Lots of companies offer a trial period to buy something, leaving you with the impression that you can return it or stop using it if you don’t like it.

That’s not necessarily the case with some teeth whitening products purchased on the Internet. If you want white teeth and search for a phrase like “tooth whitening,” you’ll probably get pop-ups for trial offers.

Advertisements lure buyers with an offer of spending just a buck or two for a quick test, but some customers tell me they get charged a lot more.

As first reported in the Jan. 24, 2010 Dave Lieber column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Carol Rea of Grand Prairie says she bought a $1.99 trial of Smile Bright in October and another trial product for 99 cents. Unaware that she had to cancel within 10 days or she would be charged more, she was billed $700 before she repeatedly tried to cancel — unsuccessfully.

Worse, the money was extracted from a government-issued debit card that provides her unemployment benefits. She says that she can’t get a full refund and that with the loss of $700, she may not be able to afford her health insurance payments.

Smile Bright’s customer service agents “have very little sympathy,” she says.

Because the cards don’t come with monthly statements, Rea didn’t realize for several weeks that the money had been gradually taken from the card.

“I noticed that starting in November, I wasn’t keeping track of my unemployment account as closely as I had been. I somehow always had less than I thought I should have,” she said.

The Watchdog tried to help Rea and Jeff Johnson, a Fort Worth teacher who paid $2.95 for an “amazing trial offer” — as the ad called it — for Premium White Pro. After the product arrived, he tried to cancel but was later dunned for $87.

Despite several hours of efforts, I couldn’t find executives from either company to speak with. And I believe that’s by design.

Johnson told me he believed that Premium White Pro is based in Colorado. When I called customer service for the product, an agent said the company is based in Des Moines, Iowa. When I couldn’t find it there, I called again and was told by another agent to write to the United Kingdom.

With Smile Bright, Rea was billed by five companies. When she contacted her bank to protest the charges, she says, “the bank claims department told me this was very common and had the contact phone numbers for all five accounts readily available.”

I called all the companies — Health Cleanse, World Fit, Teeth White, Body Pure and Smile Bright.

Most led back to a similar call center operated by First Support Solutions. The agents answer by saying “customer care.” But then they ask which toll-free number you used so they can tell which product you are calling about.

When I called Body Pure, a woman said: “This is a call center. I am a supervisor. We don’t have the corporate number. You can write a letter.”

When I called World Fit, I was told, “If you’re not the buyer yourself, basically, there’s no one you can speak with in regards to this.”

But finally, I found a helpful agent for Smile Bright. He told me his call center is in Provo, Utah.

The product consists of two mouthpieces and a gel or liquid that goes inside. The mouthpieces are worn a half-hour or an hour each day.

“Just like the stuff you get at the dentist, if you’ve ever done that,” he said.

“When a customer signs up, he is given 10 days as a trial period to use Smile Bright,” he said. “Once that 10 days is up, there is a home delivery plan, a subscription every month. In most cases, the charge is $92.37 per month.

“Before the 10-day trial ends, if you call and cancel, there won’t be any charges at all.”

Canceling after 10 days is more complicated. The contract terms, he said, are on the Web site, and a summary is posted near where credit card numbers are entered.

Rea has had trouble trying to return the products she received in the mail.

“Out of nine, 10 little boxes I have accumulated, they are allowing return of only three of them,” she says.

This isn’t uncommon. Here’s the BBB of Utah’s report on this company.

Many teeth-whitening Web sites aggressively push trial offers.

Try to close one advertising box and another pops up that says: “WAIT. Don’t leave yet!!!! Are you sure you don’t want to take advantage of this amazing Celebrity White Teeth Trial for only 99 cents? This is your last chance to help yourself have a beautiful illuminating smile.”

But it isn’t really the last chance.

When you close that box, another pops up: “Act now to receive your Trial for ONLY 99 CENTS. Why not give it a shot, and put yourself in a position to have more confidence?”

The Better Business Bureau warned last year about the deceptive trial offers and pointed out that ads for many of the whitening products show up on news sites. Star-Telegram.com runs some of the ads.

Premium White Pro’s rating is buried in the BBB’s database under the company 1021018 Alberta Ltd. There are 1,797 complaints listed against the business in the last three years, with 375 cited as unresolved.

The BBB report lists 52 Web sites connected to the company, including teethwhiten.com, celebswhiteteeth.com and dazzlewhite.com.

