Do you enjoy watching infomercials? Have you ordered any products after seeing them explained or demonstrated by some spokes-celebrity whom you admire and trust.

The good news is that most infomercial producers take pains to hire celebrities who already use and swear by their products. This makes them very credible salespeople.

The dark side of infomercial marketing is auto-ship policies. Some companies use auto-ship policies legitimately to make product reordering and delivery hassle-free for the consumer.

However auto-ship policies are so subject to abuse that there are many scam artists out there.

We at Ageless Beauty got suspicious when we first launched our website over two years ago. We noticed some questionable practices and removed two advertisers from our website. I’m surprised to see auto-ship abuse still thriving.

Please be sure to read all the fine print before you give out your credit or debit card information. Once you’ve authorized those auto-ship charges, they may be hard to stop.

Jean

The Skinny on Infomercial Skin Care Products

A visitor asked what I know about Meaningful Beauty and/or Natural Advantage skin care products which are marketed on T.V.

Both lines belong to the Guthy-Renker stable of companies. Guthy-Renker Television Network is one of the largest most successful infomercial producers. The company has been credited by Fortune Magazine as “a pioneer in infomercials”.

Guthy-Renker uses A-list celebrities and high production values to blur the line between advertising and entertainment.

In addition to Cindy Crawford for Meaningful Beauty and Jane Seymour for Natural Advantage, the company employs Daisy Fuentes for Winsor Pilates, Judith Light for Pro-Activ Solutions and Vanna White for Perfect Smile, among others to promote skin care and other products..

Nothing wrong with that – because the spokes-celebrities really do use and believe in the products. Their testimonials are real attention grabbers and lend credibility to the brands. They do receive a percentage of sales, some of it guaranteed, and the percent can go as high as 3%. Guthy-Renker’s sales revenue topped $1.3 billion last year. Three percent of $1.3 billion is $39 million. I wouldn’t mind a piece of that pie myself!

Read more about Guthy-Renker products by clicking here.

How to Deal with Auto-ship Companies if you’re Dissatisfied

OK, you didn’t see my cautions on infomercial auto-ship skin care products until after you’d already signed up with an auto-ship program.

I sure hope it wasn’t Hydroderm, because that’s the company that seems to be the most difficult to deal with.

So you’ve been scammed. You don’t seem to be able to get any satisfaction from the company – if you can even locate them.

Sometimes, the phone number and e-mail you were given are bogus. The company’s address may turn out to be a vacant lot or abandoned building.

Yet, your credit card or bank account continues to be charged.

Act quickly. Do not waste weeks trying to get the company to be fair and reasonable. Do not accept their assurances that the charges have been stopped and all money will be refunded.

Remember the saying “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

If you used your credit card to sign up for the auto-ship program, contact your credit card company A.S.A.P.

If they tell you they cannot stop charges that you yourself authorized, demand that they assign you a new credit card number or simply cancel the card.

If you signed up using a debit card, contact your bank immediately and report the scam. Demand that no more automatic payments be allowed from your account to the company in question.

Be insistent. Be persistent.

If they try to say there is nothing they can do, ask for a Federal Reserve Board Regulation E form to file a complaint (against the bank).

Regulation E covers electronic fund transfers. It establishes the rights, liabilities, and responsibilities of parties in electronic funds transfers and protects consumers when they use such systems.

Finally, join the effort to stop the offending companies by reporting your problem to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau.

You may also want to post your experience on RipoffReport.com.

Good luck!