Dermapril-SP Trial Experiences

[wvgal2dbone]

Copy of letter sent 3/01/09 to Dermapril marketing company Rauscher Bekke,LLC
 
Yes, I DEFINITELY WANT TO CANCEL ANY FURTHER SHIPMENTS OR BILLING S FROM YOU FOR THIS PRODUCT! 
My credit card was billed for $69.95 on 02/28/09,twenty (20) days after my order was placed on 02/08/09 which was 19 days after shipment on 02/09/09, and 15 days after my receipt of your product on  02/13/09.  I have, therefore, satisfied any obligation which I may have with your company.  My credit card company has been advised to not accept any further billings from you.
 
Unfortunately, I had not read any of the unfavorable blogs regarding your deceptive business practices until I discovered that you had billed my credit card the full "retail" charge for your supposed "free, no risk trial offer" before giving me an opportunity to determine if your product stands up to your claims. At no time during the ordering process, was I directed to observe the very small link to the "details of offer" at the bottom of your web page, primarily due to being obscured by the very large (in red) invitation to order now.
 
Whether I am satisfied with your product has nothing to do with my cancellation at this point.  I am cancelling because of your unethical and deceptive business practices.  I would think that if you wanted to stay in business for any length of time and develop a strong and continuing customer base, these tactics would be unnecessary.  Since you have chosen to conduct your business practice in such a fraudulent manner, I can only believe that your company and your product are not truthful, beneficial or worthy of the claims you make on your website.  I will not take the necessary time and expense it would require to prove whether or not your company and product are worthy of my business.  There are many other products on the market which contain the same ingredients and make the same claims whose marketing companies operate according to standard business practices, with moral and ethical integrity.
 
So, yes, I am outside your "free, no risk trial period" and thanks to the manner in which you managed to charge me a total of $75.90 for this "free" offer, I will not spend another cent with your company

[LH]

First I want to say that I have been using Dermapril for 30 days with GOOD RESULTS.  I have seen diminished lines.  I'm 45, so no major wrinkles, but I do have some.  Remember, there are NO miracle creams out there so results aren't going to happen quickly.  The website even states you should use for a min. of 3 months.  (I know this makes us purchase the cream longer.)  I have used Retin-A creams and they also state it takes a few months to see results.

What is irritating to read is how so many of you are upset about the 14-day free trail as being misleading.  You should never purchase ANYTHING w/o reading the T&C, bc all companies have to find ways to get our attention with free stuff.  The T&C clearly states that after 14-days you will be charged "...Plus, if you decide to keep the Dermapril-SP Anti-Aging System, you will receive FREE acceptance in Dermapril-SP Elite and will receive a fresh supply of the Dermapril-SP Anti-Aging System approximately every 30 days..."   So be careful about all the complaining, bc it is your fault for not reading all the fine print.

I was not finished with my 1st bottle when they shipped the 2nd, so I went to their website and adjusted my shipment interval to 60 days.    I am willing to try Dermapril for a few months and see how it works.  I don't expect a face lift from this product,, but at my age I'm trying to take good care of my face so when I'm 50 or 60 hopefully I will look younger.

[JaneStarr]

[I just typed out a long, thoughtful reply to this which seems to have gotten lost in cyberspace when I accidentally hit a key on this little laptop.  I apologize if this ends up being a duplicate post]

LH,
I feel that your criticism of the trusting folks on this board comes through as too harsh.  My elderly mom, for one, did try to read the Terms and conditions.  The problem, which I confirmed personally last July, was that they were not visible until AFTER you put in all your info to sign up.  Even so, Mom promptly jumped through all Rauscher-Bakke's hoops by calling immediately to cancel and mailing back the pump w/in the (unreasonable) proscribed time-frame.  Rauscher-Bakke, LLC did *Not* uphold their end of the deal.  They charged her credit card >$70 w/o authorization and then left it up to my mom to straighten out the charge.  American Express promptly reversed the charge.  This should indicate to you who was in the RIGHT on this transaction and who was wrong.

Everyone,
I ask you to look at the replies on this thread to judge for yourselves whether you  want to support this company and their business practices.  (Be sure to note whether you find any positive feedback from long-time posters to this forum.  I can tell you that *all* the PMs I have gotten on this subject have been overwhelmingly negative and not from members that signed up the same day only to post about this "remarkable" product.)

