Special
GUEST Article by Warren Matthews of Xtend Life!
Today's
featured article is written by Warren Matthews of Xtend-Life.com
(reproduced by permission), and originally appeared in the fantastic
Xtend
Your Life Newsletter, (July 3rd Issue). The Xtend-Your Life
newsletter is one of the few, real quality health related newsletters
on the Net, and I look forward to each and every issue.
I
asked Warren if I could reproduce this article because it touches
on a subject that is near and dear to the hearts of Ultimatefatburner.com
visitors -- the worry of being ripped off by an unscrupulous
manufacturer selling an bogus product.
Enjoy!
A
Dishonest 'HGH' (Human Growth Hormone) Supplement?
You
may recollect in the last issue I touched on the subject of
'HGH' supplements and all the misleading info about HGH circulating
on the Internet. It created so much interest that I have decided
to devote a complete issue of this newsletter to the subject
of 'HGH' and maybe follow it up with a report. The newsletter
on HGH will be the one after next. I've got some interesting
info for you in the next issue so I will deal with that first.
After the last issue of XTEND-YOUR-LIFE I had an email from
a subscriber Matthew Lange in Wisconsin. Matthew is a healthy
young man who felt he could benefit from HGH. He emailed me
to ask my opinion of a product he had been taking called AXIS
MD.
I agreed to check it out for him.
o The product and the website:
The first thing that struck me was the name of the website harvardwellness.com.
It gives the impression that there may be some association with
'Harvard University'.
I
immediately clicked on to 'about us' and that's when the warning
bells started to ring. Although the wordage was grand and noble
and referred to sister companies and showed a
photograph of their western 'Headquarters' there was no mention
of who they were! In other words not even their own Company
name let alone any of their 'sister' companies.
I
am always suspicious when a company who does not name themselves
puts a photograph of someone else's building on their website.
In most of these buildings you can rent a room (suite) by the
week. The product they are promoting is called AXIS MD which
they claim is somatotropin which is another word for Human Growth
Hormone. I won't comment on the product itself as I am still
doing some more detailed research on it... but what I can say
is the claim is untrue. Genuine HGH which is actually correctly
called rGH can only be obtained by prescription.
I continued through the website which is very, very slick and
well put together... (congratulations whoever you are!) As I
went through the website I saw frequent references to somatotropin
clearly giving the inference that the product they were offering
was in fact genuine somatotropin or HGH.
This was further reinforced in their FAQ in which they stated
that somatotropin is only manufactured by a few large pharmaceutical
companies and mentioned Eli Lilly and Genentec. That is true...
but what is not said is that NONE of these companies including
the above two manufacture anything OTHER than the genuine injectible
somatotropin which is ONLY available by prescription and rigorously
monitored by the FDA.
They certainly do NOT manufacture the products 'harvardwellness'
are promoting.
A
big issue is also made of the NO RISK guarantee and references
to 'I' without revealing who 'I' is.
The 'studies' and results which are published on the website
are not I believe related to this product but rather to the
genuine injectible HGH product.
Anyway, I conveyed my thoughts to Matt who decided to return
his unused product for a refund. This is where it gets interesting.
Matt has documented his communications and has agreed to allow
us to publish them:
o Matt's attempt to get a refund... his report!
Attempts
to communicate my desire to return two bottles of Axis 3600,
an oral HgH spray, to Harvard Wellness. Their return policy
is clearly stated on this webpage:
http://www.harvardwellness.com/faq.html
o Thursday, 6/20/2002, shortly after 11am:
I called the Harvard Wellness customer service number [949-721-4542]
in an attempt to receive instructions as to how I could receive
a refund. Instead of a customer service representative, I got
a recorded message saying that all customer service representatives
were busy at the time, and that I should leave a message. I
left a message stating my name, phone number, and instructions
to call me back as soon as possible.
o Thursday, 6/20/2002, 7:45 pm:
I sent the following email message to: support@harvardwellness.com
(the customer service address given on my invoice).
Hi,
I would like to return two bottles of Axis 3600 HgH formula
that I purchased about 45 days ago. I have not yet experienced
any noticeable effects of this product, which is not to say
that it is ineffective for everyone, but probably has something
more to do with the fact that I am a healthy 26-year-old.
The
website says I need to call a customer service number on my
invoice to begin the return procedure, however I called today
and received no call back yet. I would like to expedite this
process. Please tell me how to return your product, and also
where.
Thank you,
Matthew Lange
o Monday, 6/24/2002, 12 noon:
Having received no correspondence from Harvard Wellness, I called
their customer support number again. I got the same message
as the first time, except that this time there was no beep to
indicate I should begin to leave a message. The line simply
went dead after a few moments.
o Wednesday, 6/26/2002, 11:10 am:
Still no answer via phone or email. I called the customer support
number again, got the same message, left my name, number, and
instructions to call me back as soon as possible.
o
Thursday, 6/27/2002, 5:05 pm:
I called the customer support line twice. I left a message the
second time. After that, I sent another email to support@harvardwellness.com.
To Whom It May Concern:
Over the last week I have attempted, through various means,
to contact your company in regards to a purchase I made in early
May. Please note that the purchase date was 5/05/2002, which
means I am still covered by your 100 day guarantee. I have called
at least 5 times at different times of the day (a number which
is long-distance for me, mind you), and emailed twice. When
I call, I get a recorded message stating that all customer service
representatives are busy. Every time. Each time I call, I leave
a message with my name (Matthew Lange). I have not received
any communication from your company.
The guarantee on your site states:
"If,
within 100-days of any purchase from our site, you become unhappy
with the quality of your product, or the service you received,
simply call one of our friendly customer service assistants
and request a refund. Your purchase price will be promptly refunded
no questions asked. If we can't thrill our customers, we don't
belong in business. And that's the way it should be."
I'm getting the feeling that I've been had. You should know
that I am documenting my attempts at a refund, and I am totally
prepared to take this to the Better Business Bureau and other
such agencies, as well as publish this information on a website
that sells health products, as a warning to others not to trust
your vaunted "customer service".
Please be true to your word and inform me how I may return the
two bottles of Axis 3600 I ordered.
Thank you,
Matthew Lange
[invoice:
003252]
[reference
number: 002323478]
3rd July...still no refund. As they do not seem to be concerned
about having this published we have done so.
The moral of the story...follow the rules I set out in the last
issue of XTEND-YOUR-LIFE. Hopefully Matt will eventually get
a response and a refund... but, he is not holding his breath!
Paul's
recommendation: subscribe
to the Xtend-Your-Life Newsletter Here! Great newsletter,
no ads, lots of info. Well worth effort! :-)
One
other comment... always purchase supplements with your credit
card (MasterCard if possible, they are a lot tougher on their
merchants), and be sure to threaten the scamster with a charge-back.
In other words, tell the merchant you will phone your credit
card company and DEMAND (yes, demand) that the charges are reversed.
Believe me, this will get their attention in a hurry.
Of
course, the best policy is simply to be well informed (you did
sign up up for the Xtend-Your-Life
Newsletter right?), and remember...
If
it sounds too good to be true, you can bet that it is!
