FTC Mails Dietary Supplement Refund Checks

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently issued refunds for consumers who bought Nopalea, Acai Pure and Colotox, stemming from two different dietary supplements settlements. The agency has begun mailing out the refund checks, and eligible consumers should be expecting to receive their portion of the settlement in the mail soon.

Nopalea Dietary Supplement Settlement

About 500,000 settlement checks are being mailed by the FTC to consumers who paid for TriVita Inc.’s dietary supplement Nopalea. According to the FTC’s dietary supplement lawsuit, TriVita falsely advertised their cactus-based fruit drink Nopalea as a treatment for multiple health problems.

The TriVita product was advertised on TV infomercials as an effective treatment for pain from arthritis, fibromyalgia, swollen joints, stiff muscles, surgery, skin conditions like psoriasis, breathing problems, sinus infections, among other maladies, according to the Nopalea dietary supplement class action lawsuit.

Furthermore, the Nopalea advertisements allegedly claimed that scientific studies proved that TriVita’s dietary supplement reduces users’ pain and inflammation, scientific evidence the FTC claims that TriVita did not have and could not provide to support their Nopalea advertisement claims.

In order to settle the FTC’s allegations, TriVita has agreed to pay $3.5 million to refund consumers for their Nopalea purchases. The Nopalea dietary supplement settlement also requires the company to perform randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human clinical tests on covered products before making similar marketing claims of pain and inflammation relief in the future.

Acai Pure and Colotox Dietary Supplement Settlement

In the wake of the Acai Pure and Colotox dietary supplement settlement, an administrator working in cooperation with the FTC is in the process of mailing out 316,716 checks to eligible consumers who purchased Central Coast Nutraceuticals Inc.’s dietary supplements Acai Pure and Colotox. Individual settlement checks are expected to average $18.74 per Class Member.

This settlement stems from a deceptive advertising lawsuit filed against the Phoenix-based CCN in August 2010, lodging several allegations against the dietary supplement company, including charges of unfair billing practices and false advertising of CCN’s popular Acai Pure, an acai-berry weight-loss product, and their colon cleansing and aid preventing supplement Colotox.

The FTC’s false advertisement lawsuit against CCN alleges that two individuals and five related CCN companies deceived consumers into buying Acai Pure by falsely marketing it as a supplement that causes rapid and substantial weight loss for users. Furthermore, the complaint claims that CCN made advertisement claims that their colon cleansing dietary supplement Colotox could help consumers prevent colon cancer.

Finally, the FTC also alleged that CCN misrepresented its “free” trial periods, or their special introductory price trials, as well as its free refund on request policies, as the company allegedly made repeated, unauthorized charges to consumers’ credit or bank accounts. These unfair billing practices allegedly resulted in consumers paying full price for the Acai Pure and Colotox products, usually ranging from $39.95 to $59.95.

In addition to paying $1.5 million to establish a settlement fund, the Acai Pure and Colotox settlement prohibits CCN from engaging in “negative-option” sale. Negative-option sales include continuity plans or free/introductory low price trial package that allow consumers to pay little to nothing to start using CCN’s dietary supplement products, only to later automatically charge consumers credit cards or bank accounts unless the product was returned before the end of the trial period or they cancelled the shipment.

CCN will also be prohibited from making deceptive marketing statements about the effectiveness and abilities of their dietary supplements.

Class Members of the Acai Pure and Colotx settlement may soon be receiving their settlement checks in the mail soon.

UPDATE: In August 2017,  the FTC started mailing a second round of Nopalea refund checks worth more than $791,000. If you have a question about your payment, please call 1-888-289-0252.