by Reagan Miers

The popularity of obtaining free hoodia samples is on the rise. If you don’t know very much about hoodia gordonii, it helps people lose weight because it’s a natural appetite suppressant. Hoodia is an all-natural supplement that is very safe and has virtually no side effects. Hoodia is becoming one of the top weight loss pills on the market.

With so many brands of hoodia available, it is only natural that supplement companies offer to give consumers free hoodia samples. Of course, companies hope that once you try their hoodia you will come back and buy more. Many people see giving away free hoodia samples as a win-win situation for everyone involved. The consumer gets free hoodia samples and the company gets a potential customer.

There is a down side to getting those free hoodia samples that you should know about. It is believed that upwards of 80% of the hoodia in the marketplace is not authentic. Since only products made with authentic hoodia gordonii can suppress your appetite, trying out these fakes is really a waste of time. Trying these freebies may also give you a bad impression of hoodia if your samples didn’t work!

Before you enter into these free hoodia trials, you need to make sure that what you are getting is authentic. Since most hoodia diet pills are fake, you need to know what to look for to avoid being scammed. While there are several things to look for before you accept these free hoodia samples, the two most important are CITES certificates and independent lab test results.

To legally export hoodia gordonii from its native country of South Africa, companies must obtain CITES certificates. Without one, companies are not allowed to export hoodia gordonii from South Africa. Companies that have purchased authentic hoodia from South Africa will display their CITES certificates to prove their product is the real deal. They will also go a step further and have their hoodia randomly tested by independent labs that verify the plant’s authenticity.

Companies that are on the up-and-up will display their certificates and lab test results. It is there way of assuring consumers that they are using authentic hoodia in their products. If you find yourself on a website and you can’t locate a CITES certificates or lab test results, you can be guaranteed they are not dealing in authentic hoodia. Agreeing to receive free hoodia samples from them is a bad idea.

The other thing to be cautious of with these free hoodia trials is the actual cost of accepting them. When you sign up for these free hoodia samples you are usually charged a small shipping and handling fee. You are given a certain amount of time to sample the product. If you don’t do anything after the trial period ends, you are charged for the products and are automatically enrolled in an autoship program.

When a company signs you up in an autoship program this means they will send you a supply of their product on a regular basis and charge you for it. Granted, these kinds of programs are very nice for someone if they are dealing with a company that is dealing in authentic hoodia gordonii products. In fact, it can be very cost effective and convenient.

The catch is to make sure you know how to cancel out of the trial before you get signed up for something you don’t want to be shipped to you. Make sure you know how to get yourself out of an autoship program if you find you don’t want it, later. Many times getting out of these programs is very difficult.

There are countless individuals who have found their credit is ruined because they naively agreed to receive free hoodia samples. Many of these people didn’t know they were going to be autoshipped anything in the future. When they would try to cancel out of the program, they were unable to get in touch with anyone, or their requests to quit were ignored. Yet, month after month their credit card is billed.

Before you agree to receive any free hoodia samples, read all of the information involved. Call the number given to you as a point of contact to verify that you can indeed reach a live individual on the other end. Once you do reach them by telephone, get a feel for their company by asking questions about their offer.

You should do the same with any email addresses that are given to you. Send out an email to the address to see if you get a personal response from someone. Did they answer your questions? Did they get back to you in a timely fashion? If you can’t reach a live person, or if your emails are ignored, forego the free hoodia trial. It probably isn’t worth the hassle you may find yourself in down the road.

Getting free hoodia samples and enrolling in hoodia trials is a great way to sample products and save money in the process. With a little caution you can easily weed out the bad companies from the good ones. As always, before you give out your credit card information to anyone, make sure you know who you are dealing with and do your research.

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