Smile Bright’s BBB report lists 430 complaints, with 253 listed as “failure to respond” and 70 more as unresolved.

In an Internet search, I found hundreds of postings by frustrated customers who believed that they were buying a trial period and ended up getting billed much more.

Doing a little research on the Internet before buying goes a long way in saving time, aggravation, money and embarrassment.

The idea is to make a person’s smile brighter, but many customers say smiling is the last thing that happens when they get ensnared.

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What to watch for Before buying, read the fine print and check the company on BBB.org. Learn the cancellation policies.

Complain to the BBB if you believe that you lost money.

Learn about the teeth-whitening industry at www.cctwonline.org, an industry-sponsored site.

Source: BBB

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Here is a list of all the “sister” companies for PremiumProWhite, according to the Edmonton BBB:

www.dazzlewhitemax.com

www.teethwhiten.com

www.dazzlesmilesupreme.com

www.dazzlesmilepure.com

www.dazzlesmilenow.com

www.celebswhiteteeth.com

www.ultracleanseplus.com

www.acaiforcemax.com

www.guidetosuccessonline.com

www.securityhelpkit.com

www.secureinformationresource.com

www.successgrants.com

www.dazzlewhiteteeth.net

www.quickprofitkit.com

www.justthinkmedia.com

www.dazzlewhitepro.com

www.ToothWhiteningResult.com

www.DazzleWhite.com

dazzlewhite-teethwhitening.blogspot.com

dazzle-white.org

www.dazzlewhitenow.com

www.dazzlewhitemax.com

www.cathysteeth.com

www.janicesteeth.com

www.clearliftultra.com

www.acaislimedge.com

www.acaislimexclusive.com

www.mycreditreportsdirect.com

www.acaiforcext.com

www.onlinecashsuccesskit.com

www.changingsizes.net

Exfatkid.com

www.acaiforceext.com

www.acaislimplus.com

www.edirectsoftware.com

www.maxprofitsecrets.com

www.acaiberry-warning.org

hollywoodteethwhitener.com

www.premiumacaislim.com

mysixpackmethod.com

www.purerezver.com

www.cindysteethwhiteningstory.com

pillsexposed.org

stevegotripped.com

cleanseuniversal.com

dietpomegranatepro.com

cellulitesolve.com

www.johncenaworkout.com

www.premiumwhitepro.com

The man needed a job, and so he said that when the bank check for $1,950 arrived in the mail, he jumped at the accompanying offer to become a mystery shopper.

All he had to do was cash the check and send someone connected with the company part of the money as a Western Union money transfer. The rest was for him to use for mystery shopping to evaluate businesses, he was told. Afterward, he’d file reports about his experiences. Simple enough.

On Nov. 9, he went to his bank, Bank of America, but employees there told him they couldn’t cash the check. Since it appeared to be a Wells Fargo check, he was told to go there.

At a Wells Fargo branch in DeSoto, he was told to have a seat. Fifteen minutes later, a DeSoto police officer walked up to him and said, “Sir, can you stand and put your hands behind your back, please?”

“What?” the man asked.

As first reported in the Dave Lieber column in the Dec. 20, 2009 Watchdog column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the man was arrested on suspicion of forgery of a financial instrument. On Nov. 30, he was indicted by a Dallas grand jury.

This is the first time I’ve seen a case where the apparent victim of a scam is arrested. But there are two important facts that must be disclosed.

First, the arrested man is Randolph Shaheed, 59, who in the late 1960s was one of Fort Worth’s most notorious gangster killers. He served 15 years in prison and is now on parole for life. (Watch a Mickey Grant documentary about him here.)

Second, he is one of the most honored ex-offenders in Texas. Two days before his arrest, the Dallas office of the state Parole Division held its annual Success Celebration, at which Shaheed was honored for helping ex-offenders succeed after they are freed.

When I asked the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to describe the award he received, the agency released a 171-word statement that describes his good deeds, calls him the ideal client and says he is “trying to promote positive change.”

How much Shaheed’s criminal record contributed to his current predicament is hard to say. He has a court date Tuesday, and the charges could be sorted out then. When I asked about his case, the DeSoto police and the Dallas County district attorney’s office mentioned his criminal background.

