Natural or Herbal Weight Loss Drugs and Supplements - Contaminated and Dangerous!
Have you considered taking so-called natural or herbal weight loss drugs or supplements? You may not be aware that not all weight loss pills are considered safe, much less effective. That's been true for many years, but beginning in late 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called attention to 28 brands of weight loss drugs that are considered dangerous.
Why are they dangerous? Because they are contaminated with materials that are not tolerated by the human body and may cause debilitating side effects, even death. Those ingredients are undeclared, meaning, the packaging doesn't mention them. They may be counterfeit. They all claim to be "herbal" or "natural" and because they are considered "dietary supplements," they don't fall under the FDA approval process.
The FDA has determined most, if not all of these so called "natural" or herbal weight loss supplements, are manufactured in China. The dangerous ingredients include sibutramine, rimonabant, phenytoin, and phenolphthalein. These illegal weight loss drugs contain at least one, and sometimes more than one of these ingredients.
Sibutramine is a controlled substance, and is found in Meridia which has been approved to be sold in the United States by prescription. However, the amounts found in the illegal drugs and supplements are up to three times the amount found in Meridia. Because of the high levels of sibutramine, those who take any of these illegal versions may be subject to increased blood pressure, tachycardia, palpitations, or seizures.
Rimonabant is a drug that has not been approved in the United States, and has been responsible for a handful of deaths in other parts of the world. It has not been approved because it has been found to cause increased risk of neurological and psychiatric side effects - seizures, depression, anxiety, insomnia, aggressiveness, and suicidal thoughts among patients.
Phenolphthalein used to be found in laxatives until it was removed from them in the late 1990s when it was found to be a carcinogen (meaning, causes cancer) and was also found to be responsible for changes in DNA.
Phenytoin is found only in trace amounts in some of these illegal supplements. It has been used in the manufacture of Dilantin which is an approved anti-seizure drug, but which is not indicated for those who do not have seizures.
The FDA makes it clear that since natural or herbal weight loss drugs are considered to be "dietary supplements" they do not fall under the FDA's purview. You can check the most current list of banned weight loss drugs at the FDA website.
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm
Positive Change Hypnosis
Showing posts with label Diet Pills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diet Pills. Show all posts
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Top 3 Chargeback Disputes for Banks
First of all, what is a Chargeback? A Chargeback is simply a way of disputing a transaction on your debit or credit card. Let’s go into a little more detail…
When a customer uses their debit or credit card to purchase merchandise or service from a company, for various reasons, the cardholder may feel like the charge is not warranted or invalid. For example, maybe the cardholder canceled the service and is still being charged. Maybe the cardholder is disputing the charge because they ordered merchandise or a service and hasn’t received it. Or maybe the merchandise or service that the cardholder received is not what the merchant said it would be or how they were told it would work.
Whatever the case may be, the cardholder ultimately feels like they have been wronged and they are not making any progress with resolving the issue directly with the merchant. When this happens, the cardholder often calls their bank or credit card company and disputes the charge directly with their bank by requesting to have it removed. In return the cardholders bank files what is called a Chargeback, meaning that they go directly through Visa or Mastercard to take back the money from the merchant. Visa or Mastercard notifies the merchant that “Mr. or Mrs. Cardholder” has a transaction showing up from your company, which you are not entitled to because X, Y, and Z.
In most cases the cardholder gets a temporary credit refund for the transaction while the cardholders bank battles it out with the merchant behind the scenes.
Moving forward, since this blog is not really about Chargebacks, but rather it is about the top 3 Chargeback reasons based on a 3-year evaluation, let’s get into what the top 3 Chargeback reasons are. This information is provided directly from Bank of America.
Workout Centers: Most of these disputed charges result from workout centers continuing to charge customer after they have canceled their membership. Be careful to read your workout center or gym membership contract very closely. Even if you win the Chargeback and get your money back from your bank, the merchant still has a right to sue you in court for a breach of contract. Remember that filing a claim in small claims court is not very expensive. And if you owe the merchant enough, they may just do that.
