Teeth Whiteners Sold On Internet Could Clean Out Your Wallet
Lots of companies offer a trial period to buy something, leaving you with the impression that you can return it or stop using it if you don’t like it.
That’s not necessarily the case with some teeth whitening products purchased on the Internet. If you want white teeth and search for a phrase like “tooth whitening,” you’ll probably get pop-ups for trial offers.
Advertisements lure buyers with an offer of spending just a buck or two for a quick test, but some customers tell me they get charged a lot more.
As first reported in the Dave Lieber column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Carol Rea of Grand Prairie says she bought a $1.99 trial of Smile Bright in October and another trial product for 99 cents. Unaware that she had to cancel within 10 days or she would be charged more, she was billed $700 before she repeatedly tried to cancel — unsuccessfully.
Worse, the money was extracted from a government-issued debit card that provides her unemployment benefits. She says that she can’t get a full refund and that with the loss of $700, she may not be able to afford her health insurance payments.
Smile Bright’s customer service agents “have very little sympathy,” she says.
Because the cards don’t come with monthly statements, Rea didn’t realize for several weeks that the money had been gradually taken from the card.
“I noticed that starting in November, I wasn’t keeping track of my unemployment account as closely as I had been. I somehow always had less than I thought I should have,” she said.
The Watchdog tried to help Rea and Jeff Johnson, a Fort Worth teacher who paid $2.95 for an “amazing trial offer” — as the ad called it — for Premium White Pro. After the product arrived, he tried to cancel but was later dunned for $87.
Despite several hours of efforts, I couldn’t find executives from either company to speak with. And I believe that’s by design.
Johnson told me he believed that Premium White Pro is based in Colorado. When I called customer service for the product, an agent said the company is based in Des Moines, Iowa. When I couldn’t find it there, I called again and was told by another agent to write to the United Kingdom.
With Smile Bright, Rea was billed by five companies. When she contacted her bank to protest the charges, she says, “the bank claims department told me this was very common and had the contact phone numbers for all five accounts readily available.”
I called all the companies — Health Cleanse, World Fit, Teeth White, Body Pure and Smile Bright.
Most led back to a similar call center operated by First Support Solutions. The agents answer by saying “customer care.” But then they ask which toll-free number you used so they can tell which product you are calling about.
When I called Body Pure, a woman said: “This is a call center. I am a supervisor. We don’t have the corporate number. You can write a letter.”
When I called World Fit, I was told, “If you’re not the buyer yourself, basically, there’s no one you can speak with in regards to this.”
But finally, I found a helpful agent for Smile Bright. He told me his call center is in Provo, Utah.
The product consists of two mouthpieces and a gel or liquid that goes inside. The mouthpieces are worn a half-hour or an hour each day.
“Just like the stuff you get at the dentist, if you’ve ever done that,” he said.
“When a customer signs up, he is given 10 days as a trial period to use Smile Bright,” he said. “Once that 10 days is up, there is a home delivery plan, a subscription every month. In most cases, the charge is $92.37 per month.
“Before the 10-day trial ends, if you call and cancel, there won’t be any charges at all.”
Canceling after 10 days is more complicated. The contract terms, he said, are on the Web site, and a summary is posted near where credit card numbers are entered.
Rea has had trouble trying to return the products she received in the mail.
“Out of nine, 10 little boxes I have accumulated, they are allowing return of only three of them,” she says.
This isn’t uncommon. Here’s the BBB of Utah’s report on this company.
Photos courtesy of Flickr
Many teeth-whitening Web sites aggressively push trial offers.
Try to close one advertising box and another pops up that says: “WAIT. Don’t leave yet!!!! Are you sure you don’t want to take advantage of this amazing Celebrity White Teeth Trial for only 99 cents? This is your last chance to help yourself have a beautiful illuminating smile.”
But it isn’t really the last chance.
When you close that box, another pops up: “Act now to receive your Trial for ONLY 99 CENTS. Why not give it a shot, and put yourself in a position to have more confidence?”
The Better Business Bureau warned last year about the deceptive trial offers and pointed out that ads for many of the whitening products show up on news sites.
Premium White Pro’s rating is buried in the BBB’s database under the company 1021018 Alberta Ltd. There are 1,797 complaints listed against the business in the last three years, with 375 cited as unresolved.
The BBB report lists 52 Web sites connected to the company, including teethwhiten.com, celebswhiteteeth.com and dazzlewhite.com.
Smile Bright’s BBB report lists 430 complaints, with 253 listed as “failure to respond” and 70 more as unresolved.
In an Internet search, I found hundreds of postings by frustrated customers who believed that they were buying a trial period and ended up getting billed much more.
Doing a little research on the Internet before buying goes a long way in saving time, aggravation, money and embarrassment.
