I responded to one of the free offer newsletters (I don't remember which one) for a free trial of Tea Hiti's herbal tea, for which I was charged $2.00 shipping on my debit card on 7/31/09. I received my tea and related items without problem, but I noticed on my bank statement that a charge of $38.95 had appeared from them on 8/2, and shortly after I received a package which I left unopened and marked refused. This was soon followed by a second package with another $38.95 on 8/5, with which I did the same thing. I called the company at their toll-free number. They said the extra shipments had occurred because on the form I submitted I had not indicated how often I wanted the tea to be sent. This has to be false, because on these forms if you leave off any information, a message appears and your application stops until you fill in that blank. I told them so and said I wanted them to stop any further shipments and to refund me for these two charges, as I had returned the packages unopened. The lady said she had stopped my membership and would process the refund. But on 8/5 there was another charge for $38.95, but I didn't receive a package, so I called again and was told that the first rep. had stopped two shipments but not before charges had been made for them. Sure enough, on 8/11 there was a 4th charge for the same amount but no package received. I was told on that call that the refund was being processed and it was out of their hands.

When I still hadn't received any refunds, a week or so later I called again and was told the same thing. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and a female manager came on the line (I thought her name was Kathy, but today when I asked for her they said that wasn't a correct name.) After I had gone over the history of my account and complained that no refunds had been posted on my debit card, she explained that the company only refunds money once a month. I was dumbfounded by that statement as well as their policy itself, which I expressed to her, and told her that none of the three representatives had explained that to me. I told her that was totally unacceptable, and she said she would put in an order to expedite my refund, which she said might take another 10 days. I told her that was not really acceptable to me but had no choice but to wait longer. I told her that I intended to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau if I still didn't get my refund.

Today I checked my bank account and found no refunds, so decided to contact them again. First I "googled" Tihi Tea and at the top of the list of websites it provided was the listings about complaints about them and this complaint website. I called their toll-free number before looking at these complaints, but I started my conversation by asking for an e-mail address for the customer service department then their mailing address before proceeding with my conversation. After getting those, I asked about the manager whose name I thought was Kathy (see above), and when that didn't work out, I told her about the complaints that are on the internet and that if I do not get my refunds immediately, I would be joining whatever class action lawsuits were being formed by this group.

Now I have gotten on the complaint website, read some of the comments and found this form to fill out. We'll see what happens from here. I am a senior citizen on Social Security Disability and cannot afford having this money tied up - a total of $155.80. I have explained that to them, but it doesn't seem to matter to them.