The acai industry has been greatly discredited by the companies that offer the ubiquitous free trial scams. A recent decision by Visa to cut off the merchant accounts of over 100 acai free trial scammers was a ray of light to many, and legitimate acai sellers held high hopes.
Unfortunately this hope quickly turned into disappointment as new companies emerged and quickly took the place of those removed from the market. The end result is that has been no change in the number of acai free trial scams being offered. A search for acai berry free trial scam on Google.com results in many paid ads that are pushing these scam 'offers'.
Bryan Nettles, Director of Communications at Pure Acai Products, is one of the many legitimate retailers who has suffered as a result of these scams.
"It's difficult to run a business like Pure Acai Products when the public instantly distrust anything to do with your product. Acai is not all bad, and acai sellers are not all evil, but thanks to these scams the consumer only sees that side of the business."
Nettles continues to explain that Pure Acai Products noticed this problem a long time before the recent Visa announcement, and took steps to mitigate the situation.
"Unfortunately, even though we put very clear warnings about the scams on our Acai Berry Site website, we still hear stories from innocent customers who have been bitten."
There are some quick things ways to asses the legitimacy of an acai offer, explains Nettles:
"Firstly, anything offering a free trial is a scam. That's the long and short of it. Next you should check out if the business has any reputation in the Better Business Bureau or through consumer reporting websites. The quickest way to get these scams to stop is to prevent them from working: educating customers is clearly the most direct route to that end."
Unfortunately customer awareness initiatives like those on the Acai Berry Site are the exception to the rule. These legitimate businesses need a helping hand from organizations like payment processing companies, the BBB, or the Government.
About Acai Berry Site (http://acaiberrysite.com/)
Acai Berry Site is a source of information and acai products for consumers world-wide. The dual goals of educating the customer about acai, and providing a reliable and scam-free environment from which to purchase high-quality 100% pure acai products.
