1st and I should receive it soon. As I'm currently on the phone now, they're telling me my order has never been processed and my account was deactivated :( Oh. Em. Gee.

My son order Proactiv March 2012, after receiving his order he realized that Proactiv signed him up for a 3 month supply. He tried to cancel the order but Proactiv shipped him 2 more orders. I sent the items back and Proactiv is still trying to charge my son for those orders. He called their customer service, I called their customer service, I wrote letters each month for 6 months to try and get this resolved to no avail. Today I just received an email from Proactiv and they are still trying to collect for items we returned. I called customer service and was on hold for the longest time, when an agent finally picked up she said she couldn't help me because it is under my son's name and he is over 18 yrs old. She said she could take information only, when I tried to give her information she cut me off and said she could only take a payment. Why should my son pay for items he sent back. Why didn't Proactiv cancel subsequent orders as we requested. Proactiv is just out to scam the consumer. Don't buy Proactiv! Besides the product doesn't even work!

I cancelled the shipment in January of this product even while the sales person kept trying to keep the product coming. She acknowledged that she cancelled. Well apparently not and another shipment appeared taht was promptly refused. Of course they can not track the shipment and claim that I kept it and did not pay for it. I have been harrased to no end over this and I wnat it to stop NOW. The complaints against this companies business practises is hsitoric.

I placed an order with this company for a 3 month trial pack for my teenagers to try & share. The bill came and I paid it. A few months later, I am getting collection calls, letters and so forth because I didn't pay my bill. Come to find out, they said they sent an additional package that I never ordered nor received. I have completed affidavits until I'm blue in the face and mailed back. They will not accept a faxed affidavit because they want "an original" signature. What is with a company shipping something not ordered (or at least claiming to ship it) and then never receiving the affidavits that I return? Now they want to turn me over to collections for something I never ordered? This sounds bogus to me!