LeCig

BBB Warning: Direct E-Cig
‘Free’ offer can be a real drag


Complaints piling up at the BBB



Little Rock, Arkansas, March 30, 2011 - Consumers who tried to take advantage of “free” Internet offers for smokeless cigarettes say they were burned by unexpected charges that totaled $100 or more, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns.

Customers from 44 states have filed more than 360 complaints against Direct E-Cig of Naples, Fla., and London, England, in the last year. Some of the complaints are from Arkansas.

Direct E-Cig has an “F” grade with the BBB, the lowest grade possible. This is largely due to the fact that Direct E-Cig failed to answer 170 of the complaints.

“The complaints point to a significant and ongoing pattern of problems with Direct E-Cig,” said Janet Robb, President/CEO Better Business Bureau of Arkansas. “In most cases, consumers say they ordered what they thought was a free starter kit, only to find out later that the company billed their credit cards for $100, $200, or more. The cigarettes may be smokeless, but there is no question that a lot of customers felt they were watching their hard-earned dollars go up in smoke.”

On its website, Direct E-Cig calls its product “a revolutionary electronic smoking device designed as a great smoking alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes.” The site says smokers can smoke “virtually anywhere, without the flame, ash, tar or carbon monoxide.”

Direct E-Cig is among several distributors of smokeless cigarettes. Other companies also offer free or discounted starter kits and then bill customers for the full price or enroll them in an ongoing program to receive cartridge refills and other products.

In response to some of the complaints, Direct E-Cig told the BBB its website notes that consumers must go through a cancellation process within 15 days “to avoid being billed the full price of the kit of $109.95 and future monthly shipments.” Several consumers said they received direct email solicitations from the company and never saw the cancellation policy.

Even if consumers are dissatisfied with the product and follow the return policy exactly, it appears that the so-called free trial offer will end up costing them money. The website notes that Direct E-Cig charges $7.50 for each opened or missing cartridge and a $10 restocking fee on all returns.

One complaint was from a woman who was searching the Internet for aids to help her quit smoking when she came upon a glowing review for Direct E-Cig on what she thought was an independent consumer site – Consumer Guide USA. She has since learned that the site does Internet marketing for Direct E-Cig. She said she used her credit card to pay $4.95 shipping for what she thought was a free sample of the product, but later noticed charges on her card totaling $179. She is now working with the BBB to get the issue resolved. She called the product “a piece of c**p” that did not ease her smoking craving. “What scares me more than anything is they have my credit card number.”

Another complaint was from a man who thought he signed up for the $4.95 trial offer after his son forwarded him an email about Direct E-Cig. He said he was stunned when his credit card later was billed more than $100 for the kit. “I wasn’t satisfied and I told them that, but they didn’t seem to want to listen.”

One woman said “I will never order anything over the Internet again” after a similar experience with Direct E-Cig.

The highest number of complaints about Direct E-Cig have come from Texas (28 complaints), California (27), Illinois and Florida (26 each), New York (24) and Ohio (23). At least 3 complaints have come from Arkansas.

A warning in small print on the Direct E-Cig website notes that “This product contains nicotine, a highly addictive substance. It has not been approved by the FDA as a smoke cessation device.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers about potential health risks associated with electronic cigarettes. The FDA has said the products can increase nicotine addiction among young people and may lead them to try other tobacco products including conventional cigarettes.

The BBB offers the following advice for consumers who are considering taking advantage of free or low-cost trial offers for smokeless cigarettes or other products:

Be very cautious of committing to trial offers, especially when you are asked to supply credit card information. Often, these offers require you to pay the full price for the product or automatically enroll you in an ongoing program as soon as the trial period is over.
Consumers often report difficulty canceling their agreements, even if they try to follow all requirements.
Understand that, in some cases, these companies can supply your contact information to other businesses.
For more information, please visit: United States and Canada BBB Consumer and Business Reviews, Reports, Ratings, Complaints and Accredited Business Listings





SOURCE:
http://www.enewsbuilder.net/bbbarkan...kP3kn,blRjWgVQ

LeCig

Hey mods can we add this to the list of scam companies?

Teri

And Hall of Shame!!!

berger

we ought to start a rip off report thread for predatory ecig companies..make it a stickey..charge big bucks to get your name removed....Ohh sorry...got a little carried away on the last part...

