I fell for this scam too. My first clue that something was shaky was when my credit card company called me during the application process (an automated call) to verify the charges. Obviously they are getting wise to this scam also. I signed up with Cleanwhites and DazzleSmile 5 days ago. They each charged my card for the shipping, but so far I haven’t received anything in the mail, and I bet I never do.

ortunately I checked Google to find this was all a scam. I immediately called my credit card company and cancelled my card. If anyone who reads this hasn’t done that yet, let me tell you it’s the only way you’re going to keep these slimeballs from piling on the charges. It’s easy to do, takes less than 5 minutes, and in case anybody’s wondering you’re NOT cancelling or closing your credit card account, just your current credit card number. I’ll have a new card within 5 business days at the same terms and conditions, nothing changes regarding your account except the number.

I called both numbers the next day to cancel. It took 2 calls and a total of 55 minutes of sitting on hold before anybody answered. DazzleSmile gave me a return authorization number and an address to return the product to. But Cleanwhites just kept telling me they were going to e-mail me a UPS “return label” and I had to use that, and that they were going to charge my card $6.99 for as a “return shipping fee”. I never agreed to a return shipping charge and it’s not in the “Terms and Conditions”. I told the operator I just wanted the correct address to send the product back, and she refused to give it to me.

I’m mad just like everyone else, but here is the “must read” part: regardless of how deep you are into this scam, there is simply nothing to worry about. The only money you are going to lose is the initial shipping charge (in my case it was only $1.49 and $0.99 because I used the “promotional codes” in CNN’s ad. I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t give legal advice. But I am the owner of three businesses and as such I know enough about contract law to be totally unworried myself. I’ll tell you why and you can decide for yourself if you agree with what I’m saying.

Again, you should immediately cancel your credit or debit card number – in 5 minutes you can take away the one and only tool these thugs had to make your life more miserable.

During the process of canceling your card number, you will be asked to verify any recent charges you have made. I answered “Yes” to every charge I made up to this point, INCLUDING the Cleanwhites initial “Shipping” charges. I know that money is history, and there is nothing I can or should do about it. After all, I did agree to pay the $1.49 and $0.99. Although I don’t like it that these scumbags got that money, it is the only money they will ever see from me, and I look at it as my punishment for not checking this “deal” over more closely before I jumped on it. You will want to “dispute” any further charges from these slimeballs though, even if you did receive the trial product or the next shipment. By disputing the charges, all you are doing is putting a “hold” on the money being sent to the these jerks, long enough for the credit card company to make their investigation. Believe me when I tell you, the card company is on YOUR side this time. They will do anything necessary to eliminate card fraud, whether they like you or not. You won’t have to pay any of these disputed charges at least until after the card company is finished investigating, and they can’t charge you interest unless they find the charge is legit (which they won’t).

This con works because the con artists are banking on you feeling like you’ve gotten yourself into something that is ironclad, water-tight, no way out. They play on these fears even more so by being incredibly polite on the phone, because decent people like all of us are quite often easily disarmed by politeness and simple courtesy. They also know that decent people won’t usually be demanding when it comes to their rights, which their entire scheme is set up to trample all over. Although they are polite, anybody you talk to is already fully aware they’re participating in and party to a scam. The message here is getting yourself out of this does not have to include you feeling sorry for anybody on their side, nor are you “going back on” any reasonable or legitimate agreement.

If you surf some of the other ripoff sites you will notice identically worded rebuttals to each one from some minion in their scheme, basically saying that their “terms and Conditions” have you locked in to paying these ridiculous charges. All I can say to the person writing these rebuttals is that your boss is running an illegal fraud game, and you are an accessory to that fraud by virtue of writing these rebuttals. If I were you I’d grab your lunch bucket and get as far away from those thugs as you can. Then do yourself a favor and get a real job.

OK, here’s why I say there is nothing to worry about. First, the law is on our side. Second, the very device that these scam artists are trying to worry us with and keep trying to hide behind, the “Terms and Conditions” is also their downfall. Here is the exact wording of these terms, taken directly off the Cleanwhites website:

“Cleanwhites Terms and Conditions” - Start your RISK-FREE Trial today and we will send you a full 30-day supply of the Cleanwhites Advanced Teeth Whitening System. Just pay $5.95 shipping and processing. You will have 14 days to try the Cleanwhites Advanced Teeth Whitening System and discover why it is the teeth whitening system for you. If you like how our system lightens the shades of your teeth, do nothing – at the end of your free-trial period you will be charged the discounted price of $79.95. If for any reason the system is not for you, call Cleanwhites Customer Care toll-free at 877-292-6892 within your 14-day free trial period to cancel. Then simply return the product (even if it is empty) and you will NEVER be billed for the product. No commitments, no hassles.

