Charged for products I didn't order1
Complaint Rating:
Company information:
VIV3 Ltd
Victoria
Australia

I too have been scammed from VIV3 Labs in the UK regarding a free trial of Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse and have been charged $116 each for products I didn't even order!!! I have contacted my bank and reported the transactions as unauthorised and fraudulent.

I also found the following information posted way back in March 2009 about how to get a refund from this compay. I found it very useful and I hope you do too. I've sent an email to the email addresses listed below, stating that I want a full refund, and if I don't get a full refund, I will take legal action.


How to get a refund from Viv3Labs
Complaint Rating:
Company information:
Viv 3 Labs
Inverness, Highlands and Islands, Scotland
United Kingdom

Viv3 Labs Complaints - How to get a refund from VIv3 Labs

How to get a refund from VIv3 Labs


I ordered supplies of the products Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse in July and had the following email on 27th July 2009

Thank you for your purchase of the following product(s):
Life Cleanse
It can take approximately one working week, for an order to be processed and delivered (for some areas and in exceptional cases it might take up to 10 working days). You will be notified separately about the shipment of your product.
Your statement will reflect that you have been charged by Viv3Labs in the amount of 3.95 £, VAT included where applicable. We would like to remind you that shipping and handling costs are non-refundable as stated in the Terms and Conditions of this purchase.
We strive to do our best to provide you with excellent customer service.
You can also contact us on the following phone numbers:
Toll Free UK - 08082389891
International number - (+44) 2031399027
We would like to ask you to always provide your account number and order ID to our Customer Service representative so that we can identify you more quickly in our system.
Enjoy the product!
Thank you and best regards,
Viv3 Labs Customer Support Team

A similar email arrived for the other product.

When the package arrived I called them on 3rd August and cancelled future deliveries; my first call was to a person who did not understand my dialect and was abusive and hung up. I called again and received an apology from another man, who assured me that my orders were now cancelled and that my Visa Debit card would not be charged with any monies.
On Monday 17th August I became aware that the bank was holding back money for a pending transaction to Viv3 Labs and I sent them an email which was returned because emails are not received by the email address from which their email had been sent some three weeks before.

I then found some information on this website which I found helpful and calls and emails were exchanged as follows -

Phone call to them on 17th August in which they advised me that I would be emailed within three working days.

Email on 19th August from them

Dear Customer,

Thank you very much for contacting our Viv3 Labs customer service by phone.
We would like to inform you that on 2009-07-27 you were charged for the shipping and handling cost on your free trial. The 15 days free trial starts from the day of the shipment of the order and implies that you have 15 days to test your order for free.
As stated in the terms and conditions of the purchase that you accepted during the purchase process, if you do not cancel your account during the 15 days trial period, you will be charged for the product separately and thus the free trial converts into a regular subscription. We confirm that on 2009-08-16 you were charged for the product for the amount of 118.63 USD .
We have cancelled your account. This cancellation implies that our company will make no more charges and no more products will be shipped to you.
Best regards,
Viv3 Labs
Customer Service

I replied the next day on 20th August to the addresses I found on your website; suggest you address all emails to all of those people. Note the correct email address for VIV3LABS -

'[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'
For the attention of Viv3.com, Clay Douglass and Mitch Platt
On 27th July I ordered a supply of each Life Cleanse and Acai Berry and an acknowledgement was emailed to me quoting the details above. The products duly arrived within a week and immediately I started taking them I realised I would not be wishing to continue this arrangement and tried to email your company without success as the email was returned undelivered. I then called you on the UK number 08082389891 and spoke to a man who obviously did not understand English whereupon I asked if I could speak to someone who could speak English and he used a very rude expletive and hung up, by which time he had already had a note of my account numbers and order number
I called back the same number later that day and spoke to another person, who was very polite and took a note of my cancellation request assuring me that there would be no further charges on my account, and that he had cancelled both orders. All this was done before Wednesday 5th August.
On Monday of this week I discovered you had taken steps to remove £75+ from my bank account. This meant that a direct debit was not paid which has resulted in a charge of £35 on my account together with a charge of £12 from the Credit Card Company for the failed Direct Debit. When contacting your customer service by telephone, I explained that these orders had been cancelled two weeks earlier by phone and requested that this money be repaid into my bank account immediately and was told that I would be contacted by email within 72 hours. I have since had your email which advises me that there will be no refund.
I have read your terms and conditions, and it clearly states that a customer may request a full refund within 30 days of their purchase. In total, I am requesting that you refund me with the full £122 which is what this error on your part has cost me. I had purchased this product on July 27th, therefore the 30 day period has not yet ended; the terms and conditions clearly state that within thirty days a refund may be requested. On using the link http://viv3labs.helpserve.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=26&nav=0 I have found the following: -