Diet Pills/Weight loss Supplements: Besides being disputed for not working, the big issue here is that many customers dispute charges because they signed up for what they thought was a free trial. Many of these company’s Auto Ship products if you do not cancel. And customers wind up being charged upwards of $50 - $100 for additional items that they did not order. In addition, many companies charge you for the trial product after the trial period. In most cases even returning an item WILL NOT get you a refund. They want your money + they have your card number = you will get charged!
Electronic Cigarettes: Besides being another “Free Trial” company to watch out for, many people simply dispute charges from these companies because the items don’t work. They are usually defective in that they don’t hold a charge or simply malfunction. They also Auto Ship products if you do not cancel and in many cases, even if you do cancel. Good luck getting any kind of refund for items that have been returned.
And there you have it, the 3 most disputed reasons for requesting a refund from a credit card company or bank. But don’t take our word for it…call your bank or credit card company, ask them about “free trials” or the other items that we mentioned here.
Just a quick side note: ironically, during this 3-tear evaluation, we couldn’t find one case where a customer was requesting a refund from a hypnosis company. Sort of makes you scratch your head and wonder…if all these other items and gimmicks work so well, why are people canceling and wanting their money back?
http://www.positivechangehypnosis.net/
When a customer uses their debit or credit card to purchase merchandise or service from a company, for various reasons, the cardholder may feel like the charge is not warranted or invalid. For example, maybe the cardholder canceled the service and is still being charged. Maybe the cardholder is disputing the charge because they ordered merchandise or a service and hasn’t received it. Or maybe the merchandise or service that the cardholder received is not what the merchant said it would be or how they were told it would work.
Whatever the case may be, the cardholder ultimately feels like they have been wronged and they are not making any progress with resolving the issue directly with the merchant. When this happens, the cardholder often calls their bank or credit card company and disputes the charge directly with their bank by requesting to have it removed. In return the cardholders bank files what is called a Chargeback, meaning that they go directly through Visa or Mastercard to take back the money from the merchant. Visa or Mastercard notifies the merchant that “Mr. or Mrs. Cardholder” has a transaction showing up from your company, which you are not entitled to because X, Y, and Z.
In most cases the cardholder gets a temporary credit refund for the transaction while the cardholders bank battles it out with the merchant behind the scenes.
Moving forward, since this blog is not really about Chargebacks, but rather it is about the top 3 Chargeback reasons based on a 3-year evaluation, let’s get into what the top 3 Chargeback reasons are. This information is provided directly from Bank of America.
Workout Centers: Most of these disputed charges result from workout centers continuing to charge customer after they have canceled their membership. Be careful to read your workout center or gym membership contract very closely. Even if you win the Chargeback and get your money back from your bank, the merchant still has a right to sue you in court for a breach of contract. Remember that filing a claim in small claims court is not very expensive. And if you owe the merchant enough, they may just do that.
Diet Pills/Weight loss Supplements: Besides being disputed for not working, the big issue here is that many customers dispute charges because they signed up for what they thought was a free trial. Many of these company’s Auto Ship products if you do not cancel. And customers wind up being charged upwards of $50 - $100 for additional items that they did not order. In addition, many companies charge you for the trial product after the trial period. In most cases even returning an item WILL NOT get you a refund. They want your money + they have your card number = you will get charged!
Electronic Cigarettes: Besides being another “Free Trial” company to watch out for, many people simply dispute charges from these companies because the items don’t work. They are usually defective in that they don’t hold a charge or simply malfunction. They also Auto Ship products if you do not cancel and in many cases, even if you do cancel. Good luck getting any kind of refund for items that have been returned.
And there you have it, the 3 most disputed reasons for requesting a refund from a credit card company or bank. But don’t take our word for it…call your bank or credit card company, ask them about “free trials” or the other items that we mentioned here.
Just a quick side note: ironically, during this 3-tear evaluation, we couldn’t find one case where a customer was requesting a refund from a hypnosis company. Sort of makes you scratch your head and wonder…if all these other items and gimmicks work so well, why are people canceling and wanting their money back?
http://www.positivechangehypnosis.net/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
