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Warning: GCBX slimming pills free trial cost £80/month!

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My daughter recently fell for this one on facebook. They offer a months free trial for £5.95 postage, but the terms & conditions are that you are signing up for monthly orders of £80. Having provided the payment details you may not realise thus until the money disappears from your account. This is a common marketing method for these types of product (a similar raspberry ketone product free trial was recently on student money saver).
Whilst I disagree with the marketing approach, and the apparent targeting of youngsters, this is an important lesson in reading the T&Cs.
To cancel you have to call 0800-019-3021. I hope it works!
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Comments

  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 35,726 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Savvy Shopper!
    There's a thread on this board about Slimtone Raspberry Ketone (10 pages of it!):

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4203533

    Hope the phone call cancelling the order works, but if you still have trouble, it might be worth reading through that thread to see how people managed to cancel.
  • meanmum
    meanmum Posts: 611 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Phew! She's had a cancellation confirmation e-mail from GCBX.
    She also signed up for a free trial for Cellan - which is the same company as GCBX - so we need to try & stop that one too (they put us on hold last night).
    At least there is a phone number and e-mail for this company - and they did answer the phone & appeared to cancel.
    Also, it seems that once you've informed the supplier that you wish to cancel, then your bank is able to stop the payments - more info in the raspberry ketone thread - thanks for that! So we'll make sure we do that too (belt & braces!)
    I'm just so glad I was around when the parcel arrived and nosy enough to ask questions - and that I'd seen the raspberry ketone (or similar) on student money saver & realised the sales techniques for that........
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 35,726 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Savvy Shopper!
    That's good news.

    Tell your daughter it's cheaper to cut down on calories and to exercise more than to buy pills. ;)
  • meanmum
    meanmum Posts: 611 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    The ridiculous thing is she doesn't even need to lose weight - she's 5'9 & a size 10! I think she just got drawn into the "free" element......
    However, we rang Cellan today & they answered very quickly, promised to cancel with immediate effect, and have sent an e-mail to confirm.
    We will stop both recurring payments with the bank just to be sure.
  • I have been scammed by a company after purchasing 'Beyond Raspberry Ketone' online. I bought a 'free trial' using my debit card (paid for postage = £3.48). I checked my account earlier on this evening to find that a further £84.95 had been taken out my account. I called my bank who have advised that I visit a branch first thing tomorrow morning. I made sure I read the terms and conditions properly and no where did it state that monthly subscriptions applied! :mad:
  • JoJo10 wrote: »
    I made sure I read the terms and conditions properly and no where did it state that monthly subscriptions applied! :mad:

    Erm????

    pic.jpg
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,635 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    JoJo10 wrote: »
    I have been scammed by a company after purchasing 'Beyond Raspberry Ketone' online. I bought a 'free trial' using my debit card (paid for postage = £3.48). I checked my account earlier on this evening to find that a further £84.95 had been taken out my account. I called my bank who have advised that I visit a branch first thing tomorrow morning. I made sure I read the terms and conditions properly and no where did it state that monthly subscriptions applied! :mad:

    Maybe you should read the terms again, it seems you should have calle d them to cancel.
  • Mossop93
    Mossop93 Posts: 58 Forumite
    I may be being a dingbat, but I read the comment to mean they had just signed up for the free trial. As in they'd been charged the full price within the 14 day trial period. Could be wrong, but that's what I thought they meant?

    But worth living by the rule I do - free trials/coupons are bonuses. If you can't afford it at full price then don't get it with the free trial/coupon. One of two things will happen.. You'll get charged full price or you won't want to give it up and so will end up paying the full price regularly..
    £5 A Day Challenge - September £0/£155
    Clearing My Debt £20/£1040
  • meanmum
    meanmum Posts: 611 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    JoJo, I really feel for you. It is really sneaky how the trial starts at the point of purchase (& could be a while before the pills arrive) - & then you are billed for your next month at the end of the 14 day period. It feels like a scam but I don't think there is anything actually illegal - although one could question the morality of this sales approach.
    If they have to resort to such tactics to get sales, I can't imagine it's actually going to work either......
    It's an expensive lesson to read ALL the T&Cs I'm afraid.
  • meanmum wrote: »
    My daughter recently fell for this one on facebook. They offer a months free trial for £5.95 postage, but the terms & conditions are that you are signing up for monthly orders of £80. Having provided the payment details you may not realise thus until the money disappears from your account. This is a common marketing method for these types of product (a similar raspberry ketone product free trial was recently on student money saver).
    Whilst I disagree with the marketing approach, and the apparent targeting of youngsters, this is an important lesson in reading the T&Cs.
    To cancel you have to call 0800-019-3021. I hope it works!

    Thankyou sooooo much for putting this on, I ordered them, then 10 minutes read this, rang them straight away, cancelled and got my money back, did your daughter order the cleanser pills too? it was step 2 of this so called amazing way to lose weight, I never got a confirmation e-mail so I guess I'll just have to wait and keep an eye on my account
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