"Our refund policy is as follows:
* 1. You may receive a refund of any Product that you ordered up to thirty (30) days after your order is placed.
* 2. Customers are restricted to receiving a single refund per product ordered. Repetitive refunds are not permitted unless the product, as delivered to you, is defective. VIV3 reserves the right to refuse a refund to any customer who repeatedly requests refunds or who, in VIV3’s judgment, requests refunds in bad faith.
* 3. In order to process your refund, you must supply VIV3 with Your name and delivery address. If you provide us with insufficient or incorrect information your refund will be delayed.
* 4. Depending on the bank that issues the credit card, your refund can take up to thirty (30) days to appear on your credit card statement. If you have any questions about whether a refund has been issued by VIV3, please call Our Customer Service Department toll-free at 080 8238 9891 or (+44) 2031399027 outside of the UK.
* 5. Shipping and handling costs are not refundable"

Therefore I request the refund to which I am entitled for this product.

I have studied reports on the internet today and note that you have over 100 complaints in the last month on the same subject and would be grateful for your early reply on this matter. Failure to contact me very quickly will ensure that I pass this matter on to ‘The Judge’ in the Scottish Daily Mail as has already been done by another of your unsatisfied customers. I will not hesitate to take legal action is the small claims court if necessary.
I hope you will resolve this matter for me very quickly.
Yours faithfully

The reply was as follows and arrived within two hours

Dear Customer,
Thank you very much for contacting our customer service at Viv3 Labs.
As indicated in our previous communication to you, you have accepted the terms and conditions of the purchase, indicating that unless you cancel your account within the 15-day trial period you will be charged for the product, in addition to the shipping and handling charges.
Please note that for this reason we are unable to credit you account for the product you received.
The terms and conditions are available on the website at the bottom of the page.
Best regards,
Viv3 Labs
Customer Service

I wrote on the following day, 21st August

Sirs
As you are now fully aware, I have studied the terms and conditions and these entitle me to have a refund of charges paid within 30 days of delivery of order. As you also now know, like hundreds of other people I have had monies removed from my card account after having cancelled the supply of your product which I did only three days after receiving the package. You will not get away with this. It obviously a scam and it is my intention - if your agreement to a refund is not forthcoming - to give you maximum publicity. I live in Scotland and come under the law of this land, and so I already know what my rights are. I would like to hear from you as quickly as possible. For your information, I quote an email I have copied from the Consumer Complaints website which lists you among the top scammers on the internet.
Quote from Consumer Complaints Website -
"I am an ex Local Billing employee, the owners of www.acaiberryexclusive.com, www.acaiberry-lifecleanse.com and other sites with these fake diet products.
The owners of those sites are Clay Douglass ( http://www.linkedin.com/in/claydouglass) and Mitch Platt (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mitch-platt/4/271/878) and their plan is to scam as much possible and, then, go for another product and do the same (SCAM).
It is easy to contact them through the information which appears on the site registration of acaiberryexclusive (in www.acaiberry-lifecleanse.com they used a marketing company to hide the real owner):

ACAIBERRYEXCLUSIVE.COM - Who is Information
Registrant:
Douglass, Clay [email protected]
Viv3 Lab Limited
Unit 5, Mill Road Industrial Estate
Linlithgow, WL EH49 7QY
GB
Domain name: ACAIBERRYEXCLUSIVE.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
viveraglobal, Hostmaster [email protected]
Viv3 Lab Limited
Unit 5, Mill Road Industrial Estate
Linlithgow, WL EH49 7QY
GB
+44.08082389891

