Four Shires Magazine

It’s likely that some people’s New Year resolution will be to lose weight - but be careful how you go about it as you could end up losing more £’s than lbs.

Trading Standards Teams at across the country have seen a rise in the number of complaints about spam emails and internet pop-up adverts promoting free trials of acai berry diet pills.

People are encouraged to sign up for a free trial of the pills and have to submit their credit card details to pay a small postage and packaging fee.

It is only later that customers receive their statements and realise they have subscribed to receive the products on a monthly basis at a cost of about £79 per month.

On closer inspection of the terms and conditions consumers realise the trial is automatically followed by a subscription and unless they cancel the subscription within 14 days their account will be debited on a monthly basis.

One Somerset complainant had hundreds of pounds taken from their account by to a company selling acai berries.

Community Safety Councillor William Wallace commented “Somerset County Council takes the issue of fraud very seriously. We would like to remind consumers of the importance of checking the small print and thoroughly reading the terms and conditions when signing up for free product trials.”

Anyone who is concerned about free online trials should contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.