Blame Oprah for this one. All she had to do is tout a product on her show claiming to drop weight and millions of raving women will flood stores trying to buy it. Scammy(is that a word) step in and can easily rip people off.

You would think common sense would tell you that this is a scam (along with many others) but maybe they are hoping that some of these people's fat is in their head.

The CSR she called probably reps about 15 different products so no wonder they refused to name this specific product as their company.

There should be some sort of regulation where you can only be billed for the product you ORDER and that auto-enrollment should have to be actively elected by the consumer but then how would companies make their millions of dollars?!?!

I'm so skeptical of the crap I see on TV, I wouldn't even try Proactive for the longest time. Until I could buy it from a mall kiosk and not be signed up for refills every 60 days that will auto-bill my credit card. The stuff works. Color me surprised.

There's no good way to quickly lose weight. Only lifestyle change can really do it for you. Count your calories, record your food, exercise.

This is a horrible scam, though, and the OP has every right to charge back big time.

Doris, drop and give me 20 for believing that this was legit.

@snoop-blog

Actually the brain is made of Fatty Tissue ... so everyone has fat in their head.

Now Cellulite is a *type* of fat so perhaps they assume people have Cellulite i their heads.

All kidding aside:

As mentioned these sorts of things aren't regulated, and your mileage may vary. From what I understand body chemistry is much more a factor in herbal, and homeopathic treatments. I think that the Consumerist has the right of it, and it's Chargeback time.

You can lose weight by drinking tea. But it's usually because you're replacing soda for tea, thus essentially reducing your caloric intake. So you don't really need some fancy herbal crap tea, just get any old tea you want. I do buy some expensive loose leaf teas from Asia when I can, but only because I like tea in general.

Would this be considered a "trail of teas"?

That joke worked a lot better in my head... but you've got a typo there.

@TakingItSeriously: For a homeopathic remedy you're better off drinking water, since that's essentially what homeopathic remedies are: water. You can just drink water, get the same amount of active ingredient (basically nothing), and its free! :)

@satoru: Thank you! One of the biggest things I have to deal with with patients is the use of certain homeopathic remedies. Yes, certain herbs and other such products will work. However, that's such a small percentage! When I explain the science (or lack thereof), most agree, but there are a few who simply will refuse to acknowledge the information... I feel terrible, as these companies are scamming the patients.

Wu-yi is just another name for Oolong tea. Wuyi is actually a mountain range in China and tea grown there is Wu-yi Tea. Just like sparkling wines from Champagne, France are named for the region they are from.

Oolong tea has been found to help with metabolism... as long as you're eating sensibly and exercising. Here's an article about the benefits of Oolong:

[findarticles.com]

Basically, this company has decided to give tea from the Wuyi region special magical properties. So.... it's kinda based in science fact, but there's been a lot of science fiction piled on it.

And I know this because I used to work in a health food store and when people would as for Wu-yi, I'd hand them the box of oolong (100 organic tea bags for $3.99) and they thought I was trying to rip them off.

Some people don't want education. They want magic.

@DoktorGoku: Well I would try this.

"Hey are you afraid of mercury?"
"OH yes mercury is terrible"
"There is less active ingredient in that homeopatic remedy than there is mercury in a slab of tuna"

Dunno if that would convince them, but at least it puts in terms they can semi-relate to. Though usually such individuals have an easy time rationalizing one irrational fear for another :P

When are people going to learn that the only "hot diet" is regular exercise and reducing your calories?

If you still haven't learned, I've got a pill that will melt your pounds away. I call it the "Pal Cibo" pill. Take it three times a day. One-month costs $300 and is guarenteed* to work!

*guarentee void if suppliment is taken orally

My mother signed-up my wife for the free trial of Gevalia coffee. Man that was hard to finally cancel. At one point they sent a sampler of coffees at Christmas time and charged us just because they thought we would appreciate that months after we had cancelled, groan...

