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Sprinkle some “magic” crystals on you food and magically lose weight? Sounds like a scam, yet thousands of consumers have bought Sensa, a weight-loss system that claims overweight consumers can lose 30 pounds or more simply by sprinkling its special weight-loss crystals on their food, all without dieting or exercise. Now a federal class action lawsuit is challenging these claims, alleging Sensa Products and Dr. Alan R. Hirsch are selling snake oil.
The Sensa class action lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of San Francisco, claims Dr. Hirsch and his company trick consumers into buying Sensa crystals by using marketing claims not backed by scientific proof.
According to its sales pitch, consumers simply have to sprinkle Sensa onto their meals and snacks to lose weight. The Sensa sprinkles, or “Tastants,” are supposedly clinically proven to help speed up the process that triggers your body’s “I feel full” signal so that you eat less and feel more satisfied. People who use Sensa, the website says, can lose 30 pounds or more, without changing their diet or exercising. These claims, Sensa says, are supposedly backed by one of the “largest clinical studies ever conducted on a non-prescription weight-loss product.” The Sensa class action lawsuit, however, says these claims are false, misleading and unsubstantiated without any competent scientific evidence to support them.
According to the Sensa lawsuit, Dr. Alan R. Hirsch, M.D., who appears in promotional materials for Sensa, may be a board-certified neurologist, but he is a also a “particularly sophisticated hustler, one with a medical degree and a thick stack of junk science to support the claim his magic crystals are ‘clinically proven.’”
Dr. Hirsch has been able to get by with this, the class action lawsuit charges, only because over-the-counter weight-control products have not been regulated as drugs since 1994, when Congress largely removed supplements from FDA regulation.
The Sensa class action lawsuit claims Sensa is a scam, and that Dr. Hirsch and his company have violated various California laws, including those dealing with false advertising and unfair business practices.
UPDATE 1: A Sensa weight-loss class action lawsuit settlement has been reached! FIND OUT HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR CLAIM HERE!
UPDATE 2: Sensa class action settlement checks were mailed to consumers on Feb. 19, 2014. Congratulations to our Top Class Actions readers who submitted a valid claim and got PAID!
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
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74 thoughts onSENSA Class Action Lawsuit
I tried this for an experiment for my science glass in college and when testing the compounds and chemical bases, this stuff is poison to humans. Rat poison is actually safer to take than this stuff. It has toxins that causes all types of problems. My professor and I re-tested the sample 12 times getting the same result. We have turned this over to the FDA, & the Attorney Generals office along with poison control.
Please do not take this product.
took it, got sick, went to doctor, showed him what I was taking, he sent to his testing facility and told me not to ingest this stuff, it is not safe for human consumption. There are a lot of mixtures that are toxic when mixed together. I stopped taking it. He is actually taking this to the courts, this mixture can kill people.
do not take this!!!!
I was taking sensa and it made my stomach hurt and I never lost any weight on it.my blood pressure also was up from taking it I have filed a claim on it and got my card with the information on it. So just waiting to see what I get back from the settlement. Brenda
I tried sena and i got extemly ill.. i used the product for a few weeks and noticed changes, bad changes, i chronic stomache cramps, diarrhrea.indigestion so bad it made me extremly sick. Then after that happened, i had recal bleeding. for two weeks. horrfying. I finally got ahold of someone at thecall center and they tryied to tell me that they were sorry for any inconvenioence it may have caused but their product should not have caused my problem. After i stopped taking sensa My doctor said that my colon was raw, I have never had this trouble before in my life. I was the worst experience i have ever had. .
I used the product and had success with it. I know a lot of people with various healt problems who also use Sensa and have had great success.. …. Ever since the McDonald’s lady got rich for stupidity, people have tried to get rich while making other people pay for their mistakes. LISTEN to the terms and conditions or read them online before agreeing to the purchase!!!!