Seriously though, we should start one and call it "dont buy an ecig until you read this" unless somebody has a better idea what might show up in Google rankings better??
maybe catch someone before they do make a purchase

quasimod

It would probably help some people, berg. Most people will still ignore good advice and blunder ahead anyway, because that's how people are. Still, that's no reason not to help those that CAN be helped.

I can't tell you how many posts I've read like this: "Hey, this is my first post here, I did a lot of research, and read all your advice yesterday between 7pm and 7:20pm, and decided to buy the $300 Ripola Deluxe Kit from Dewy Cheatem! It comes with TWO batteries! What do you guys think?

* sigh *

berger

Needs a title to cut straight through to the chase..something google would index right..lots of stuff from here shows up in google searches......hmmmm

quasimod

Electronic Cigarette (E-Cig) Companies: Liars, Rip-Offs, Cheats, and Swindles

How not to get burned buying your first electronic cigarette, or e-cig

It would be tough to make and maintain a list of reputable companies that don't have ridiculous markups (define ridiculous markup, I dare ya), but that's what most noobs are looking for. "Hey, what's the best e-cig?" How many times have you heard that? They want to Google "Best E-Cig" and get an instant answer like "Brand "X" is the best, and Company "Z" sells 'em the cheapest".

quasimod

Electronic Cigarette (E-Cig) Rip-Offs, Scams, Cheats, Liars, and Swindlers

I put "scam" in there.

quasimod

What would be the criteria for "the best" e-cig for a noob to buy? Some sort of rating system based on:

Cost
Performance
Ease of Use
Reliability
Size? (they all want to find a toothpick that gives awesome vape)

That's a tough thing to quantify. It's also off-topic, sorry.

LeCig

Good idea Berger, that would stop and make people think twice if the type in Free trial into google and find the link ...

Steampunk

Tags, my friends! Tags. See below...

RY4

Yup.....

RY4

Tag... Your it!

Dhileas

What was it you kept saying all the time Steam? Something about free offers... oh I can't recall.

On a side note, I've come to see we all have are particular qualms in the PV industry that we consistently preach. Steam with his anti-free offers, my anti-proprietary batteries, and even Grimm Green who overtly prefers cartomizers. I wonder if there's something to that, that can be useful for new vapers or even veteran vapers.

Steampunk

You mean, FREE OFFERS AREN'T!! ?

or FREE OFFERS SUCK!!! ?

or NEVER EVER go for a FREE OFFER ecig

quasimod

Hi, this is my first post. I read what you said about free offers, so I gave my credit card number to a spammer from my "trash" email folder and ordered one for me, my dad, my mom, and my cousin. They say it should be delivered in 6 to 8 months, and I have a 30 minute money-back guarantee. So, what do you guys think of "The FaceRaper" brand ecig? I think it's awesome. It has a red flame logo on it. That's cool.

billsrcursed

I lol'd @ "The FaceRaper"... well done.

Google brought me here when I was doing my research, so it wouldn't hurt to pump up a "scam" or "beware of" thread.

Dhileas

Trust me, Steam's already got one up. I can't remember where it is exactly though, and I'm too tired to look.

Pleidius

I guess I was one of the lucky ones, all it cost me was the 4.95 shipping and about 4.00 for a padded envelope to return it and postage. They waived the "restocking fee" and the charge for used carts.

Dodged the bullet by jumping through all the hoops before the trial was over

Has anyone else noticed the java generated links on pages that link the key words ecig or ecigarette to either directecig or one of the 'news report' or 'consumer review' funnel sites they use? I only see it when I use Chrome, but not with IE(so far)

berger

google is evil..

Steampunk

ROFLMAO!!!!! I went to Google and typed in "Free e cig trial ripoff" to see if the tags caught, and this is what came up:

Google
free e cig trial ripoff

1.
Free Electric Vapor Kit - Sign up today for your Free Trial.
Supplies are limited. #1 Rated.
24-7pressrelease.com/News►

HiRezL

Have we made Dhileas' new vaper recommendations sticky yet? I think that's a very good list to start people out without them spending an arm and a leg or getting crap that doesn't work . . . although it doesn't funnel any customer's to Mike

berger

yes was already done

Pleidius

anyone notice that the limited time offer always ends 'tomorrow'??

Steampunk

Or "this offer is only good for the next ten minutes, so CALL NOW!"

And then they run the ad every 15 minutes...