Shaheed said that when the mystery shopper offer arrived, he was in a confused state because his 20-year-old daughter, from whom he was estranged, had died suddenly Nov. 5.

At the time, he said he wasn’t aware that the mystery shopper ploy is a common scam. Targets of the scam are told to cash a check and send a portion of it to the purported mystery shopping company. The Federal Trade Commission says on its Web site: “The truth is that it is unnecessary to pay money to anyone to get into the mystery shopper business. ?.?.?.? Consumers who try to get a refund from promoters of mystery shopping jobs usually are out of luck. Either the business doesn’t return the phone calls, or if it does, it’s to try another pitch.”

Shaheed showed me e-mails from a Fred Mcguire of New York. (Read them here.) Shaheed said he believed that the e-mails were authentic — but they fit the classic scam. The best clue that something was wrong came in the task that Mcguire assigned him: Shaheed was supposed to visit his neighborhood Western Union office and describe all the mechanics of wire transfers from that office, including the name of money agents on duty.

When police confronted him at the bank, Shaheed said “he was a mystery shopper on the Internet,” according to a police report.

He spent four days in jail before his wife posted bail.

He is being represented by a public defender who didn’t return my calls.

Once released, Shaheed called Fred Mcguire in New York to tell him what happened.

“There’s something funny about the number,” he told me. “It just rang as if it were a phone booth or something.”

Shaheed has tried to explain that he was the intended victim of a scam.

“Doesn’t anyone want to listen to me?” he asked. “I’ve presented all the proof. I thought it was a check, brother. You know what I mean? I thought I was getting a part-time job.”

At Wells Fargo, the teller suspected that the check Shaheed presented was fraudulent, bank spokeswoman Helen Bow said. “She immediately notified the Police Department,” Bow said. She declined to answer other questions, referring The Watchdog to police investigators.

DeSoto police Capt. Ron Smith is skeptical of Shaheed’s story. “Don’t believe everything you hear,” Smith said. Although he acknowledged he had not reviewed the case file, Smith said he would be surprised if Shaheed was the victim of a scam.

In 1969, Shaheed, then known as Randolph Brown, killed a grocery store clerk in a bungled robbery attempt. Later that night, he attempted another robbery. All told, he shot at seven people, killing one and wounding two.

He was already infamous. Two years earlier, he had walked onto a Fort Worth bus holding a knife. When the driver kicked him and a friend off, he punched the driver, who started shooting. His friend was killed. He turned himself in on television at KXAS/Channel 5.

He was convicted of murder for the 1969 slaying and sent to prison, and he was paroled in 1984. After his release, he made a deal with the FBI to go undercover to break up a drug ring. Afterward, he was temporarily placed in the witness protection program. He testified against 17 defendants, the Star-Telegram has reported. All were convicted.

Then he became a minister and worked on many anti-gang programs for kids — his new life’s work. For that he was honored by the Parole Division. Excerpts from its statement released to me last week:

“With the last three years, Randolph Brown has become an advocate for other offenders. In 2005, Brown started a program now called ‘Ex-Offender’s of America Alumni Association,’ or XOAAA, where prison ministry goes beyond prayer.

“Through his program, Brown uses his voice, gifts, talents and ministry to bring forth healing for ex-offenders and those affiliated with them. The program promotes employment searches, how to get a job, finance management, spiritual counseling and more.

“The XOAAA program does not benefit just offenders but crime victims and family members as well.”

Brown also organized the Coming Up Program in Fort Worth, the statement says.

After praising his work on a radio program and cable TV, the Parole Division concluded, “Offender is more than just an ideal client. He is an advocate for ex-offenders trying to promote positive change within our community.”

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. His book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Ever wonder what a scammer sounds like? Listen to a vulture who preys upon the elderly with a phone call. He wants the 86-year-old man to wire money to a foreign country. But this scam can be stopped when you know how it works. That’s the basis of consumer protection and my Watchdog Nation.

Please let me introduce you to Inspector Luigi. (This next video is an intro, but you can skip to the actual audio files below.)

He is with the U.S. Customs Service — or so this fraud says. He called my pal, George Kahak, who probably holds the world title as victim of the most scams.

I first wrote about George in my Dave Lieber Watchdog column in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The story is so fascinating that I reprinted it in my book — Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation.

I’d love for you to read the short chapter on George in this memorable excerpt.

