Friday, October 31, 2008

Those Free Hoodia Trials May Not Be What You Think

By Reagan Miers

Who doesn't like free stuff? I know the popularity of free hoodia samples is very tempting to people. After all, hoodia is fast becoming one of the top weight loss supplements available. Who wouldn't want a free sample of an all natural weight loss supplement that has virtually no side effects?

There are so many companies making hoodia that it's only a given that many of them would offer free hoodia samples to consumers. They hope people will like their samples so much that they will come back to them and make future purchases. It sounds like a win-win deal for both consumers and companies.

Yet, there is an ugly side to free hoodia samples that you need to know about. With some people reporting that nearly 80% of the hoodia being sold are actually fakes, trying these products probably won't do you any good! Only hoodia products that are made with authentic hoodia gordonii work to suppress the appetite. Trying free samples of an inferior or fake product can make you believe that all hoodia doesn't work - and that's not true.

Before you enter into these free hoodia trials, you need to make sure that what you are getting is authentic. Since most hoodia diet pills are fake, you need to know what to look for to avoid being scammed. While there are several things to look for before you accept these free hoodia samples, the two most important are CITES certificates and independent lab test results.

To legally export hoodia gordonii from its native country of South Africa, companies must obtain CITES certificates. Without one, companies are not allowed to export hoodia gordonii from South Africa. Companies that have purchased authentic hoodia from South Africa will display their CITES certificates to prove their product is the real deal. They will also go a step further and have their hoodia randomly tested by independent labs that verify the plant's authenticity.

Displaying CITES certificates and lab test results is how genuine companies convey to consumers that the hoodia products being sold on their sites are indeed authentic. If you visit a website offering free hoodia samples and you can't locate their CITES certificates or lab test results, you are probably looking at a company that doesn't use authentic hoodia gordonii in their supplements. Getting free hoodia samples from these sites is just a waste of time on your part. They won't work.

Often times when you agree to accept free hoodia samples you are the one paying for the shipping and handling. Some free hoodia samples come with a twist, too. If you don't do certain things after you receive your free sample, some companies will sign you up to be automatically shipped their hoodia products - and you may be billed for your original "free" samples.

An autoship program is where the company will automatically ship you a 1-2 month supply of their product every other month or so and charge you accordingly. These autoship programs aren't necessarily bad. In fact, they can be very convenient and cost effective. You don't have to worry about reordering and running out of supply, and you usually get a discounted price on the product.

The key with these free hoodia trials is knowing how easy it is to cancel the trial and to prevent being enrolled in the autoship program if you don't like the product (or to cancel the autoship program once you're enrolled in it). Most of these offers would have you believe it's easy to cancel. Unfortunately, that's not usually the case.

There are countless individuals who have found their credit is ruined because they naively agreed to receive free hoodia samples. Many of these people didn't know they were going to be autoshipped anything in the future. When they would try to cancel out of the program, they were unable to get in touch with anyone, or their requests to quit were ignored. Yet, month after month their credit card is billed.

You need to do your due diligence before agreeing to these offers by reading the fine print. If you read the terms and conditions, you will see a telephone number or an email address to use when you want to cancel. Before you accept these free hoodia samples, you should call the number to see if you can reach a live person. If you do, ask them questions about the offer and get a feel for the company.

You should do the same with any email addresses that are given to you. Send out an email to the address to see if you get a personal response from someone. Did they answer your questions? Did they get back to you in a timely fashion? If you can't reach a live person, or if your emails are ignored, forego the free hoodia trial. It probably isn't worth the hassle you may find yourself in down the road.

These free hoodia trials can be a smart way to try hoodia without spending a lot of money, but you need to be careful before you hand over your credit card information. By following these simple guidelines you'll be able to find legitimate free hoodia samples that won't just empty your wallet!

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