Laura Keith was on the internet one day when a website caught her eye. It was a free trial for weight loss product called Acai Elite. It came with a risk free trial or so she thought.
"I don't do it. Ever. I never try this stuff. I'll try it once and cancel after, no big deal," Laura said.
It's turned into a big deal. She cancelled the product and was given an address in China to send it back too. But she got charged on her Visa. And every month since -- a new charge -- from different companies she's never even signed up with.
When we checked the internet -- there are pages of people with the same problems involving the same companies.
The Better Business Bureau's Lynda Pasecreta says "it's popping up everywhere."
She says before you buy anything on line there is some checking to do.
"Is there an address on the website, is there a legitimate phone number?" she asked. "Phone the telephone number."
In the case of these companies there were no addresses, and no phone numbers red flags that mean don't buy. And one other thing we found in the fine print. The free trial starts on the day you order, not the day you receive the product. That's 15 days from the order date you get charged the full price -- and they keep charging you. The BBB says getting refunds has been tough.
Laura contacted TD Visa her credit card company and was told she had to contact each company individually even though she only ordered a free trial from one of them. Laura has sent dozens of e-mails but the charges haven't been reversed and new ones keep coming.
'[I am] pretty upset with myself that I fell into it too," she said.
After we contacted the credit card company TD Visa told us it's been able to stop the charges and has reimbursed Laura all the money plus interest. TD Visa says it's "looking into why the charges continued to go through to try to prevent this type of thing from happening again."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen
