BeachBody Deceptive, shady, and not good at keeping records California

I first ordered the Beachbody Insanity workout program back in June 2013.  While I was ordering it, they offered a 30-day (free) trial of their vitamin supplements.  When I agreed to have the free supplements, that's when the trouble started.

First off, the work-out program is great, and I didn't have any trouble paying them for it, and they didn't ask for anymore money on Insanity.  However, without my explicit consent, they continued sending 90-day supplement supplies and withdrawing money directly from my debit card account with no email receipts.  At first I didn't realize what was really going on, and so I let it go for the rest of the year.

In January 2014, I discovered a withdrawal from PPL SAN Nutritional (part of Beachbody), which overdrafted my checking account if I recall correctly, and tried to call and cancel the orders.  The lady agreed to cancel but didn't give me a confirmation number.  Naturally I give people benefit of the doubt, and I took her word for it.  The next month, I discovered another charge and called Beachbody. (By the way, they had two separate billing departments for the same product; one of their ways of ripping off customers.)  Whoever I contacted said I would need to make additional payments, because I believe they weren't able to withdraw money in previous months (they were overdrafting me, which really bugged me).  So I agreed to make the last three payments, the last of which was in April, just to get them off my back.

The last day of April, they charged me again, and I called Beachbody.  They said my account was closed, so I called the PPL SAN Nutritional number (like I mentioned before, they had two different numbers for their billing departments, which is extremely annoying) and tried to be polite and asked them to cancel.  I asked the lady twice if I needed to make anymore payments, and she told me no both times.

Soon after I got an email with the cancellation confirmation number, presumably from the same lady, but the email said because it was a 90 day supplement order, I would need to make 2 more payments in May and June.  You can see it below.  

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I snapped.  I replied directly to that email demanding why I needed to make 2 more payments when I've cancelled the order. (Doesn't help that this cancelation email wasn't terribly clear.)  You can read my response email below:

"To Beachbody Customer Service/PPL SAN Nutritional:

When I called 800-207-0425 to cancel on 5/8, I was told over the phone I would not have to make anymore payments after Beachbody took $37.60 out of my account without my consent on April 30, 2014.  I haven't been receiving any of these shipments, and I tried to cancel all shipments back in January.  I spoke with Raymond on the customer service end (at 1-866-441-4737) and he said my account was closed.  Why am I still needing to have to make payments?  Why was I told over phone I would not have to make anymore payments after the cancellation, and this email is telling me I have to pay for 2 more shipments when I've cancelled everything?  


Please tell me the truth straight out.  I am getting sick and tired of Beachbody telling me one thing over the phone and then telling me another over phone or through email, and then going ahead and stealing my money and over-drafting my checking account.  This fiasco has been going on since January.  Why do I need to make further payments after I cancelled with PPL SAN Nutritional on 5/8?  I never agreed to further shipments since I did the 30-day free trial in 2013 in the first place.

Return the rest of the multivitamins to the supplier and don't bother shipping them out; I DON'T WANT THEM ANYMORE and I shouldn't have to pay for your shipments since I've made all my payments already and cancelled.  I've already made several payments since January to cancel all shipments (at least, that was the impression I was under, and did not receive a cancellation confirmation number, unfortunately).  Please check with customer billing, Raymond in particular if possible.

Please remove my credit card number and all my records from Beachbody NOW, and please send me confirmation that they have been removed and all my accounts closed.  I am getting very disgusted with your customer service, as I have already expressed through a customer service survey I did back in April after I made my "last" payments to billing.  Also, please remove my account from the Team Beachbody member site.

Yes, I am upset, but it is at your company and not anyone in particular just doing their job.  Someone higher up, or some policy, is not making their employees' jobs very clear or is telling them to outright lie to customers.  If I have not made myself clear enough, please feel free to contact me.  I will be sending another customer survey with this exact message in case the email doesn't make it through."

Their first response to my email:

At least he acknowledged the problem, albeit in a very shallow way.  I received another email later:

"Dear Sarah,

I wanted to get back to you with an update: I just processed your refund for INSANITY order #46909330.

It should look something like this on your next credit card statement:

Date         Description                Amount 
05/11/2014   PPL*SAN NUTRITIONAL        USD 37.60

Keep in mind that your credit card company could take up to 3 days for the refund to show in your account. But I assure you, it's already been processed from our end.

If you have any questions, please visit beachbody.custhelp.com.

The most important thing is that you find a solution that helps you achieve your health and fitness goals. I hope that includes shopping with us again at http://Beachbody.com.

Kind regards,

Jorge Molina
Senior Vice President
Beachbody Customer Service"

I did receive the refund in my account and cashed out the money from my card.  Too bad I didn't get the hundreds of dollars they stole from me since July 2013, but I don't even want to bother with them anymore.

They didn't respond directly to my request to remove my card information or my account membership on their member site Team Beach Body.  However, that hardly matters anymore.  I cancelled my entire account with my credit union anyway, as I no longer trust Beachbody with my information.  They steal your card information and will charge you without your consent.  I suppose if my member account is still on Team Beachbody, I'll let loose with this review there as well.

In summary, Beachbody has deceptive customer service tactics.  They outright lie to you through phone and email.  They're not clear on their purchase agreements.  It took me months to get them to stop leeching off of me. I didn't even entirely trust the final emails they sent me regarding the refund, even though I got my refund for the April 30th charge.  If you want a Beachbody workout program, go through Amazon or Ebay, and get it from a private seller.

Wonderful work-out programs, but they will rip you off if you give them the chance.