Quit Smoking CigArrest is a SCAM
A friend of mine named **** ****** asked me if I could do him a favor by ordering him a sample of this quit smoking offer he had seen. I said it would be fine and as I listened to the call from less than 2 feet from him I as well as 6 other people in the room heard him state very clearly to the sales representative on the phone that he wanted to be clear that the amount of 5.94 would be a one time charge and that it was just for a one time sample and he also made it very clear that he was not using his credit card and that it was a friends who was in the room with him. The phone was handed to me. I then verified the amount to be charged and that it would not be reoccurring. This was around 12/18/2006.
Since then I received the following charges to one of my accounts
12/26/06 0.25 0.00 0.00 Debit Card W/D: Debit Check Card 41.34
Comment:B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment:Date 12/26/06 *********************** ****
12/25/06 0.35 0.00 0.00 Debit Card W/D: Debit Check Card 41.59
Comment:B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment:Date 12/25/06 *********************** ****
12/25/06 0.50 0.00 0.00 Debit Card W/D: Debit Check Card 41.94
Comment:B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment:Date 12/24/06 *********************** ****
12/24/06 0.60 0.00 0.00 Debit Card W/D: Debit Check Card 50.00
Comment:B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment:Date 12/23/06 *********************** ****
12/23/06 0.80 0.00 0.00 Debit Card W/D: Debit Check Card 29.06
Comment:B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment:Date 12/22/06 *********************** ****
12/21/06 1.40 0.00 0.00 Debit Card W/D: Debit Check Card 166.85
Comment:B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment:Date 12/21/06 *********************** ****
12/20/06 2.04 0.00 0.00 Debit Card W/D: Debit Check Card 75.81
Comment:B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment:Date 12/20/06 *********************** ****
So now I log into this account and see 5 transactions. That caused a bit of alarm and looks a bit like fraudulent activity to me and is not for the amount that was agreed on per the phone conversation. I immediately called the number listed in the charges and inquired about this strange activity and the woman I spoke to assured me that this was normal for how they do there billing. She said I should expect that they would continue these charges until the 5.94 were paid. I said that would be just fine that was the amount agreed on but that I wanted to make sure that the account was canceled and that would be the end of it as soon as the 5.94 was paid off. She said that it was canceled at that time. This was 12/25/06.
Later that day and then the following day the last two charges came in and then stopped. All is seemingly well and good. Or so I thought anyway. Here we are in March and I log into the aforementioned account and this is what I see. I have a charge from this B R*CIGARREST once again. This time though it is for 79.84. This in turn has caused 2 overdrafts on the account, due to the auto payments that the money had been in the account for not being in it any more. At 27 bucks a piece that cost me a total of 54.00 right after this next transaction.
02/23/07 79.84 0.00 0.00 Debit Card W/D: Debit Check Card 13.99
Comment:B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment:Date 02/22/07 *********************** ****
So now they have charged me another 79.84 after I cancelled and it has cost me 54.00 as a result. I am not very happy. So here we go again. It is 03/01/2007 10:35 am. I call the 800 number that is shown in the transactions. Option 2 and then option 3. I get a woman named Vicky employee (id 6007) I explain the situation. I am told sorry there is nothing I can do to refund your money. I said that there surely is. It is either that they refund my money or I am taking it to court and suing for the amount charged to me for something I have not received nor did I order plus the fees incurred as a result of this fraudulent activity on my account. She said well sorry there is nothing I can do for you but I will give you this address to write your complaint to.
Reference ********** attn: satisfaction dept
170 Eucalyptus Ave
Vista CA, 92084
Well that is surely what I will do is write to that address plus post this on my website to inform all of our users of this scam. I have since found that they are on a site called ripoffreport. As of this moment they are into me for $133.84 my bank has been informed and any further transactions made by this company will result in further fees added to the suit for punitive damages and any other fees my lawyers decide to think up while they are at it. I warn all users to not do business with this company including not accepting the free 30 trial-offers with only the obligation to pay shipping. It is a scam. Only do it if you have bought a pre paid credit card that has no money left on it by the time they charge it which will be about 2 days after your order of the free supply. Chances are you will never get the order but you will be doing them the same injustice that they do to so many. Cost them a few bucks in time because they are into plenty of innocent folks for well more than what you could possibly cost them.