I am not saying that Rauscher-Bakke, LLC is engaging in illegal activity.  I believe they are very carefully walking that fine line to stay just on the right side of the law.  What I do say is that their ethics differ strongly from mine and that I choose not to support them in any way.

Jane in very snowy CT

[mady]

I will never buy this products,don't want then even for free.

[JaneStarr]

I'm in total agreement with you, Mady!

Look what I just found:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/dermapril-sp-c161384.html#c256308

More similar complaints.
Jane

[asiamom]

Good points Jane, I'm not risking dealing with this company.  There are plenty of other good skin care products manufactured by companies without such a dubious history.  And I definitely value the opinions of long time posters to this forum.

[faux]

could it be sheer coincidence that the 'satisfied customers' for this product are newbies with only one post?  i suspect not.  i saw this offer in an email, was mildly interested, began the signup when i realized it was a club.  i immediately rejected the 'free' offer and am very grateful, in spite of their insidious followup email as to why i didn't fall for it.

[Josh]

At the request of the management I'm now closing this thread.

I think we can all make up our minds as to whether we want to deal with this company or not and there's no need for more stories about them.

If you have dealt with this company and are not happy with any aspect of your experience, contact your local consumer advice bureau and seek their advice. Alternatively, contact your credit card provider and seek their assistance.

I have also been informed that some people have been emailing Skin Type Solutions support asking about this company or complaining about them. Please do not contact Skin Type Solutions about this matter as there is nothing anyone there can do to help you.

Thank you to all who have shared your experiences.

[Josh]

Hi everyone,

I've recently received a complaint about this thread from Dermapril, which I forwarded on to Roger Baumann.

We've decided to reopen this thread as it's felt that consumers should have a place to discuss these matters, and this is exactly what STS is for - consumer information about products, etc..,.

The fact remains there are an awful lot of people with a very similar complaint. One only has to visit here or Google "Dermapril complaint" to read the experiences of many others, all of which sound all-too-familiar.

Please stick to the facts only when making a post in this thread and please be mindful of how you word your post.

I will continue to monitor this thread and any posts which I feel have crossed-the-line will be edited or deleted.

I'd also like to invite Dermapril to respond to the issues raised in this thread. This, is your opportunity to state your side of the story and sort out some of the problems people have been experiencing.

[zegred]

Good for you.  I am happy that someone is looking deeper into this problem....and yes it is a VERY real problem.

Donna

[Josh]

I've just had to delete 2 posts which IMO were inappropriate.

I have asked this before, and I will ask it again. Please stick to the facts only about your experience. Sticking to the facts means listing everything you have done and everything the company has done and does not include using language which is libelous. Be mindful of how you word your posts or I may need to delete them.

Thank you.

[dustycat]

I Everyone! I was online researching H=Jane-C's skin care product when I tripped onto an advertisement stating that Dermapril-SP was better and further advances. I therefore checked Dermapril's complaints, which led me to this website. I want to thank the author of this website for extending this topic and all of you for posting. I had just finished filling out the online info for the 14-day free trial--Thank GOD I decided to research Dermapril before submitting my credit card.

As I am always on the prowl for the next best thing in skin care creams; this site will now be my first stop before ordering anything. Thanks again!

dustycat

[dustycat]

  Since everyone here is or has been looking for wrinkle cream can anyone tell me of a product that really works? Dermapril did sound appealing, but I did not order bc of all the bad comments. Surely,there must be something on the market that works. Money is no object.

dusty cat

[ironia]

retinoids and/or botox seem to be the best de-wrinklers available to us at the moment.

[pbwhite]

Hello:
I responded to the "use free for 2 week promotion.  I received the product, but I only had about 10 days in which to use the product before it had to be returned.  I used the product for 3 weeks on only one side of my face to see if it were really as effective as the ads promoted.  No one could guess that I was using the product on the side I was using it on!!  The other side of my face looked younger to everyone!  Needless to say, I cancelled the auto mailing program. 

Update to this thread - March 25, 2009

Hi everyone,

I've recently received a complaint about this thread from Dermapril, which I forwarded on to Roger Baumann.

We've decided to reopen this thread as it's felt that consumers should have a place to discuss these matters, and this is exactly what STS is for - consumer information about products, etc..,.

