Internet Marketer Settles in Colorado

DENVERColorado Attorney General (AG) John Suthers announced the settlement of a case brought against Arvada, Colo.-based Nutra Pills and its owner Joshua D. Bezoni, to bring the company into compliance with consumer protection laws and reimburse consumers who purchased the companys products. Nutra Pills, which also did business as Golf Nutrition Sciences (GNS), was charged with using free-to-pay conversion marketing to enroll customers in ongoing payments for products they believed they were signing up for a free trial offer to receive various dietary supplements. Instead, there were additional charges for the free trial offer, and the customers received a two-month supply that cost $80 per shipment, with auto-renewal, unless the customers shipped back the products.

More than 1,000 consumers filed complaints about the companys marketing; in the past year, since Colorado opened the case, Nutra Pills has refunded nearly $9 million to consumers and ceased doing business. Our office and our partners at the Better Business Bureau receive thousands of complaints every year concerning free-to-pay conversion schemes, Suthers said. Consumers should always beware of any offer that purports to be free. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Under terms of the settlement, Bezoni and his businesses are prohibited from marketing free products unless they are free and not part of a free-to-pay conversion plan. He is also banned from enrolling consumers into continuity plans unless the plan terms are disclosed clearly, and must obtain express authorization from consumers for all charges associated with the initial transaction. In addition, Bezoni and Nutra Pills were fined $100,000, half of which is suspended for five years barring any violation of the settlement. The company must also reimburse all consumers who filed complaints since December 2006, and all consumers who requested but were denied refunds since December 2008.