Robert Ferguson Food Lovers Fat Loss System Poor Shipping and Business Practices Internet

I was very impressed with the infomercial that I saw on TV starring Robert Ferguson.  He had a lot of things that he said that made sense, so I went to his website and ordered his product which it stated on the infomercial was (6) payments of $19.99 plus shipping and handling.  The shipping and handling was equal to the payment that they said they would drop on the infomercial (originally (7) payments of $19.99).  When I was placing my order online, I was bombarded by up sells, which from the way Robert Ferguson described his program on the infomercial, it seemed like you were getting everything you would need to lose weight the way his plan was designed to work, for just the original purchase price.

When my package finally arrived, I was shocked to see that it had been opened.  As I was looking over the outside of the package, before looking inside, I noticed that the package, which was one of those packages that has a flip down cover with a tab on each end that is inserted into a slot on each end of the box, originally been secured with ONE piece of nylon reinforced packing tape that was 1/2" wide.  That had been cut and then a piece of clear packing tape had been placed over it and that had been cut also.

I called Customer Service to let them know the condition of the package when I received it.  I had to wait on hold for about 15 minutes before I got through to a live person.  When I told the Customer Service Representative what had happened, she snidely replied, Did you check to see if anything is missing?  To which I replied, How would I know if anything is missing?  She did offer to go through the package with me to see if anything was missing, but at that point, I was so dissatisfied with the whole experience that I told her that I just wanted to return it and get my money back.  She told me I could do that, but I would have to pay for the return shipping and I would not be refunded the original shipping and handling charge either.  I told her that that was not fair since it is their fault that I received the package opened in the first place because they shipped it out with only one piece of packing tape holding it closed.  She then told me that was not possible, because they would never send a package out with just one piece of tape to hold it closed.  I told her that I had looked all over the outside of the package and there was no evidence of any other pieces of tape having been applied and/or removed.  I even asked to speak with a Supervisor and I got the same result, that I would be responsible for all shipping costs if I returned the package.