So the other day George called me. He was about to get bit again. He won a half million dollars in a lottery. But the organizers wanted to explain to him how to claim his prize. It involved him sending money to them.

As always, I warned him off. But this time, when Inspector Luigi called George, I was there.

I asked George if I could take the phone. Then I told Inspector Luigi that George is hard of hearing. Meanwhile, I taped it for you.

Please listen to the slick, deep voice of this con artist. He’s a beaut. Each segment is just a few minutes.

In Act I, he explains the scam to me in detail.

In Act II, he continues his ridiculous explanation.

In Act III, well, here’s the real drama. He tells me where to wire the money. Then, The Watchdog confronts him. (This sound file ends when the good inspector hangs up on me.)

In Act IV, I call back a few days later and Luigi pretends he is some other guy who answers the phone. When he tries to connect me — surprise — I get disconnected.

And in the finale, Act V, he tries to pretend, once again, that he is someone else. But it’s obviously his voice.

NOTE: As of this writing, Luigi is still using the phone number he gives on the audio (1-305-224-1783), so feel free to call him and say hello before the line goes dead.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

Bastards like Luigi do this every day. There are thousands of them. They prey on your grandmother, your parents, your friends and neighbors. They are so convincing that they get enough victims to make this worthwhile. Luigi is a classic case.

Watchdog Nation can’t stop the Inspector Luigis of the world from operating, but you can expose them and make it clear to all exactly how they operate.

Please share this blog post with those whom you care about.

You can read my original Star-Telegram story about this here.

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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. His book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Please use these icons below to share this warning message on Facebook, Twitter and your other favorite social sites.

Dave Lieber: I wrote in my Watchdog column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram a little ditty about being grateful around Thanksgiving. The column contained this 14-word negative comment about credit card companies:

“Suddenly we have a common goal in our lives. Get rid of credit cards.”

Not longer after, I got scolded by an economist I know. The well-respected financial analyst e-mailed me:

“Now I fear that you’re going after the credit card industry with too much vigor. Be careful, my friend. They’re financial tools, and for people who pay their balance they’re convenient, a source of an interest free loan and cash back. They’re smart. So why would people get rid of them?? I think you narrow your appeal as a watchdog if you pander to a particular demographic.”

Of course, I thought about what this expert said. Then decided to share with you where I am coming from when I scratched those simple 14 words.

I found a recent report by The Pew Charitable Trusts that is the most devastating study of what is going on in U.S. credit companies now, i.e. the big-boy banks. I knew it was bad, but had no idea …

“One hundred percent of credit cards from the largest 12 banks used practices deemed `unfair or deceptive’ under Federal Reserve guidelines. None of these banks issued cards would meet the requirements of the Credit CARD Act of 2009.”

That simple sentence by the Pew project team couldn’t be written any clearer. But let me try anyway in my own WatchdogNation.com brand of plain talk:

The largest dirty dozen banks are breaking the law that is about to go into effect in a few months. Grab all the cookies before they put a lock on the jar. Only here, the cookies are American families getting raked by their own banks.

The banks aren’t even trying to comply. 100 percent! Not a mensch in the bunch. And this is the same group that buys Congress with PAC donations and vows, “We can regulate ourselves.”

The Dirty Dozen has so much dirt under their fingernails that the original 14 words that upset the economist were far too kind.

Time to name names, pal.

Want to know The Dirty Dozen 12 Biggest Banks? Courtesy of WatchdogNation.com via the wonderful folks at Pew:

American Express

Bank of America

Barclays

Capital One

Chase

Citi

Discover

HSBC

Target

U.S. Bank

USAA

Wells Fargo

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Final note: My Nordstrom Visa bill came recently with a new 29.99 percent rate. I called and complained. They said it was a mistake and quickly moved me back to 12.99 percent. A recent Frontline show on PBS used Nordstrom Visa as an example of bad practices. Only 9 months ago, the Nordstrom Visa card was rated as one of the best cards to get on lowcards.com. That’s how quickly things have slipped, even among the better ones. Point is: CALL AND COMPLAIN.

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The full report was written by the Pew Health Group, Shelley Hearne, Managing Director. Contributors were Nick Bourne, Eleni Constantine, Ardie Hollifield, Alexander Martone. You can learn more about their work at Pew’s Safe Credit Cards Project. You can read their full report here.

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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. His book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, won two national book awards in 2009 for social change.

