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Vitacost sold my information to Shopping Essentials who then charged me for some membership that I never agreed to authorized or received any information regarding this so called membership. Shopping Essentials then charged my credit card monthly from February 2009 to present month of June 2011. They began with the charge of 24.95 and then increased in a year to 26.95 without my consent or knoweldge. When I finally noticed and questioned them about it of course they said they sent e-mails about the charges and even the increases. I never received anything but the charge on my credit card which I didn't look at close enough to question. I did notice the charge a few times, but like others who have been scammed from this company, they got away with it. When I called them they said I could cancel and of course I didn't want to be charged again and I was so upset I said of course I want to cancel it and I never knew I even had it. Well, upon cancelling you null and void your chance of getting your money back. This is written in their bylaws they say. This thieves should not be in business. I never once received any type of information or advertisement from them for 2 and 1/2 years - yet they felt justified in charging me on what they called a "payment plan". What did I pay for? I had absolutely 0 benefit from them nor did I ever shop at their store. This is total scam and fraud and I don't understand how they are able to continue to do this to the unsuspecting consumer. One thing I have gained from this (even with my huge monetary loss) is the knowledge to check line by line my credit card charges and question something I am not sure of. I wish you could get the money from these people and in the meantime SHUT THEM DOWN so nobody else has to have their money illegally taken from them. This is theft and fraud.
Beginning in August of 2010 this company has been withdrawing 11.95 monthly from my account. I did not sign up for this. I have cancelled my apparent membership as of [protected]. I demand my money be returned in the amount of 107.55
This company debited my bank account a total of $74.75 without my primission. I had not even heard of this company. Please, it this happens to you, write to the BBB. If they get enough compliants, maybe this will stop.
My husband just realized that we have been charged $19.95 for 3 months in a row by this company without either of us knowing what we had purchased or subscribed to. We will be calling them to cancel whatever it is we supposedly authorized. I will also be calling my bank to put a block on this recurring charge.
was charged for someting i never had of or had no idea that i was sigining up for, this was not ever authorized in any way, this is fraud
There have been atleast 6 months worth of unauthorized debits from Shopping Essentials of $14.95 each from my checking account. Is there an EFFECTIVE way to get these debits to stop and get my money back?
Ordered vitamins from VCI*VITACOST.COM. I did not request any promotions. Got a $19.95 charge from Shopping Essentials. Never heard of them before. Also received a $10.66 charge from "MORTONWILLIAMS TAN NEW YORK".
I did not order this. I don't know what it is for or how they got my card number. I have been billed twice.
Shopping Essentials charged my debit card $17.95 a month for three months! I never signed up for anything and I don't know how they got my information.
Stay away!
They put a 19.95 unauthorized charge to my debit account and when I called them to remove the charges they stated " we can do one month" and HUNG UP! I did not authorized thia and for some reason I am stuck with it!
I was just made aware that this company somehow debited my account @ $14.95 for the last 5 mths. There seems to be a class action lawsuit on page when you enter shopping essentials.
I have filled this out and will be going to my bank to try and recoupe this money.
IT'S FRAUD
$11.95 charged to my cc every month since 11/06. I did not know about until 2-08.. I called and canceled & got one months refund...no more...they refused.. I am going to push this issue to whomever i can to get my $ back.
Vitacost would never have affiliated with crooks like that without a very substantial kickback recieved from the $26.96 per month themselves. Else they'd have never allowed such a scam to be perpetuated on the Vitacost website.
Nor would it have involved an "opt in" clause inviting you to tick an "opt in" box. More likely there was NO BOX at all or an "opt out" box which failed to inform you of the consequences of NOT ticking it.
Frankly, given the spoil$ involved for Vitacost it is most likely that Vitacost would not have alerted.you to an "opt out" box at all.
Ask yourself "who benefits"? Well of course if vitacost is hosting a criminal fraud on it's website then Vitacost ITSELF would be getting a very substantial - if not all - the ill gotten gains of such a scam. It is very easy to claim a third party ripped you off but if it was me i'd be going for vitacost's own throat.
Don't waste your time on the advice of the vitacost paid PR rep here. Go their ### and go hard!
Lobos, I am sincerely sorry for the inconvenience you've experienced with this situation. Unfortunately we stopped our affiliation with this company a long while back, however, when a customer placed an order there was a selection to sign up for Shopping Essentials by clicking a box labeled "Yes". The details of clicking yes were included in a link beside it which did state that you wanted us to provide your information to that entity for the services they provide. We understood this to be confusing to our customers and we certainly understood therefore we decided to unaffiliate with them. We do sincerely apologize again. Please contact the company and request a refund stating that you've spoken with us. I cannot promise they will offer that, however, I would strongly suggest the attempt.
Catherine C.
Social Media CSR
Vitacost.com
[protected]
I wanted to edit my complaint: The MORTONWILLIAMS charge was legitimate. The Shopping Essentials is definitely fraud.