May 14th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Spoke with sunshine employee id (5978)
Says that they never received either of the 2 letters I have sent the first being sent 12/25/06 and the second on 03/03/07
Employee 5978 says that their was a 90-day supply shipped in December that I received and that is what they billed me for 2 months later and 2 months after I canceled any further shipments or charges. The one shipment that was received was for a 30-day supply for the cost of shipping only. The employee stated that the charge was after the 60-day refund policy. I stated that this has been going on since a week after the initial charge was even made and that my bank has informed me that I should give another courtesy call before taking actions legally to re acquire the funds that they have wrongfully taken from my account. The employee told me that she was going to escalate it and someone will call me. This is now 05/04/07. I will wait till this coming week to see if I hear back from anyone and they resolve this issue. If not I am not hesitating any longer and my bank can go ahead and handle it.
May 18th, 2007 at 3:41 am
Well here I am again. Some better news this time. I never did end up receiving that phone call from this company as they had stated they would but at this time I suppose they did not want to go any further with this and so they just refunded my money. Keep in mind this is months later and has cost me a bit in fees and then a few bits of nothing in interest but it is really not the money but rather the point.
Companies like this use forms of smoke and screen or gorilla marketing. They out source to call centers for their telephone sales to companies who have no real idea what they are offering nor do they care. By the time you are done with them you have bought something fairly cheap (shipping only) and you are on your merry way when weeks or even months later bang you are now see a more serious charge against your account. Only advice I can give for recovering such a thing is persistence and keep log of everything.
So finally months later here it is folks!
05/16/07 79.84 0.00 0.00 ADJ Debit Card W/D: Credit Voucher 128.85
Comment: B R*CIGARREST 800-792-9079 CA
Comment: Date 05/16/07 *********************** ****
August 9th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Thanks for you information and story. Sorry you had to go through this. Just wanted to let you know that on August 8, 2007 around 12pm eastern time a lady called and inofrmed me of this introductory offer of a one time shipping fee of $3.00 for a free 30-day supply of the program. Without thinking I agreed and give her my credit card number for the $3.00, at the same time she reassured me that this would be the only charge. After I got off the phone I decided to look on the internet for possible scams from this company. I ended up at this website and read your story. From there I immediately called my credit card company and cancelled my card and informed them of this potential fraudulent scam. From there I called the police and informed them of this along with my provincial and federal government. They informed me that they would be looking into this company and thanked me. I told them that it was not me but a blog on the internet from someone who went through this that should be thanked. So thank you for this and I hope other people would read and see this!!!
August 9th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
one tip I can give you when dealing with issues like this is that when you send something by mail, send it registered and certified. yes, it will cost a bit extra, but worth it when the issue is important.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:21 am
I am very glad that this post has helped someone out and hope others see this before getting ripped off as well. In regard to scoob’s tip, that was not the case here since this was credit card over the phone but what you may do is ask that the company calling you send you information by mail that way you have some form of original documentation of what the deal offers. At that point you should send payment by certified mail and you should be covered as far as taking legal actions. In my case time, persistence and a cooperative bank worked but the aggravation if it was surely not worth it.
I will tell you this. If you want to quit smoking… STOP! Thats it. Other than that quit smoking scams will only keep you smoking by adding to your stress.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:35 am
Last night I checked comments on the blog and guess what I found. It looks as though someone from Cigarrest has found my blog and decided to make a post. This post looks as though it is written by someone else who has the same issue with them but in reviewing a little closer I found that the comment was linked direct to the Cigarrest website.
Now we do offer paid posts to be made here for companies but if Cigarrest wants to be included in those posts first they must change the way they do business because we do not link to sites or businesses of poor quality and second they must pay. So this is what the individual had to say.
Cigarrest cheat
If this were actually a person who this happened to then they could follow what I did to get my money back. I am more than sure that any bank would be more than happy to assist if you have a valid claim. The most I can say is stay on top of it. Be very persistent with them and show them you will not just go away.
October 13th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Just happened to me… It started in September. I called my bank and canceled my card and ordered another one. My bank took my complaint one step further and filed a complaint with the better business bureau. My bank gave me credit for the charge from cigarrest and now they have taken the control of getting their money back. You can also go to the Better Business Bureau site and file a complaint. I did.
I do believe there will be a class action suit against Cigarrest in the near future.
May 24th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
I smoked for most of my life and giving them up was literally impossible. I bought all of the quit smoking tricks but none helped. Then I discovered the e-cigarette . The electric cigarette uses a nicotine juice that has nothing but nicotine. No cancerous substances at all. They have completely improved my life.