The Town Drunk

You must have heard of the recent settlement by Acai pills manufacturer Central Coast Nutraceuticals. CCN agreed to pay no less than $1,375,00 to the Arizona attorney general Terry Goddard. This figure included $1 million for civil penalties, $50,000 for consumer restitution, and $25,000 to cover legal costs. No small amount by any standard, and certainly a legal landmark when it comes to Acai.

And I’m really pleased. I’m pleased, because as one of the first people to be enticed by the CCN free trial offer on the Acai berry products that they sold. Except of course, it wasn’t the free trial offer. Neither was it just related the Acai products, because I got a whole boatload of other things I never asked for. Naturally, I had to pay for these extra items.

And this was the way that CCN rolled. They made their agreements unintelligible, and completely impossible to cancel. Thousands of people sign up to the scanner offers every day, expecting a good deal; what we actually get is a recurring bill on on credit card for things we don’t want.

I complained to the Arizona AG’s office when this first happened to me. It seems that many other people did too, because the catalyst for Terry Goddard to bring this action against CCN was the volume of complaints flooding into his office.

So, good for Terry Goddard. Let’s just hope that this will curb the unethical and immoral actions of the many companies offering free trial offers on Acai products. The reality? They’ll probably find another way to scam customers.