Plus, if you decide to keep the Cleanwhites Advanced Teeth Whitening System, you will receive FREE acceptance in Cleanwhites Elite and will receive a fresh supply of Cleanwhites approximately every 30 days at the same low price of $79.99, a 22% discount. You can cancel anytime by calling Cleanwhites Customer Care. No risk, no

This entire scam is based on a “retail contract” that two parties, the seller and the buyer, enter into, governed by a set of Terms and Conditions which are the basis of the entire agreement itself. A retail contract can consist of virtually any stated set of Terms and Conditions the buyer and seller agree on, but contract law in this country enforces guidelines and rules about those terms and conditions. The terms and conditions above actually lay out two individual contracts, connected by a 14-day timeline. The first contract is the “14-day Free Trial” which has to be completed by both parties before the second one, the subsequent automatic shipments can go into effect. These two individual contracts are separated by the paragraph space in the Terms and Conditions.

The terms and conditions in the first paragraph are the ENTIRE agreement between the parties, and contains the ONLY terms and conditions that the parties are have agreed to. Noticeably missing in these terms and conditions are the $6.95 “return shipping fee” that the scammers left out of the terms and try to add later. The terms clearly state that the buyer has 14 full days to try the sample shipment for free. Thus, the condition that you have to call and cancel “within” the 14-day period conflicts with the “full 14-day trial” actually makes your right to use the entire 14 days for free impossible. They cannot do that – you can’t set conflicting conditions or include a condition that makes any other condition impossible to adhere to. No court in the land would uphold those terms, any judge would throw the case out instantly with conflicting and the impossibility trap built into them.

Further, they start the 14 day “trial period” on the day you place your order, not the day you receive the sample. By their own definition, “you will have 14 days to try the (product)…” However, because they haven’t delivered the product yet when they start the clock, they are immediately in “material breach” of the contract…Cleanwhites is actually the first to default here as they have failed to put the product in my hands before starting the clock.

A “material breach of contract” gives either party the right to cancel the entire contract (both contracts in this case because they are connected by the time line) immediately unless both agree to accept the breach, which I don’t agree to and I doubt anyone else would. All that is required to cancel the contract under a material breach is to notify the other party in the most expedient way (verbally by the phone call I made to Customer Service), and follow my notification up in writing to the last known address of the other party by First Class Mail. I am going to send my notification by registered mail with a “proof of delivery receipt requested”. The post office will ask the recipient sign for my letter, and if they won’t it doesn’t matter because they are the ones refusing to accept it, which will be noted on the receipt.

Cleanwhites doesn’t publish an address to return the trial product to. That’s intentional. When you call to cancel the trial and stop the automatic shipment from happening, they refuse to give you the address, telling you that they will send you a “UPS Label” to send the product back with. Then they tack on the $6.99 “return shipping fee” that was not part of the Terms and Conditions. All their “Terms and Conditions” establish is that I have to “simply return the product, even if empty”. Nothing in the terms and conditions says that I have to return the product via UPS or use their label. They are attempting to make it look like they are giving me a UPS “call tag”, which is a voucher issued by UPS and paid for by the recipient of the shipment to enable the sender to send the product back free of charge. I guess the logic is that the consumer will think “Gee isn’t that convenient” and will fool themselves into thinking that it will cost 6 or 7 bucks to ship the product back anyway. Not true - the sample was supposedly to be sent to me via First Class Mail. It is totally reasonable then, for me to send the product back by First Class Mail, at my expense of an envelope and a First Class stamp, instead of an inflated $6.99 “fee” which I never agreed to in the first place. Simply put, unless Cleanwhites is paying for the return shipment, they cannot mandate a certain carrier – First Class mail is they method they ship by, and as such is a perfectly acceptable method of return. Anything contrary to this has to be disclosed at the time of sale in the terms and conditions, and it’s just plain not there.

I’ve already informed them by phone that I’ve cancelled the contract. As soon as I send my notification letter to them cancelling the contract due to their material breach, I’m totally done with this issue. I’m waiting to see if the sample ever arrives, and if it does, I’ll enclose it with the cancellation letter. They have no method of charging any more to my closed credit card. If they try to call me on the phone, I’ll simply hang up. If they try mailing me an invoice for the $6.99 “return shipping fee” I’m simply tossing it in the trash. Bottom line, for them to even have a prayer of collecting one additional cent, they’re going to have to use the system and challenge me in court. I’m not worried in the least that it will ever get that far, because they would have to bring their entire cockeyed scheme into court as a matter of record to even get a ruling. As crooks to start with, I highly doubt any of them wants to be seen within ten miles of a courthouse, for $6.95 or $79.95 or even a bunch more than that.

So, Cleanwhites, listen up – I know my rights, and I’m all done with you. I’ve revoked your access to my credit card, and I am simply not going to pay you anything more than the $2.47 you got. If you think your “Terms and Conditions” entitle you to anything else, tell it to a judge or a jury, because unless they order me to, I’m not budging.

So, is anybody else worried? I hope not. That’s why I took the time to write this. The Dazzle Smile scam is the same deal, but they do at least give you an address to send the return to. You should send the stuff back if you cancel, but once you cancel there’s really nothing else to this scam unless you let it bother you.