The idea is to make a person’s smile brighter, but many customers say smiling is the last thing that happens when they get ensnared.
What to watch for Before buying, read the fine print and check the company on BBB.org. Learn the cancellation policies.
Complain to the BBB if you believe that you lost money.
Learn about the teeth-whitening industry at www.cctwonline.org, an industry-sponsored site.
Source: BBB
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Here is a list of all the “sister” companies for PremiumProWhite, according to the Edmonton BBB:
www.dazzlewhitemax.com
www.teethwhiten.com
www.dazzlesmilesupreme.com
www.dazzlesmilepure.com
www.dazzlesmilenow.com
www.celebswhiteteeth.com
www.ultracleanseplus.com
www.acaiforcemax.com
www.guidetosuccessonline.com
www.securityhelpkit.com
www.secureinformationresource.com
www.successgrants.com
www.dazzlewhiteteeth.net
www.quickprofitkit.com
www.justthinkmedia.com
www.dazzlewhitepro.com
www.ToothWhiteningResult.com
www.DazzleWhite.com
dazzlewhite-teethwhitening.blogspot.com
dazzle-white.org
www.dazzlewhitenow.com
www.dazzlewhitemax.com
www.cathysteeth.com
www.janicesteeth.com
www.clearliftultra.com
www.acaislimedge.com
www.acaislimexclusive.com
www.mycreditreportsdirect.com
www.acaiforcext.com
www.onlinecashsuccesskit.com
www.changingsizes.net
Exfatkid.com
www.acaiforceext.com
www.acaislimplus.com
www.edirectsoftware.com
www.maxprofitsecrets.com
www.acaiberry-warning.org
hollywoodteethwhitener.com
www.premiumacaislim.com
mysixpackmethod.com
www.purerezver.com
www.cindysteethwhiteningstory.com
pillsexposed.org
stevegotripped.com
cleanseuniversal.com
dietpomegranatepro.com
cellulitesolve.com
www.johncenaworkout.com
www.premiumwhitepro.com
Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber
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8 Responses for “Teeth Whiteners Sold On Internet Could Clean Out Your Wallet”
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Yolanda, It’s wonderful in your blog post that you apologize for the treatment of the customer and demonstrate a strong customer service ethos. But hey, where was the company during the many times she called? Do you realize that for someone to write for help to a newspaper columnist, me, for help is the ultimate last-ditch extreme solution for them?? They had to go through that degree of anguish to get satisfaction — or at least try to. So your words on a blog are sweet, but actually do you think they amount to a hill of beans?
You can add a new name to the list … Everbright. Also, Yolanda’s contact info is bogus! Try it, it won’t connect you. Go through a search engine and the “new” contacts also don’t connect you. Go to “Dazzlewhite Custoimer Service” website and they have a disclaimer that have nothing to do with any of the “also known as” domains, names and marketing contacts that are listed for their product. They have also added a new tactic … they simply don’t send you the product. In the 90 days I have been fighting to get them to cancel the contract, I have never recived one, single box of product. They billed my account in 8 days from original order, not 10 and iit is hard to return ann usued product that is never sent. To me, this is not deceptive adverttising but it should be a case for fraud.
Hello,
If there was some confusion about your subscription, we honestly didn’t mean to inconvenience you in any way. Our goal is not to inconvenience our customers .The terms and conditions of our offer are very visible on the order page, they are stated on the order page where you confirm your order, located directly to the top of where your credit card information was entered. There is also a link at the top of the home page that opens up the terms and conditions in a separate window. Customer service is our number one priority and we do everything we can to be open with all of our customers. Of course, mistakes can be made; and if you were not aware of our terms and conditions in our site, we are happy to offer you a full refund if you return the unused product back to us. We have always honored our 30-day guarantee and will continue to do so.You can talk to customer support seven days a week. Our U.S.-based help lines are also staffed each and every day of the week to respond to any questions you may have both before and after your order. Simply call us at 888-948-5508 or visit our 24/7 live help at http://www.dazzlesmilepro.com/contactus.php and we will be happy to walk you through the entire cancellation process.
Your satisfaction is our number one concern,
Thanks,
george g….i left a message on jan.31st. re the teeth whitening scam..can you help please…??
eleanor
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i was scammed by smile bright and dazzle white in the amount of $400..
the fraud dept. of my c.c. bank called to alert me..they immediately cancelled my card and gave me a new #, but not before many strange charges showed up for 3 months, including a foreign transaction fee..altho the banks do follow up they make you suffer with dozens of harassing phone calls, constantly having to repeat your situation to yet another “clerk” who does nothing to resolve it…
plus filling out MANY affidavits over and over…my bank charges me late fees on this fraudulent balance…and it goes on and on…probably reported to equifax, etc. to effect my credit score as well…
please help!
eleanor
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