Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A Costly Lesson to Learn

Both Mr. Southern Aspirations and I work in some form or fashion related to the Retail world.  I am not one to bash companies- I recognize that there are some policies (return policies) that are silly or frustrating. For example, I am sad that RueLaLa changed their return policy to Merchandise Credit.  But, RueLaLa clearly states the policy and they probably had a justifiable business reason for doing it.  Intentionally misleading the consumer with tricky advertising is another matter entirely.  I managed to avoid falling for scams for most of life... until now.  

Not here to bash (entirely at least) but to warn-- Just Say NO! to Glow.  Responded to an offer for Free Hair Trial by Kronos hair, part of Glow.  I saw the asterisk next to Free Trial- it said, . "* Product is free to try for 30 days. Pay only a small $4.95 shipping & handling fee." I assumed that the asterisk indicated- it's not really free, it's $4.95.  OK, I'll bite.  Bad me, I didn't read the fine print on the order summary- I didn't think I had to since I read the asterisk.  Apparently, if you don't return the products within 30 days, Glow will bill your credit card $98.50.  And they did.

What really irks me is that they didn't disclose the $98.50 in the asterisk.  That would have been full and fair disclosure.  Is what they did perfectly legal? Sure.  Ethical or right?  I think not.

Rant over. 

4 comments:

  1. oooh, I would be mad! I tell you who else will get you. Freecreditreport.com. Obviously, there will always be some sort of payment with these companies, otherwise they would never make money. However, they will give you access to your credit report for 30 days, but then they will bill you like $40 a month to access it. You have to call and cancel the service also. There are so many companies that operate this way and I think it is so sneaky. Luckily, someone told me in advance about free credit report's policy so I canceled it about 30 minutes after checking the report. Okay, rant over for me too!

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  2. SF- I admit- I did do a BBB submission! My first ever!

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  3. I found your page by googling "kronos free trial" and "really free". I was tempted to take advantage of the free trial myself, but was suspicious of the asterisk's text, which now reads "Product if free to try for 30 days. Pay only a small $4.95 shipping and handling fee. Customer is responsible for return postage." Perhaps that last addition is their response to other complaints similar to yours? I still think they're being far from upfront. Guess we shouldn't expect...

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