Infomercial Scams: As seen on TV, baby

The shipping & handling scam is one of the prevalent scams within the infomercial industry.  If you consider how much it actually costs to ship a product, these companies make a bundle by marking up the S&H costs.  And, in a lot of cases, the shipping times are ridiculously slow considering how much is actually being paid to ship it.  Most of the companies that have such horrible S&H fees and services do so in order to lessen the financial loss when a refund is initiated.

Most products that you see on TV infomercials have a “30-day Money Back Guarantee.”  It’s crucial to note that the “money-back guarantee” essentially means that you can get a full-refund of the product cost (less shipping) if you return the product within 30 days (usually of receiving it, but sometimes the “trial” begins when shipped).  That means that whatever you paid for S&H will not be refunded, and furthermore, you’re liable for the expense of shipping your product back.  So in some cases, you’ll be out twice the cost of shipping! 

And not only is the average cost of S&H extraordinary in this industry, but also the average shipping time painfully long.  Take, for example, Scalp Med, a product “regrows your own hair”.  If you order a 2-month supply, the package weighs a pound (2 2-oz bottles of Vitadil, 1 4-oz bottle of Nutrisol, and 1 8-oz bottle of Cortex Enlarger), and costs $18.81 to ship, with an expected delivery time of 3-4 weeks.  They also offer priority shipping for another  $9.95, which cuts the wait to just 10 days or less. 

To put that price tag in perspective, if you went to Amazon and paid $18.81 for S&H on something that weighs about a pound, you would get either overnight delivery, or 2-day delivery.  Scalp Med’s S&H policy is ludicrous, and it indicates to me that they probably get a lot of refund requests, and are trying to minimize how much they have to give back by inflating the cost of S&H. 

Stay tuned for Part II, where I’ll provide a detailed list of the S&H policies of various infomercial companies.  I’ll start with those whose S&H times are slow, and/or fees exorbitant, give examples of balanced S&H policies, and share some of the most exemplary companies out there.

This is the first installment of a three-part series on Dual Action Cleanse.  Part I will analyze Dual Action Cleanse, providing insight into the claims and effectiveness of Dual Action Cleanse. 

Dual Action Cleanse is a colon cleanser developed by Klee Irwin that’s marketed to people who feel bloated and/or clogged.  The fancy ”Dual Action” qualifier means nothing more than there are two seperate formulas packaged together that you have to take. 

The first is the Colon Clear formula, which contains a “proprietary blend of 22 fibers and herbs to enhance peristaltic action and support your digestive function (promoting 2-3 bowel movements per day). This natural action tones and cleanses the colon while eliminating unnecessary toxic build-up.”  The second is the Total Body Purifier formula, which “contains 33 powerful cleansing herbs that target 15 specific body parts. Among these powerful herbs are Milk Thistle to support the liver, Red Clover and Beet Root to purify your blood, Hawthorne Berry to enhance blood flow, Licorice to support digestion of other herbs, along with 24 other nutrients to stimulate cleansing.”

It’s important to note that one of the active ingrediants in the Colon Clear formula is Cascara Sagrada bark (rhamnus purshiana) in a powdered form. On June 19, 1998, the FDA “reclassified the stimulant laxative ingredient [...] cascara sagrada (including casanthranol, cascara fluidextract aromatic, cascara sagrada bark, cascara sagrada extract, and cascara sagrada fluidextract) [...] from category I (monograph) to category III (more data needed).”  Their major concern at the time was the potential carcinogenicity/toxicity of Cascara Sagrada.  And in 2002, the FDA issued a final ruling, determining “that the stimulant laxative ingredient [...] cascara sagrada (including casanthranol, cascara fluidextract aromatic, cascara sagrada bark, cascara sagrada extract, and cascara sagrada fluidextract) should be deemed not generally recognized as safe and effective for OTC use.”  But because DAC is NOT a drug, but rather a “dietary-supplement,” the FDA’s ruling doesn’t apply.