Here’s something the bad guys know that you should know, too. When you stop payment on a check with your bank, it’s good for only six months.

After that, the check can be cashed unless you ask that the stop-payment order be extended.

Every state has its own law, but most are the same. [To find your state's law go to a search engine and type in, for example, "stop payment checks law in Connecticut."]

Listen to this sad tale.

Pat and Gayla Lavery had no idea of the law in their home state of Texas, and they got burned twice: once by the apparent scammer who took their $1,350 check for a vending machine he never delivered, and again, they believe, by Washington Mutual, which cashed the check six months and six days after the stop-payment order was placed. Chase Bank, which acquired WaMu last fall, won’t help the Watauga, Texas couple recover their money.

As Dave Lieber first reported in the Nov. 13 Watchdog column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Laverys said they thought that when they paid $32 to their bank, Chase, for the stop payment in August 2008, the vending machine salesman would never see the money.

Turns out that Texas law is clear: A stop payment is good for six months, and extensions must be requested by the customer and granted by the bank.

It started when Pat Lavery saw an advertisement for a vending machine on Craigslist. Lavery visited Sam Beck, the owner of Discount Vending in Dallas. Beck, Gayla Lavery says, wanted $1,350 and promised that once the check cleared, he would deliver the machine.

But when Beck made a special point of asking which bank the check was written on, Gayla Lavery got suspicious.

“I had a bad feeling about this guy from the start,” she said, “but my husband said, ‘We’ll give him the check and then go home and look him up on the Internet and we can always stop payment on the check.’?”

That night, the couple found that the Better Business Bureau had given Beck’s company an F rating, mostly for not responding to complaints.

“There were complaints about him everywhere,” she said. “I was afraid he was going to be at my bank when it opened so I went online that night and put a stop payment on the check. The bank charged me $32, but I figured it was better than losing $1,350.”

They called Beck, told him what they had done and promised to pay cash upon delivery. He said he would deliver the machine, but they never saw him again.

Six months and six days later, Beck walked into a Washington Mutual branch and cashed the check. Part of the payout came from their checking account, and when that hit zero, the rest came from overdraft protection.

The check is endorsed by Sam Beck. (The Watchdog could not reach Beck.)

The couple visited Chase. “They pulled out this big book of policies and showed me all the disclaimers to cover themselves for this,” Gayla Lavery said. “There was no disclaimer when I did the stop payment online but apparently being ethical doesn’t matter to large companies like Chase.”

She says she sent a certified letter to one of Chase’s top executives in Texas but got no response.

The Watchdog contacted Chase. Spokesman Greg Hassell shared the bank’s policy:

“For personal accounts, a stop payment is good for 180 days. Customers can place an additional stop payment order at any time” for another 180 days for an additional fee.

All Texas banks are supposed to follow the same policy. Texas law states: “A stop-payment order is effective for six months … [and may be] renewed for additional six-month periods.”

The Chase spokesman says customers are notified in person and online of the law and bank policy. He forwarded me the language used online to inform customers, but I couldn’t find any wording that warned consumers about the 180-day rule. I did find it in another area of Chase’s Web site under “Account Rules and Regulations.”

According to the Texas Department of Banking, banks don’t have to cash a check presented more than six months after it’s written — but they’re not prohibited, either.

“While the bank is not obligated to pay the check, no law states that Chase couldn’t accept the stale-dated check and pay it as written after the stop payment expired,” department spokesman Phil Lena said.

So the ultimate decision rests with the bank, and it could go either way.

The best way to solve the problem is to close the checking account. Then no more extensions need to be granted, said Shannon Phillips Jr., deputy general counsel of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas.

Before cashing a check after six months, some banks may flag an account with a hold and check with the customer. But others don’t, he said.

Phillips suggests the Laverys consider a lawsuit against Chase. “Chase is the 800-pound gorilla in this thing. If they want to take them to small-claims court, they are the consumers. Juries are usually a little more sympathetic to a consumer. This is the kind of thing that small-claims courts were established for.”

It’s a long shot because state law is clear.

Another alternative: search for a bank that is understanding and flexible with its customers.

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Watchdog Nation tips

Check online for background information on the seller before making a purchase.

Don’t pay for items until they are delivered. Never pay cash.

Be wary of advertisements. Verify everything.

To read your state law on stop payments, search online for your state’s banking and banking laws.