Also, you could find these scammers on the following email addresses:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

And, finally, the physical address of the company at Barcelona (they are operating all business from there and you could inform this to the police):
Local Billing / Tucana Corona
C/Pau Claris, 100
08009 Barcelona

Their reply came on Monday 24th August

Thank you very much for contacting our customer service at Viv3 Labs.
You did agree to our terms and conditions in which we clearly state all costs and conditions of the purchase. On the other hand we always strive to provide excellent customer service and therefore we prefer not to dispute with our clients. We would like to resolve this issue by granting you a refund for the amount of 118.63USD.
If you accept this condition, please contact us back and we will issue your refund.
Best regards,
Viv3 Labs
Customer Service

I immediately replied on 24th August

I accept your offer of refund of $118.63.
Thank you, I look forward to receiving this in my bank account.


Dear Customer,
Thank you very much for contacting our customer service at Viv3 Labs.
As indicated in our previous communication to you, you have accepted the terms and conditions of the purchase, indicating that unless you cancel your account within the 15-day trial period you will be charged for the product, in addition to the shipping and handling charges.
However, as part of our customer care, we strive to provide excellent customer service and would therefore prefer to resolve this issue by granting you a refund for the amount of 118.63 USD .
We would like to confirm to you that we have reviewed your claim and issued the refund following your request. The amount of 118.63 USD was credited to your account today.
Please note that it normally takes up to 5 working days for the refunded money to appear in your account. However, depending on the banking policies it could take up to 15 days in exceptional cases.

Best regards,

Viv3 Labs
Customer Service


And the refund reached my bank on 2 September - yesterday

I hope this may be of help to some of you.

I signed on for a free sample, but obviously missed the fine print about cancelling within certain number of days or be charged hundreds..My credit card had to be cancelled to stop them from charging

THAT PRODUCT DID NOT DO WELL FOR IN SYSTEM.<br /><br />
I CALLED ON THE DAY "DUE DATE TO CANCEL" 3/7/10 IT WAS ON A SUNDAY CLOSED<br /><br />
I CALLED BACK ON MONDAY 3/8/10 I WAS TOLD TO CALLED BACK BECAUSE COMPUTER WERE DOWN<br /><br />
I TRIED LATER AND NO ANSWERED. SO THEN I CALLED BACK ON3/9/10. I WAS TOLD IT WAS TO LATE.<br /><br />
I TRY TO CALL SO RIGHT NOW I JUST WANT MY MONEY BACK IN MY ACCOUNT.

I have a charge pending to come out of my account for 300.00. I called acia berry and they sd I needed to contqact this website for a refund . I signed up for a trial bottle of their product and I am not satisfied and I diod not know they were going to charge my account for three hundred dollars. I feel like I was mislead being that I received a pop up on my computer from them and said all it would cost me to try is 2.24 or something around that for shipping and it turned into a 300.00 charge on my denit card. I am requesting a refund and my financial institution will be filing a dispute on my behgalf as well. I think it was very unfair how I was mislead to ordering this product. I called the customer service number and she cancelled for me the cancellation numb. are826139 and 826328. Besides I didn't use the product because it made me sick. I just would like for my funds to be refunded back to me.

WHY is no one doing anything about this company??? They are a SCAM and even when you can get thru to customer service, IF you can get thru to customer service, they give you a complete run around!!! I've been hounding them since October of last year about getting a refund for the products that I 1) didn't get within the 15 day 'trial' period and 2) sent BACK unused product for a refund once I realize I had been charged $178 for. Today I finally got thru and they will be processing a $35 refund...because I'm "calling outside of free trial period" - fine, I realize all I'm going to get out of this debacle is the $35. At least it's something.

WOMEN, beware!!! DON'T SIGN UP FOR THIS!!! If you want to lose weight, do it like I ultimately did - with diet and exercise. That way it will be a lifelong change!!