ChiroFind has a great summary of the health risks of taking Cascara Sagrada: “Prolonged use of cascara sagrada may result in a variety of side-effects, including spastic colon, heart arrythmias, nepropathy and edema. Long-term use can lead to loss of electrolytes, particularly potassium ions. Conditions such as hematuria, muscle weakness and albuminuria may result from long-term cascara use. In addition, cascara may interact negatively with a number of pharmaceuticals, including thiazide diuretics, corticoadrenal steroids, antiarrythmics, digitalis and indomethacin. Cascara sagrada should not be taken by patients with intestinal obstructions, colitis, Crohn’s disease, appendicitis or unknown abdominal pain. It should not be administered to children under the age of 12.”

And although the instructions are to take it “every other month,” and that it’s “not intended for long term use,” taking Dual Action Cleanse for one-month is long enough to pose health risks.  Medical professionals warn against taking Cascara Sagrada for more than 7 days, because “excessive use of Cascara Sagrada can cause your colon to become dependent on it’s use, and you will only be able to have a bowel movement with the assistance of some form of laxative.”

Check out these pictures which lists all of the ingrediants of DAC (incl. Colon Clear and the Total Body Purifier):

It’s interesting to note how many of the ingrediants are common to BOTH formulas.  Both the Colon Clear and the Total Body Purifier contain: Alfalfa powder (leaf), Fennel powder (seed), Peppermint powder (leaf), Red Raspberry powder (leaf), Ginger powder (root), Slippery Elm powder (bark), and Beet powder (root), which amounts to 7 herbs and fibers that are recycled between the two formulas.

Once you open up your package of Dual Action Cleanse, you’ll see a “message from Klee,” chock-full of grammatical errors, that essentially solicits you to buy MORE stuff that Klee deems “necessary” to achieve the most healthy digestive system possible.  Check it out:

Furthermore, there’s an FAQ section on the back, that not only tries to sell Klee’s “Maximizer” kit by making it seem absolutely necessary, but also provides some information that’s inconsistent with the official DAC website.  Check it out:

Specifically, the FAQ that comes with Dual Action Cleanse states that “Dual-Action Cleanse is not intended for use by anyone under 14.”  On the website, it states that “Dual-Action Cleanse and the Maximizer Kit is not recommended for children under the age of 18.”  It bothers me that Cellular Research, the company that makes DAC, can overlook both factual inconsistencies, as well as the numerous grammatical issues that plague its pamphlets.

Finally, on the end of the pamplet is a plea to subscribe to Klee’s newsletter (read: spam list), at a website that no longer exists:

The Bottom Line
Dual Action Cleanse contains a lot of herbs that are natural laxatives and stimulants (including the dangerous Cascara Sagrada), which means that while DAC may provide temporal relief by inducing peristaltic action, in the long-run, it will probably create dependency and exacerbate whatever problem you’re having.  Furthermore, Dual Action Cleanse comes in tablet form, which is more difficult to digest than gel-capsules or powder that you mix in a drink, so it’s not as effective as it should be.  Lastly, the grammatical errors and inconsistencies between the official DAC website and the pamphlet don’t reassure me at all that this is a product worth buying.

My name is Andrew, I’d like to welcome all of you to my newest blog, Infomercial Scams.  This blog will cover the inconsistencies in the Infomercial market, provide analysis of key infomercials, and will tell everything you need to know about an infomercial product, before you make any decisions.  I’ll tell you what to expect when you call an “operator”–who is really a trained salesperson– in regards to buying something you saw on TV, as well as specific details about how to control the flow of the conversation to avoid impulsive buying. 

I’ll give you the bottom line on every product: whether or not it really works, what the full price is, if there are alternatives that can save you money, how good the customer service is, and, ultimately, if you should buy the product.  My goal is to prevent you guys from being scammed, ripped-off, or conned when you buy things that you see on an infomerical.  Thanks for reading, and please feel free to share your experiences if you’ve tried a product that I’m reviewing!