The fact remains there are an awful lot of people with a very similar complaint. One only has to visit here or Google "Dermapril complaint" to read the experiences of many others, all of which sound all-too-familiar.

Please stick to the facts only when making a post in this thread and please be mindful of how you word your post.

I will continue to monitor this thread and any posts which I feel have crossed-the-line will be edited or deleted.

I'd also like to invite Dermapril to respond to the issues raised in this thread. This, is your opportunity to state your side of the story and sort out some of the problems people have been experiencing.

Josh.


Original post:

Warning! Dermapril-SP --  Rip-off? Misleading advertising? "Free trial" Scam? You decide

Hope I can spare some of you a hassle.  I've spent the past couple of days helping my mom dispute a credit card charge for what was supposed to be a "risk-free" "14-day Free Trial" of Dermapril-SP Wrinkle Cream.  (Thank goodness she used her AmEx Plat. card.)

Mom ordered the free trial over the phone, giving her CC # to pay the ~$6 Shipping.  When the "free" pump of cream arrived, she saw in the paperwork that they had subscribed her to a monthly "auto-ship" program w/o notifying her. 

Mom did not like the cream nor the co's business practices, so she promptly called and canceled the subscription.  They required her to ship back the pump "even if it's empty" w/in 10 days of canceling.  Even though she did that back in May, a charge of $69.95 dated 6/18 appeared on her CC .

We finally (yesterday) got the company to give us a cancellation # (after being given a major "run-around") on the phone.  We had previously contested the charge with Am. Express. The company never denied having received the returned pump container.

The Dermapril-SP web-site isn't exactly forthright about the "free trial" program.  I poked around myself.  Their home page doesn't give any of the "fine print" details about the "free trial".  You have to put in all of your information before you even get to a page with any details. It turns out that they really make you jump through hoops to avoid being charged $69.95 plus S&H for the product. 

We finally (yesterday) got the company to give us a cancelation # after being given a major "run-around" on the phone and contesting the charge with Am. Express. 

I did a google search on this company  (Rauscher-Bakke, LLC) and Dermapril yesterday.  Amazingly, only a couple of complaints showed up.  Very odd thing is that I ran the same search today and I had trouble finding the complaints.  The google search engine seemed to be "flooded" with sponsored links and amazing claims for this product (EG: "The Top Five Reasons Dermapril-SP is the Best Skincream " "Dermapril-SP Earns Perfect Scores in Rigorous Dermatologic Safety Testing ")

Most of the "reviews" that come up seem to be thinly-disguised, sponsored links by the company --  some are well-disguised sounding "too good to be true". 

I had trouble finding much info about this company  online, although I did find a listing on the SE Florida Better Business Bureau site.  They (uncannily) are "A" rated with no complaints filed against them, although they have only been registered since May 07). This company is actually based out of Miami -- Dr. Leslie's home turf.

Have any of you ever done business with this company or tried their Dermapril-SP  anti-wrinkle cream? 
This feels to me an awful lot like the the StriVectin shady business practices that Leslie warned us about in her July 1 blog on Amatokin and Stem Cell Technology.
Something is just not right here.

Pasted-in below is the offer as listed on their home page and an (apparently objective) review:

"Free 14-day Free Trial"
We're so confident you'll love how well Dermapril-SP works, you can
try it RISK FREE...
Q. What is your return policy?
In the event that Dermapril-SP™is not for you, simply contact our customer-service group within 14 days of receiving your product. Return the unused portion (you can even return an empty Pump!) of your product for a full refund (less shipping & handling).

From Yesterday's Google search:
"Dermapril-sp Review: Decent product, bad business
One persons’ Dermapril experience:

How a company treats their customers reflects how you can trust their product. That is precisely why I do not trust Dermapril-sp. They do some shady things to their customers that are just plain bad ethics...I read through some reviews ...a woman who had used Dermapril-sp recently. She had a negative experience with the effectiveness of the Dermapril-sp and decided to return it. She had good looking skin before she started using the product but wanted to get rid of some problem spots by using the Dermapril-sp, but of course, it did not work for her.
The thing that she said though that really bother me was the following: She said that when she called in to cancel her auto-ship program, they offered to cut her price for the Dermapril-sp in half...Also the Dermapril-sp people manage to make it nearly impossible for customers to get a refund on their product...Aside from the shady business practices, Dermapril-sp seems to be a slightly less than average product"


Jane