February 4th, 2009
Is Dermitage a Scam?
My attention was drawn to one of the worst and phony-looking wrinkle ads I had ever seen. Seriously, the artist behind that ad gets a C- in Photoshop. And as the ad’s animation progressed, this wrinkly woman must have shed… oh, about SIXTY years!
I like how it says “Simulated imagery.” Good thing too – I really couldn’t tell it was a fake picture guys. It looks so natural!
The ad clicked through to dermitage.com, which does in fact offer a line of wrinkle-related products, which of course is fine. And I am not even prepared to call Dermitage a scam at this time, but they do seem to rely a bit too much on the “free trials” for business much more than merely selling the products. And this “free trial” does seem familiar… You have 14 days to cancel, or you will be charged $99.95.
I couldn’t find when the 14 day trial begins. Is it the moment you place your order? If that’s the case, then you really only have a few days from the time you receive it to call and cancel. I’ve read that the cancellation process may not be easy. Regardless though…is 14 days even enough time to gauge such a product’s value?
The terms don’t specify what the $99.95 will actually get you. Let’s take a look at those terms and conditions as of Feb 4, 2009:
Terms & Conditions
Your FREE Trial of the Dermitàge Cellulite Control System includes a full 30-day supply for just $6.95 in shipping and processing. You will have 14 days to try Cellulite Control from Dermitàge and discover why it is the perfect cellulite reduction system for you. If you like how your system reduces the appearance of cellulite and firms and tones skin, do nothing – at the end of your free-trial period you will be charged the discounted price of $99.95. If for any reason the system is not for you, call our Customer Care line toll-free at 800-886-8805 any time within your 14-day free-trial period to cancel. Then simply return the product (even if it is empty!) and you will NEVER be billed. No commitments, no hassles.
Plus, if you decide to keep the Dermitàge Cellulite Control System, you will receive FREE acceptance in Dermitàge Elite and will receive a fresh supply of the Dermitàge Cellulite Control System approximately every 30 days at the same low price of $99.95. You can cancel by calling Dermitàge Customer Care. No risk, no obligation, cancel any time!
Here is a complaint on Ripoffreport.com, which was actually answered by Dermitage. Notice that only 2 years ago, customers were charged $69.95 after the trial period. Now it’s $99.95.
Some more complaints here
Even more recent ones.
Or some just plain angry comments.
The Waffles take on Dermitage
While they do appear to be operating within the confines of the law, some of their practices seem to me to be underhanded. It appears that rather than relying on the strength of their products to support their business, Dermitage instead relies on a microscopic trial period and an overinflated renewal cost. I’ve heard little of their ability to satisfy the chorus of complaints echoing across the web.
If Dermitage does in fact work, that fact is negated by all of the consumer attention being directed at poor customer service and the unreasonably short trial period.
It also doesn’t help that it is being peddled by very deceptive websites, such as rachelshealthyskin.com (as of 2/4/09). For more on that site and others, see my article on wrinkle scams.
When you throw in ridiculous ads such as the one that started off this blog entry, it all begins to leave a bad taste.
Always proceed with caution with online offers, and always follow this simple advice:
Read terms and conditions carefully. Remember that “free” is rarely ever free. If you think you’ll forget to cancel after a trial period, don’t hand out your credit card in the first place. If a company uses outrageous advertising, they might be trying a little too hard to part you from your money. Beware of “review” sites, as many of those are faked by those profiting from the products listed. In fact, the only sites I found with reviews of Dermitage were such fake review sites. I have to guess that 90% or more of “wrinkle review” websites are either biased or just plain phony.
Bottom line:
They are probably not breaking any laws.
The product may or may not work.
Consumer complaints abound.
It is peddled by fake blogs and hailed mostly by fake review sites.
You can draw your own conclusion.
I say be very careful.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I used to work for a telemarketing company that took calls for many different companies, and I saw this type of deceptive marketing many, many times (mostly for diet pills). The company says you get a “free 14-day trial,” after which, if you keep the product you will be billed the full amount. While not an outright lie, it IS deceptive.
You DO actually get to try the product for free — for 14 days (most of which will have passed before you even recieve the product). The first 14 days are free; the product is not. It’s actually more of a deferred billing than a free trial. If you want the trial to actually be free, you have to cancel before the 14 day trial ends — usually by calling a number that you recieve WITH the product (which, as noted before, may or may not arrive before the trial period ends).
Consumers should always read offers VERY carefully and assume that “special offers” like this have fine print attached. If nothing else, one should wonder how you can get a 14 day free trial of a 30 day supply of product. Read everything connected to the offer, and then Google the product name. If it’s a scam (or “just” deceptive), you’ll likely find the first page of results is filled with complaints about the product.
And don’t trust “review” sites, unless the reviews are from well-known and trusted sources (such as Consumer Reports). If the ad says “as seen on CNN” or “as seen on Oprah Winfrey,” go to that site and do a search for the product. If CNN or Oprah did a story (or an endorsement) of the product, it should show up in the search results. And if such a story DOES exist, actually READ the story, to see what they had to say; whether it was good or bad. If there’s no such story, then most likely the product was simply advertised there, and is NOT endorsed by anyone affiliated with the site.
In short, use some common sense before you whip out your credit cards. If an offer SEEMS too good to be true — it IS.
June 25th, 2009 at 12:04 am
I can’t believe the stupidity and hysteria
of all these people using Dermitage.
Hundreds of them, the blogger included
mention some kind of DECEPTIVE marketing.
The only thing DECEPTIVE are comments
like the bloggers who state they DID NOT
know that after the FREE TRIAL if they
continued and didn’t say anything they would
be auto shipped at the full price.
HOW CLEAR COULD IT BE.
1) You get a free trial.
It ends on a specified in advance date.
If you do not call customer service or
let them know you will get billed at full
price. WHAT IS DECEPTIVE IN THAT????
2) I tried their free trials, and had no
problems at all. I did return the product
per their instruction and WAS NOT BILLED
$99.95.
3)They have GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!
4)The biggest SECRET. The products actually
WORK. That is probably the reason for all
this baloney. The competion does not want
you to try this product. If you don’t want
to DON’T.BUt for all you who really haven’t
tried it, not the SCAMMERS,try it. Honestly, the
product line is worth trying. You can return
it and use it for a couple of bucks,
They do have good customer service.
Research it you will be pleasantly surprised.
A hint, try the very first offer they offer.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am
So the previous poster thinks it’s a great product that works well…yet he returned it. I’m sure he’s not a shill for the company, or anything like that!!
September 14th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
This is a scam, no doubt about that. It was NOT clear, unless you just happy to click on the tiny font link for their Terms and Conditions. They lead you to believe that you are getting a “trial” size and then send out the regular size product, which takes 14 days to get to you and your charge card is already billed. There are so many complaints about their deceptive practices that it is actually shameful (not that they give a damn).
September 28th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
It sounds like Jim Reich is one of the scammers. He says he returned the product and had no problem, then he said the products actually work. Why would he return products that actually work? Sounds like he is a scammer that is encouraging you to place an order. My wife got scammed on ACAI berry pills. They were free to try for 14 days, but they DIDN’T cancel and we were charged $59.99, then another $59.99, then another $59.99 within one week.