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Even the young and fit can die from heart disease!...
7/3/2002 12:00:00 AM
Before I start today... a bit of news! As from next week we are going to publish a 15 second newsletter on those Wednesday's that you don't receive XTEND-YOUR-LIFE.
It will be called XTEND-15sec-NEWS. Each issue will contain three items of interest with a short description followed by a link for more info. This way you can scan your email and decide if you want to read more.
Each item on each link will be contained within one page and will be quick and easy to read. I hope that you will enjoy it...
A Dishonest 'HGH' (Human Growth Hormone) Supplement?
You may recollect in the last issue I touched on the subject Of 'HGH' supplements and all the misleading info about HGH circulating on the Internet.
It created so much interest that I have decided to devote a complete issue of this newsletter to the subject of 'HGH' and maybe follow it up with a report. The newsletter on HGH will be the one after next. I've got some interesting info for you in the next issue so I will deal with that first.
After the last issue of XTEND-YOUR-LIFE I had an email from a subscriber Matthew Lange in Wisconsin. Matthew is a healthy young man who felt he could benefit from HGH. He emailed me to ask my opinion of a product he had been taking called AXIS MD.
I agreed to check it out for him.
The product and the website
The first thing that struck me was the name of the website harvardwellness.com. It gives the impression that there may be some association with 'Harvard University'.
I immediately clicked on to 'about us' and that's when the warning bells started to ring. Although the wordage was grand and noble and referred to sister companies and showed a photograph of their western 'Headquarters' there was no mention of who they were! In other words not even their own Company name let alone any of their 'sister' companies.
I am always suspicious when a company who does not name themselves puts a photograph of someone else's building on their website. In most of these buildings you can rent a room (suite) by the week.
The product they are promoting is called AXIS MD which they claim is somatotropin which is another word for Human Growth Hormone. I won't comment on the product itself as I am still doing some more detailed research on it... but what I can say is the claim is untrue. Genuine HGH which is actually correctly called rGH can only be obtained by prescription.
I continued through the website which is very, very slick and well put together... (congratulations whoever you are!)
As I went through the website I saw frequent references to somatotropin clearly giving the inference that the product they were offering was in fact genuine somatotropin or HGH.
This was further reinforced in their FAQ in which they stated that somatotropin is only manufactured by a few large pharmaceutical companies and mentioned Eli Lilly and Genentec. That is true... but what is not said is that NONE of these companies including the above two manufacture anything OTHER than the genuine injectible somatotropin which is ONLY available by prescription and rigorously monitored by the FDA.
They certainly do NOT manufacture the products 'harvardwellness' are promoting.
A big issue is also made of the NO RISK guarantee and references to 'I' without revealing who 'I' is.
The 'studies' and results which are published on the website are not I believe related to this product but rather to the genuine injectible HGH product.
Anyway, I conveyed my thoughts to Matt who decided to return his unused product for a refund. This is where it gets interesting. Matt has documented his communications and has agreed to allow us to publish them:
Matt's attempt to get a refund... his report!
Attempts to communicate my desire to return two bottles of Axis 3600, an oral HgH spray, to Harvard Wellness. Their return policy is clearly stated on their webpage!
Thursday, 6/20/2002, shortly after 11am:
I called the Harvard Wellness customer service number [949-721-4542] in an attempt to receive instructions as to how I could receive a refund. Instead of a customer service representative, I got a recorded message saying that all customer service representatives were busy at the time, and that I should leave a message. I left a message stating my name, phone number, and instructions to call me back as soon as possible.
Thursday, 6/20/2002, 7:45 pm:
I sent the following email message to: support@harvardwellness.com (the customer service address given on my invoice).
Hi.
I would like to return two bottles of Axis 3600 HgH formula that I purchased about 45 days ago. I have not yet experienced any noticeable effects of this product, which is not to say that it is ineffective for everyone, but probably has something more to do with the fact that I am a healthy 26-year-old.
The website says I need to call a customer service number on my invoice to begin the return procedure, however I called today and received no call back yet. I would like to expedite this process.
Please tell me how to return your product, and also where.
Thank you,
Matthew Lange
Monday, 6/24/2002, 12 noon:
Having received no correspondence from Harvard Wellness, I called their customer support number again. I got the same message as the first time, except that this time there was no beep to indicate I should begin to leave a message. The line simply went dead after a few moments.
Wednesday, 6/26/2002, 11:10 am:
Still no answer via phone or email. I called the customer support number again, got the same message, left my name, number, and instructions to call me back as soon as possible.
Thursday, 6/27/2002, 5:05 pm:
I called the customer support line twice. I left a message the second time. After that, I sent another email to support@harvardwellness.com.
