I am a 55 year old female living in South Africa and suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis and decided to purchase the “Arthritis Remedy Report” from Barton Publishing in America for $19.95 via the internet using my Credit Card. They sent me a “thank you for your recent order” followed by a copy of the receipt for my purchase. At the bottom of this there was an item: “GIFTS ” – FREE $25.00 Giftcard, FREE doctor’s advice Worth Over $149.00, and 2 FREE Weeks of WellnessWatchersMD – Starting After 14 Day Free Trial it’s just $29.95/mo.to stay enrolled, billed by WellnessWatchersMD.
Living in South Africa I was not interested in their “Free Gifts” and was surprised to see an amount of $29.95 deducted from my account the following month. I e-mailed Barton Publishing who replied and advised me that I had agreed to a free trial for Wellness Watchers MD with my purchase and that the details of the offer were outlined on my receipt and that I had the option to decline the offer!
This was a “receipt” for a purchase and I was not expecting to have to unsubscribe from something I never ordered in the first place. I believe that this offer under “Gifts” is deliberately worded that most people would misconstrue what they were actually saying and I am probably not the first, nor the last person to be defrauded by them in such a way.
I am aware that it is highly unlikely that I will be refunded by this company but decided “enough was enough” and by sending this to you it will hopefully save another person out there from being mislead the same way.
** Disclaimer: This post was written by a guest author. The information contained in this article should not be taken as a fact, but only as an indicator. The story represents the authors individual experience with the subject in question. As such it can be true or misrepresented and in some cases even purely fictional in an attempt to harm the company or individual in question. You are advised to use your own judgment to realize the truth behind the story.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:44 am
BARTON PUBLISHING are a group criminals led by JOE BARTON that are involved in fraud and deception supplying fake medical advice, BARTON SCAMS YOUR CREDIT CARD HE ALSO PASSES YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS ON TO THIRD PARTIES
TO SEE WHAT JOE BARTON IS INVOLVED IN
JUST http://www.GOOGLE.com
“Barton Publishing”+ FRAUD
It makes interesting reading
Report every crime of JOE BARTONS to
The Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3)
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
March 20th, 2009 at 7:52 am
This is absolutely a scam. Try calling the number “Joe” gives in the email above – you will get a recording that says to call the other number, where you will talk to a “third party customer service representative” who will say that you have to do all cancellations, etc. through the barton web site – they can, of course, take an order over the phone. I order a pamphlet, just like the other person, chose NO on any extra option, was not able to confirm my order, then was charged $29.95 over my order, and was signed up for a $9.95 newletter. I sent an email back to “support@bartonpublishing” and the customer service rep said to do to cancel. I got charged again a month later and have called only to get the same run around again. I have canceled my credit card, so hopefully none of their fraudulent charges will go through. I hate that they have my email address, though. I also reported them to the Federal Bureau of Consumer Protection under four different counts of fraud. I recommend anyone else who has been scammed do the same:
http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Internet_Fraud.shtml
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:19 am
I was dupped by Barton Publishing also. I love how they try to be all helpful by supplying a number & e-mail address on their website that DOES NOT WORK! With the help of my credit card company, I was able to find another number which I was able to speak with someone at Barton. Of course they were not able to help me, I then had to go to another web-site to fill out a refund request form! Both the phone number & web-site for refunds are NOT provided on their web-site or in ANY e-mails that were sent to me!
Here is the info I found for Barton Publishing. Hope it helps you! Please spread the word if it does.
Tel: 1-866-931-1680
web address: bartonpublishing.com/refundrequest
May 21st, 2009 at 3:04 am
thanks for this article and comments…
i was actually goingt to buy somehthing with this publication…
i am saved
June 11th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I’ve been scammed by Barton Publishing and WellnessWatchers MD as well. I originally ordered a “booklet” from Barton and a month later noticed an unauthorized charge on my Visa of $9.95 from Barton Publishing and $29.95 from WellWatchersMD who I hadn’t even dealt with. I immediately contacted Barton and they said they’d cancel my unauthorized subscription to whatever it was, which they did. However, nothing was done about the WellnessWatchersMD charge and it has now appeared on two more Visa bills. I’ve been away and missed seeing last months but just noticed the newest charge on my latest June invoice. I called the number mentioned above and they guy said that all he could do was refund two of the three fraudulent charges.
I encourage everyone who’s been scammed by these frauds to contact their bank AND credit card to report this matter on both companies. It wouldn’t hurt to print out these complaints and others that are also on the net to show to the bank so we can get their credit card privileges revoked.
I should have know this was an unscrupulous, criminal company by the way they wouldn’t let me simply purchase the one item I did want, but instead kept a long series of confusing pop-ups appearing.
June 18th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I was scammed also. I just noticed that I had been charged for 3 months$6.25, $6.21
and 5.76 Cdn. for nothing. I originally ordered a report on GERD remedies and carefully made sure I didn’t sign up for the many other things that popped up.
I have been sick for the last few months and didn’t notice that amount. I never signed up for anything other than the report which was paid for in full by credit card.
I contacted my credit card company and they called Barton at the number that appeared on my credit statement. With Visa on the line, Barton said that the free trial offer of a news letter for which I never signed up for or ever received via email or any other way then becomes chargeable after so many days unless you unsubsribe. I never subscribed to anything other than the report. They would not refund my money and so my credit card company is refunding these amounts and my credit card no. has been immediately cancelled. Today is June 18th, 2009 and it is obvious Bartonpublishing.com are still at it in defrauding people in this manner.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Please call me at 1-866-956-2710 so I can take care of this for you right away. My name is Charity, and my hours are 10am-6pm Central Standard Time. Personally, I think that WellnessWatchersMD is a pretty good deal, or I wouldn’t work here. They send out thousands of $25 gift cards and $50 rebate checks every month. They also help hundreds of people with their Ask-the-Doctor service. If you were charged by mistake, I am authorized to give you a refund.
September 5th, 2009 at 6:22 am
I was just about to order from Barton. I am glad I came upon this!
October 19th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Thank you for the advise, I was about to buy the kidney stones book,
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:53 pm
I was double charged on my credit card for my purchase of a downloadable information sheet on an answer to reflux. I am in australia – i was able to send several e-mails to Barton Publishing and managed to get back credit. Aren’t you all missing the point? Is the information they are providing useful and fixes the problems we all seek? I told them not to send newsletter e-mails and free products too! I had to unsubscribe to websites to stop them….done! Do these products work????? Is it worth the trouble to find answers to our problems?????
November 4th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Thanks for your comments Beverley. I would encourage John & Maurice to place their orders for better health. If you have any problems, contact me immediately at support@bartonpublishing.com. Thank you.
Georgia
Customer Support