Free Hoodia Trial Results in over $9 Million in Consumer Damages

A free hoodia offer cost Ultralife Fitness, a Utah-based company, $150,000 to settle charges brought against them by the Federal Trade Commission. If it wasn’t for the company’s inability to pay, it could have cost them more as the estimated consumer damages were more than $9 million, according to the FTC.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

The company was accused of misleading customers by luring them with free hoodia samples and then enrolling them in an autoship program without their consent. The customers thought they were only paying a small fee for shipping and handling for the sample but were then unexpectedly charged monthly fees.

More than 1,000 disgruntled customers in Utah and other states have filed complaints against the company. The complaints say the company deceived consumers with unfair marketing and that when customers tried to cancel from the program they, “were met with obstacles.”

This isn’t the first time Ultralife Fitness has been in trouble with the law. In 2006 the Utah Department of Commerce settled with the company, which agreed to provide refunds to customers.

I have warned visitors to this website before about these free hoodia trials and even recorded a lengthy podcast about them. It’s imperative that you read the fine print. As the saying goes, there is no free lunch! If a deal sounds too good to be true it probably is.

I used to recommend a free hoodia trial on this website but in light of this story and after looking at these offers with more scrutiny, I recently pulled my recommendation. There is a better alternative to sampling hoodia than signing up for these free offers. You can read about that here.

Source: KSL.com