To Whom It May Concern:
Over the last week I have attempted, through various means, to contact your company in regards to a purchase I made in early May. Please note that the purchase date was 5/05/2002, which means I am still covered by your 100 day guarantee. I have called at least 5 times at different times of the day (a number which is long-distance for me, mind you), and emailed twice. When I call, I get a recorded message stating that all customer service representatives are busy. Every time. Each time I call, I leave a message with my name (Matthew Lange), number (608 XXXXXXX) (Removed by us so Matthew does not get hundreds of calls from our subscribers - Xtend-Life), and the best time to call me (ANYTIME). I have not received any communication from your company.
The guarantee on your site states:
"If, within 100-days of any purchase from our site, you become unhappy with the quality of your product, or the service you received, simply call one of our friendly customer service assistants and request a refund. Your purchase price will be promptly refunded no questions asked. If we can't thrill our customers, we don't belong in business. And that's the way it should be."
I'm getting the feeling that I've been had. You should know that I am documenting my attempts at a refund, and I am totally prepared to take this to the Better Business Bureau and other such agencies, as well as publish this information on a website that sells health products, as a warning to others not to trust your vaunted "customer service".
Please be true to your word and inform me how I may return the two bottles of Axis 3600 I ordered.
Thank you,
Matthew Lange
[invoice: 003252]
[reference number: 002323478]
3rd July... still no refund. As they do not seem to be concerned about having this published we have done so.
The moral of the story...follow the rules I set out in the last issue of XTEND-YOUR-LIFE. Hopefully Matt will eventually get a response and a refund... but, he is not holding his breath!
Being young and fit is no protection from Heart Disease
If you are an American you will likely have heard of the unfortunate and untimely death of Darryl Kile the St Louis Cardinal's pitcher. He was 33 years old and outwardly in peak physical condition.
The autopsy findings indicates that he died from a blocked coronary artery. Many people find it quite incredible that a person so young should die of what most people believe is an old persons disease. Unfortunately it is much more common than most people realize.
In fact, athletes can even be more vulnerable than the average person. There is a reason for this! When a person engages in vigorous exercise they create an excess of free radicals. These free radicals cause tremendous amounts of damage to the body with devastating effects.
These free radicals in addition to damaging essential organs will also oxidize your cholesterol thus producing higher levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) which builds up layers of plaque in your arteries. When those levels get too high the blood flow is restricted and without warning a blockage will occur and next minute you are no longer part of this world!
Be aware that it is possible to look really good on the outside but be a walking time bomb on the inside.
To ensure that you don't become a statistic there are a number of things you can do. But, in order to do what may be necessary to ensure your safety, you have to first know what you need to do and be able to recognize what the indicators of danger are.
Please remember that nobody... even you and me, no matter how healthy we may think that we are still vulnerable to heart disease! To help you to better understand if you are vulnerable I have prepared a report which will help.
A special report about how to prevent a heart attack/stroke
This special report is available to our subscribers. It's 22 pages but easy to read. Although most of the information in it can be found within the Xtend-Life website the report is easier to follow and can be printed out to be read at your leisure...but for your health's sake don't wait too long to read it...
Just a final word on the issue of heart health. Don't overlook the value and the importance of taking a really good anti-oxidant supplement. Not only will it help combat free radicals which affect your heart but it will also slow down the general degeneration of your body.
It is interesting that even mainstream medicine is beginning to recognize the benefits of supplementation with anti-oxidants! This trend is further evidenced by the recent publication in JAMA of two articles by researchers who suggested that most people in the US should be taking supplements.
Although it could be argued that I am biased... to which I would confess, the best anti-oxidant supplement that I know of is our own Xtend-Life Total Balance. In all honesty if it wasn't we would change the formulation to make sure it was... check it out here.
Until next time,
In good health,
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: Subscribers and customers are invited to submit questions for inclusion within this newsletter. Space does not permit the publication of all Q & A's, but we promise to answer all questions directly. Your questions are considered confidential and only your first name and last initial with State or Country will be published. To ask a question please contact us.
EUGENE R of Idaho writes:
I received an email advert this week from 'Top Offers' (www.yourfreevitamins.com) offering a weight loss formula using a base of cider vinegar! What do you think?
WARREN MATTHEWS, replies:
The same 'offer' appeared in my inbox as well.
Amazing stuff! I'm surprised 'Top Offers' lowered their standards to the extent of accepting an advert for this blatant rip off! There is nothing wrong with cider vinegar however. Over the years I have often had it mixed in warm water with a bit of honey. But to say that it will achieve the claimed weight losses when combined with the few herbs that they have included, no quantities of which are stated is ABSOLUTE NONSENSE!
They also have one of the warning indicators on their website that I was talking about earlier... a claim that they are America's leading online supplier of health remedies and solutions. There seems to be a lot of 'leading' suppliers out there! Further, they do not even identify themselves let alone give a phone number or address other than Ft Lauderdale. It would be a bit like the proverbial 'needle in a haystack' should you need to find them in order to honor a guarantee!