Free trial products are hitting the market faster today than ever before in history. Trial offer promotions are a multi-billion dollar business. Given today’s economy, more and more companies are trying to find ways to bring brand loyalty to their products and services. Free trial offers are a great way for consumers to test out a product or service without making an extended commitment to a product or service. Key to the success of any trial offer is to remember to cancel it within the terms set forth by the company if you do not plan to continue with the product or service.
Historically you will find that most free trials are offered in the health and beauty industry. Weight loss and dieting receive most of the media attention by promoting the latest Acai Berry product, colon cleanse or other diet supplement.
Even thought the market is flooded with health and beauty trial offers today we are seeing more free trial offers for software, memberships and business opportunities.
While there are certainly consumer advantages when it comes to free trial offers, there are also certain risks of which consumers need to be aware. First there are the inherent issues of remember to cancel a trial offer no matter how reputable the company you are dealing with is.
But more importantly there are many companies involved in offering free trial offers that are not so reputable.
And even though deceptively marketed free trial offers are regularly prosecuted by state and federal law enforcement, consumers still need to educate themselves and be aware of some of the practices used by some of the more problematic companies.
Trialhunter.com is positioned to become one of the leading authority sites for free trial offers and works diligently to stay abreast of the latest trial offers and trial offer practices.
What Do the Free Trial Offer "No Risks or Obligations" Promises Really Mean?
While companies may claim that their free trial offer has no risk or obligation for the consumer, as already pointed out you still have to take timely action to avoid future obligations. For example, you may be required to contact the company to cancel during the trial offer period in order to prevent the receipt of additional goods or services or to avoid incurring charges for what you've already received. And in certain situations you may be agreeing to allow a company enroll you in a membership, subscription, or service contract and charge fees to your credit card or bank account if you do not cancel according to the terms of the trial offer.
In certain situations you may take one companies trial offer and end up being enrolled in a totally different company's trial offer. Even if this is done with your consent, you need to make sure you understand what company you are dealing with and what terms you are agreeing to. By accepting the trial offer you may be agreeing to let the original company who's trial offer you took give your credit card account information to a totally different company.
And in many instances if you fail to cancel during the trial period your credit card may be charged by the second seller for the product or service offered during the trial period. If you don't recognize the seller, you may think the charge is an unauthorized transaction when in fact, by accepting the trial offer, you may have agreed to pay if you didn't cancel before the trial period ended.
It's The Law – Facts About Trial Offers from the Federal Trade Commission:
“According to the law, companies must clearly disclose the "material" terms of their trial offers before you give your consent. Material terms may include:
l the fact that by accepting the trial offer, you're actually agreeing to be enrolled in a membership, subscription or service contract or paying for additional products and services if you don't cancel within the trial period;
l how much time you have to cancel before you incur charges;
l the cost or range of costs of goods or services you'll receive if you don't cancel during the trial period;
l how to cancel during the trial period;
l whether you'll be charged a non-refundable membership fee if you don't cancel within the trial period;
l whether fees will be charged automatically to the credit card you used to buy other goods or services.”
Use TrialHunter to make well-informed decisions about Trial Offers
While trial offers can be beneficial to consumers it's obvious that you need to make well-informed decisions regarding any of the trial offers you may choose to pursue. TrialHunter puts you in the driver seat by providing you with direct access to the most important details of free trial offers.
You can then take that information along with any consumer comments made at TrialHunter and decide if you would like to review other details of a trial offer further.
TrialHunter truly helps to put the consumer in charge!
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