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Oprah Sues Acai Berry Promoters

Joins Illinois Attorney General in warning consumers about scam

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 20, 2009

The only problem is, Winfrey was talking about the berry, not supplements. Now the talk queen is fighting back.

Chicago-based Harpo, Inc., producers of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and "Dr. Oz" has joined forces with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to alert consumers to the numerous complaints about acai berry supplement marketers.

Winfrey and her company have filed trademark infringement suits against 40 Internet marketers of dietary supplements and Madigan has sued three companies in particular - Advanced Wellness Research, Crush LLC and Amirouche & Norton, LLC - over their business practices.

The Attorney General's Office and representatives from Harpo coordinated an investigation of consumer complaints - many provided to the Attorney General's Office by Harpo - revealing the alleged deceptive practices of these companies. Neither. Winfrey nor Oz has ever sponsored or endorsed any acai berry or dietary supplement product.

"The acai berry supplement sales programs are among the most aggressive that we have seen using misleading sales tactics to scam consumers," Madigan said. "Consumers should always be skeptical and educate themselves instead of blindly believing any endorsement claims. Also, consumers need to be very wary of weight loss and health claims that sound too good to be true."

Madigan sued the three promoters for consumer fraud, charging that the companies lure customers with free trial offers - through aggressive Internet marketing techniques - and then charge customers' credit cards prematurely, do not always supply the product and make it nearly impossible to cancel.

"For thousands of dieters, the quest for a miracle product has become a nightmare," said Madigan. "Far too often, consumers end up losing their money - not weight - in these deals."

ConsumerAffairs.com has also received hundreds of complaints about companies selling acai berry supplements, including some named in the suit. This complaint, from Sherri in in Brentwood, Tennessee, is typical:

"I ordered the Acai berry product off of an AOL advertisement for $6.99," she told ConsumerAffairs.com. "I started receiving a bottle monthly, I did not realize for a couple of months that they were charging me $83.80 per bottle. I sent numerous emails, and called them three times, to cancel order and give me credit for two returned bottles, and that I needed to return another bottle. When I tell them I do not want it to cancel they reply that they will get back with me in 72 hours."

The complaints against the suppliers allege that these companies engage in a very similar scam to market and sell acai berry supplements. According to the complaints, the companies offer consumers a "free trial" to entice them to sign up by providing a credit card number for shipping and handling charges.

The companies use the "free trial" period to hook the consumers into a continuity sales program, where consumers are often unaware that they have agreed to buy a monthly supply of acai berry supplements (or other health supplement products) for $29 to $89 per month unless they cancel their orders within 14 days. Many consumers do not even receive shipment of the trial supplements before they are billed for the first monthly installment shipment.

As part of this scam, Madigan says consumers then find it very difficult to cancel future orders. The companies often bill consumers' credit cards for a few months supply before the consumers are able to cancel the orders or cancel their credit card payments.

Madigan's three suits ask the court to enter a permanent injunction barring the defendants from selling dietary supplements or continuing with misleading marketing schemes that impact Illinois consumers. The lawsuits also ask the court to order the defendants to pay restitution for consumers who have lost money and civil penalties of $50,000 for violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

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