@DoktorGoku: Also that recent AP study about the 'drugs in the water' was interesting. If we believe the homeopathic system, then I should just drink water if I have a headache, feel depressed, etc since it has about as much active ingredient as a homeopathic remedy, in the 1 per billion particles range.

@mzs: lol dealing with Gevalia is like dealing with the mob if it were ran the way the Girl Scouts are ran at around Cookie time. They will not take no for an answer. No actually means "Put me down for 2 of everything."

@linus: Is the guarantee valid if used as a suppository? Perhaps using smoke as a suppository would have the same effect? :D

@satoru: No, the instructions clearly state that the pill must be taken orally with breakfast, lunch, and dinner to get the desired result. Also, you can't drink water or the guarentee is void.

You want a bottle? ;-)

@satoru: Haha, I'm glad you saw that one, too! We got so many bizarre questions after that- people were literally asking if they could concentrate things out of the water.

"No... just... no. Gah."

Since when has following diets found in magazines ever NOT been a scam?

is this what they did with the excess "Kinoki detox foot pads" they had lying around?

@satoru: This article worked for me: [junkfoodscience.blogspot.com]

reference:

I believe that Wu Yi tea is just oolong tea. Just go to coffeebeandirect.com and under "Other Teas" buy some Sechung Oolong tea. Their prices are great for loose tea. I order black, green, and oolong and often blend them to taste. Loose tea will keep for a long time. You need to order a fair amount to justify the approx. $10 shipping cost. The best way to start is to buy the 5 oz. for $5 bags. I usually order 1 lb. bags of tea I like, and the small bags of tea I want to try for the first time.

@Applekid: I think what has happened with homeopathy is the same thing that chiropractics did. Which was to rebrand the name into a lifestyle, and totally remove what the actual belief system behind it was. For example, most people have no idea that 'straight' chirporactors believe that manipulating the spine can cure cancer. They just assumed they were some kind of physical therapist branch.

Homeopathy has done the same thing. They have rebranded themselves as 'holistic' or 'natural'. They rarely talk about 'water memory' anymore to justify their dilution into oblivion. Most people now associate homeopathy as just another term for holistic medicine.

@DoktorGoku: I'd tell them to snort the water and see if they feel better! :)

@discounteggroll: Who knows! Heck that crazy cult in Japan, the people were drinking the leader's pee for healing properties! I would not be surprised if some cult, somewhere, was selling a leader's used Kinoki foot pads as a topical remedy :P

@satoru:

Indeed.

The thing is that the straight chiropractors are much more easily found in my area than the reform or "mixer" variety.

I don't doubt that back misalignment can cause back pain. I do doubt that it cures premature ejaculation.

Whadyu mean it's not working?

Note to self: Cancel chiropractor appointment.

@discounteggroll: SOMEONE screwed up the audio track on that one. ;) Either that or whoever's doing the voiceover track went on an eight-day crack bender.

My (now-former) boss actually asked about those pads before. I wonder if there's any actual science behind the pads whatsoever, although as soon as I saw "continuity program" that pretty much let me know that no, in fact, those pads will never work.

Ugh when will people learn that weight loss products are ALL scams? There's just one way to go: eat well and move your rear end. Simple as that.

And as a big fan of fine teas... Guh. F them. Bullshit. IT'S TEA!

Remember to always read the fine print: "Results will vary. Not approved by the FDA." Hint!!

@satoru: Great point. It's really just clever marketing that preys on peoples' ignorance of what they're actually receiving and how science works. I also think that the chiros, homeopaths, naturopaths, and other quacks have sort of tapped into this larger sense among the public of paranoia, distrust, and dissatisfaction with the scientific medical establishment. Americans are losing faith in all kinds of institutions right now according to polls (probably because this country has been rapidly going down the tubes lately). The quacks feed into people's fears and distrust of doctors to sell their products. Most of the people I know that fall for this kind of thing are always ranting about "Big Pharma" and various conspiracy theories re: doctors.

@AnderBobo: It would be great if we had an "opt-in" world instead of an "opt-out" one.

