I ordered a one time purchase of Proactiv in July, 2004. At no time did I sign up for a membership or agree to ongoing additional purchases.
In September, 2004, an unauthorized charge was posted to my credit card by Proactiv. I called customer service and they stated that whether I knew it or not, I became a member when I ordered the initial product.
I asked them to remove the charge from my credit card (since I had not recieved any product recently) and to reimburse me for the $29.00 that the unauthorized amount put me on my credit card. Not only did they refuse to reimburse me for the overlimit fee caused by them, they stated that I would have to pay for shipping and handling.
They stated that the website from which I had ordered the product made it clear that I was joining a club with ongoing required purchases. In returned to the website and was able to go through the fields without any awareness of this being a club.
Consequently, I called my credit card company to report a fraudulent charge (Capital One). The credit card company was great to work with and is placing an adjustor on the case.
I am now going to send letters to every consumer complaint bureau I can locate as well as to the Proactiv company and to state legislators in Boise, Idaho (billing locale for Proactiv) and California (distributor locale for Proactiv).