All I recieved in my trial offer was the two supply and a DVD. No where to cancel, return or any other contact info. I tried repeatedly to call to get return info with no avail. Once I saw the ingredients I knew I wasn’t using it. Silica is one, that is what comes in the little packets that warns: DO NOT EAT Thier product is also dangerous if you are glutant intolerant also soy or milk intolerant. But do they tell you this NO!! I did not know they were changing my bank account until I got a statemnt. I called the number on my bank statement and finally good a person. She said she couldn’t refund my money and I couldn’t refuse an order. I asked to speak to a superviser and she tried to sell me more product. Then aftering getting rude with her she put me on hold for 20 minutes, I then called back then was on hold for 30 minutes waiting for a supervisor. And she still would not refund my first shipment. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. This place is unethical and needs to be shut down.
I am on disability Iuse sensa trying to loss weight and did not loss anything. I put it on everything i ate and it did nothing
I had bad side effects from using Sensa and almost killed my dog by feeding him the left overs that had Sensa on them.
I bought the Sensa from an infomercial in Feb 2012 but I didn’t start to take the product until May and then quit and restarted it in July. I went to the doctor a few times and the doctor ordered a chemically induced stress test in August and I ended up in the ER two days before the test for chest pains because my doctor told me not to wait if I was having them again, just go to the ER. I stopped taking the Sensa a little over a month ago and I still have some of the problems just not as much. I contacted both Sensa on multiple occasions and was told to contact the company I bought it from to get a refund. Here is that correspondence:
Dear Sherrie Adams,
Thank you for your email. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. With any weight loss program, we advise contacting your primary Physic an. They will be able to assist you before hand with any question or concerns you may have had with an item. If you feel any item you are taking is not agreeing with your body, we advise to discontinue use of that product.
We appreciate the time you took to share your comments. We are always working to improve the shopping experience for our customers. Your comments have been forwarded for consideration. Please be advised that, due to the volume of suggestions and comments we receive, you will not receive a specific response after we have forwarded your comments.
Please feel free to contact us again if you have any further questions or concerns.
Thank you for shopping with ShopNBC.
Regards,
Sakara W.
Customer Service Representative
ShopNBC
Customer By Email (SHERRIE ADAMS) 09/10/2012 01:11 PM
How do I get my questions about Sensa answered considering that I have tried asking the makers of Sensa and I keep getting the same thing… hung up on, disconnected and no answers. I have had some serious side effects from using their product that I bought off of your website and now I am coming to you for answers. I am not the only one. There are others out there who have had serious side effects and I am sure that they want answers too. I contacted the Sensa website and the Contact us chat line and waited my turn and told them that I would like to be reimbursed for my purchase as well as the medical expense that I have incurred as a result from using their product. I waited my turn and when it was my turn and I was next in line and “Gino” was typing, I was disconnected from their website. I called the 866-514-2554 and had to be put in que for a phone call back so I gave them my cell. When they did call, I was not able to hear anyone. I finally got in touch with a representative after the third attempt and I was told to get my refund from ShopNBC because that is where I purchased it and they refused to acknowledge the side effects. I got dodge at every angle when it came to talking about the side effects of Sensa.
I have had several dizzy spells, have nearly passed out 3 or 4 times and one of those times I was at Wal-Mart and had to have someone come up there and get me because I couldn’t drive. I have had kidney pains, chest pains, trouble breathing, stomach trouble, 1 trip to the ER because I thought I was having a heart attack. My doctors now probably think that I am a hypochondriac because of all of the things that I have been having problems with and because there is “Nothing harmful in Sensa” I didn’t think to tell them that I was taking it. The only one I said anything to was my Neurologist. You should probably research the side effects of Sensa before selling this product any more.
Sherrie Adams
I called sensa to cancel this product because it does not work and it made my daughter sick and not only that, she did not lose weight. Also when I cancelled my orders, they still continue to bill me. They were trying to convince me to continue using and that they were going to send me extra orders. I would not recommend this to anyone. My friend wanted to try it and I told her that it did not work.
Many customers call in confused because they were charged full price instead of the trial offer price! There is a default for rush shipping that a customer must DESELECT in order to receive the trial offer. Obviously, this is done purposely knowing that many customers won’t notice.