Dermapril-SP Trial Experiences

[JaneStarr]

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

[SkinCareKev]

Thanks for the warning Jane.

-Kevin

[sudie]

Jane, thanks for the info.   I am glad you were there to help your Mom.  We sort of went through the same thing recently.   When we returned the item, the company had gone out of business!   Like your Mom we used credit card to pay for it and disputed it.   We have to really be careful, don't we?   It's great we have this forum to inform all of us!  Sue

[JaneStarr]

Look at this! I just put "Dermapril-SP Rip-off Scam" into google and this page came up but look at the sponsored link that also came up:

Sponsored Links
Hide Bad Business Reviews
Get Your Negative Press Off Search
Engine Results. Fight Bad Reviews.
www.eVisibility.com/Rep-Management

Think I need to edit my original post to include the word "Review" to get more Google hits.

Jane

[metro male]

Actually I did get my refund with no hassle. I shipped the product, and then went to their page and checked some box.

That being said, I returned it because after doing more research, I determined that the product is one of many containing Matrixyl 3000, and no where does it say how much it contains AND there are no other beneficial ingredients!! So if you want a Matrixyl 3000 cream, there are many other BETTER ones to choose from.

As for the auto bill, anytime a company sends you a "free for x amount of weeks" trial, there is always ALWAYS an auto pay attached to it that you are signed up for. It's a rotten practice, but it works so companies will keep doing it unfortunately.

[Jerseyshore]

I was glad to see your postings, since I was just browsing products, and saw the Dermapril offer. I started to fill in the "receive a free sample" info and decided it's not going to be any different than any products I am using. After deleting the info, I just received an e-mail from the site which I am posting here for you to see:

We noticed that you visited our site, but decided not to complete your risk-free trial order.

As a special offer today, we'd like to extend to you 75% off Shipping & Handling (pay just $1.50 instead of $5.95).

THAT TELLS ME TO STAY AWAY!!!!!

[aspenstar]

Thankfully your story came out worthwhile,. although you went through hell.
Anytime a free trial wants my cc# I refuse to participate.  I went through this same poop with some other company once before and learned my lesson then.  The policy that they tried to shove down your throat is a "contract by adhesion" and is pretty much illegal business practices. 

Thanks for the very needed reminder/lesson in shady companies.

[cathy54]

Just to add to the already posts comments. This company is shady. refused shipments from them, sent then back unopened, wrote cancel on the packages and they kept billing me. Contacted them by email and cancelled.  still they ship and bill.  Now they are hiding by saying the date I cancelled was after shipping or after billing cycle, bottom line. they will not and do not refund any money for any returned product. this is bad business at it's best. they ought to be put out of business. Also, their cream is nothing. Doesn't work even as a good moisturizer.

[Tim]

I was glad to see your postings, since I was just browsing products, and saw the Dermapril offer. I started to fill in the "receive a free sample" info and decided it's not going to be any different than any products I am using. After deleting the info, I just received an e-mail from the site which I am posting here for you to see:

We noticed that you visited our site, but decided not to complete your risk-free trial order.

As a special offer today, we'd like to extend to you 75% off Shipping & Handling (pay just $1.50 instead of $5.95).

THAT TELLS ME TO STAY AWAY!!!!!

[jackiem]

I use Dermapril and it is most definitely not a rip off. I've been using if for over 6 months and am very happy with the results. I can understand how you would think it's misleading advertising, but like any product or service, the advertiser is always trying to get the consumers attention. Once they've got us there, everything is explained and we make our own decision. I've had bad experiences in the past with different internet companies, but I have to say that not with Dermapril.

I'm in the market for a moisturizer for my elbows. Any ideas?

[KFoster]

I typically am always on-guard when it comes to automatic memberships, especially for unknown products, however I am honestly surprised at the benefits I received from signing up for the free trial with Dermapril. I was able to test the entire jar, basically for FREE, except for shipping costs. The only catch is that you MUST cancel the membership before the free trial ends. That's all! But after I cancelled, I actually signed up for the membership because this stuff really works! I've tried a lot more expensive anti aging creams and this one seems to be just as effective and at a much cheaper price.

[JaneStarr]

Posted in Below is an private email response to me about Dermapril.  Sue couldn't get it to post on the original thread and asked me to post.  (I noticed that the original thread is currently locked.  I also noticed that the positive comments about Dermapril were by newbies with no other posts before or after the reply to this topic.)  Here is Sue's reply:
dermapril
« Sent to: JaneStarr on: Today at 06:36:20 PM »

"I was trying to post about the fiasco with Dermapril but couldn't figure it out...so I thought I would email you. I had the same exact problem with them. Misleading advertising, I have just sent a letter to the Attorney General's Office in FL. I have also sent several emails to Dermapril 'cause I'm so damn frustrated. I even returned the tube, empty of course. It was all because I didn't read that I had 2 weeks...what company only gives you two weeks to try out a product anyway. I read too fast and now I'm damn pissed. My credit card company is dealing with them now. It seems that some people do get credited for their charges, but I'm sure after they see my name and remember my nasty emails they'll never refund my money... But all they have to do is get a couple of people a day and it's found money. I'm going to FL the end of the month, will be near where they are, gonna take a look at their supposed offices. Will keep you posted. Thanks for listening to my venting. You can post this if you want to."

[Josh]

I've unlocked the thread (I have no idea how that happened) and merged your new topic with this one Jane.

[Donna]

I was soo glad to c that I wasn't crazy.  Dermapril is a shady company!  I had bought two pumps..one to Mom in FLA and one to me.  Along w/the sample was the letter stating if you didn't send the pump back they will charge u.  I sent BOTH pumps back w/the long return numbers.  I was charged for 69.95 and 79.95 anyway!!  I called, trying not to freak.  The cust serv rep made the mistake of telling me that when the rec the box w/pump..they just looked at my address, cancelled my acct and threw the box out - not even opening the box to c the OTHER pump w/the OTHER address to cancel.  It took many emails and phone calls...they say they are crediting my card.  I am filing a complaint w/BBB and so should u - so they don't steal someone else's money.  SHAME ON DERMAPRIL!

[bcbcstage]

I would highly recommend to try the product longer. I've been using Dermapril-SP for over a year and a half. It definitely works. I originally purchased this product to reduce fine lines around my eyes and prevent future wrinkles. I focused on my eye area for about 6 months. The first few months, I didn't see much difference with the existing lines but I also noticed I was not getting worse with more lines. Within 6 months, the lines were less noticeable. I then started to apply it all over my face. About 3 days ago, I was looking in the mirror and noticed, I barely have any lines around my eyes and forehead. In fact, I have to look really close up in the mirror to see the fine lines. My skin is softer and firmer than ever before. I am 44 years old and I've always been concerned about wrinkles around my eyes and forehead. I've tried a lot of expensive products like La Mer, Revive and others and spent a fortune. Dermapril-Sp costs me much less and has delivered excellent results. I've dealt their customer service in the past to stop shipment as I was not using up the product as fast in the beginning. They promptly adhered to my request. I will be re-ordering real soon!