@aristan: I've read the same about oolong tea... and green tea too.

Homeopathy works, and works wonderfully. It's the practitioner's skill that is the pivot point in the equation. Half assed wanna be practittioner, zero results. Skilled practitioner, magical results. The actual quacks are "MDs" and hospitals. Wow. I thought every living human being had matured enough to grasp this simple fact. I guess it just proves the above observation that people resist education at every possible turn.

(shaking head)

Wow.

As to 'weight loss' ... it's like cancer. EVERYBODY is different. There are a zillion reasons for cancer plus ten thousand yet unknown. Just as there are illimitable 'reasons' for the accumulation for too much body fat. Every-freaking-body is different. There is no magic bullet.

Tell you what, let me put you in touch with a couple of outstanding litigating attorneys I know who work class action suits against "Big Pharma" and medical malpractice and you read just a small portion of the Discovery in just a copule of cases and then have an opinion.

Sweet Babbling Buddha, the world is upside down, inside out and backwards.

@drjayphd: The pads are total crock. They turn brown mostly because they just collect all the loose skin and dirt that's naturally on your feet. If you use it daily it gets less and less brown, because there are fewer dead skin cells because you keep ripping them off nightly. They also have a chemical in the pads that turns it brown from sweat to make it even more exaggerated.

@BlackFlag55: Homeopathy violates well-established laws of physics and chemistry. It cannot work, unless you believe in supernatural magic or you believe that physics and chemistry have everything wrong.

@BlackFlag55: The only time homeopathy had any real value was in the middle ages. Where drinking the local water was pretty much a one way ticket to parasite central and a microbial death trap. So diluting it significantly was basically a good thing since the water was pretty contaminated with bad stuff to begin with. Basically they were making distilled water. It's the same reason beer and fresh spring water were equated with good health back then. Today unless you're in a 3rd world country, water is pretty much contaminant free as can be. When you don't have clean water, wonderful things like Guinea Worm and River Blindness happen (which incidentally are really really bad, especially the former!)

Homeopathy violates well-established laws of physics and chemistry.

And on this blog, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

@44 in a Row: I think the comments section definitely makes a case for entropy! As further down the comments you go, entropy and chaos increase exponentially! :)

This video more or less covers everything people need to know about homeopathy.

@satoru: Of course in America, our drinking water has so many pharmaceuticals in it if you dilute your medications with it, you're actually making them stronger.

What can I say? Machina?

In my experimental psych class, the prof. was lecturing about pseudopsychological research and illustrated the various bad science and suggestive statements in pseudo-psych by bringing in a weight loss ad for Apple Cider Vinegar pills from the back of Cosmo, asking us to highlight the various devices used to (falsely) appear scientific (appeal to authority, anecdotal evidence, etc.) When we were finished, she mentioned that she'd given this lecture every semester for a few years, and every year at least one student would ask her privately afterwards, "Yeh, but does it really work, and if it does, do you know if this promotion is still good?"

Since she was my adviser, while she was signing off on my graduation application last month, I asked if anyone from my class had asked about the apple cider vinegar pills this year. She laughed and said a few.

@B: The study that the AP did showed that pharmaceutical particles in the drinking water was in the 1 part per billion or even in the trillion range. Basically they had to go looking, and look really really hard to even find these things. At that range you would have to process all the water a large city does in a year, and you'd probably get only 1 pill out of it.

@satoru: Stop ruining my jokes with your facts.

The tea is only $3.00 for a box of 100 packets at a Chinese supermarket like Ranch 99.

@BlackFlag55: OK, I'm big on alternative medicines, and I even see a chiropractor regularly (though he's not deluded enough to believe he can cure cancer, but you'd be amazed to see what he can do and has done), but homeopathy? Do you really believe that the more you dilute something, the more effective it gets? Seriously?

Hey, you should give me a call sometime. I've got some land in Florida that would be just perfect for your retirement property. Oh, and you might also be interested in this bridge in Brooklyn...