Medifast - Take Shape For Life - Weight Loss Pills Maker in Trouble

A Utah company that offered "free trials" of a weight loss pill to consumers but buried a clause in its fine print about $99.95 in hidden charges is being taken to task by Attorney General Jay Nixon. Nixon filed a lawsuit Thursday (Jan. 10) against Steel Bridge Medical LLC of Salt Lake City, alleging the company misrepresented to consumers that the "free trial" of Lipoplex would only cost $6.95 in shipping and handling and failing to adequately notify that signing up for the offer meant automatically signing up for nearly $100 in additional charges.

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Nixon says that from at least Dec. 2006 through July 2007, Steel Bridge Medical advertised the "free trials" of Lipoplex, an herbal dietary supplement that the company claims will induce weight loss, on the Internet at lipoplex.com. The sites' order pages referred to a "Free Trial Offer" for an order of the pills, with a line reading "Your credit card will be billed $6.95" for shipping and handling. If they chose to do so, consumers could visit the defendant's "Terms and Conditions" by clicking on a hyperlink. Read more...

Comments: It's not enough to be deceptive in marketing weight loss and diet pills by making promises of weight loss, but to add an additional charge of almost a hundred dollars ($99.95) if they don't cancel within 14 days really goes to far - legally and ethically. Unsuspecting dieters continue to shell out money for the hope of easy weight loss, and continue to lack the understanding that only a few lifestyle changes can make all the difference. What The Health & Wellness Institute has found over the years, and is based on statistical analysis, is that soft drinks and fast food make up the bulk of the weight (no pun intended) of the problem. That is, taking the total number of gallons of soft drinks sold by just Coca-Cola and Pepsi divided by the number of Americans, provides a caloric number that makes soft drinks the #1 responsible item for contributing to the overweight and obesity epidemic. Figuring the amount of fast food sold - from all hamburger and fries outlets - and using the same calculation, fast food comes in second with the understanding that this is just a bit broader category yet still carries the same weight of responsibility. With these two eliminated (diet or not for soft drinks) in favor of water and healthier choices - fruits and vegetables and/or lean protein sources, with less fat and salt - a dieter can see weight loss results and a healthier body in a short period of time (12 weeks is a good time to allow). It's worth the change to see the results, with some dieters reporting weight loss of 50 or more pounds just on the soft drink change alone.