About a month back, I followed a link off of Prime Beauty 50 to trial the Stages of Beauty skincare cream, for just the cost of shipping and handling. What I didn't realize is that this effectively signed me up to receive a month's supply of the cream every month, at the full retail price of course. I thought I was just signing up for the 14-day trial supply, and if I never ordered anything else from them ever…that would be it. I had noticed the charge on my card earlier that day, and wondered about it, but work got hectic and I didn't get a chance to follow up. Then when I went to my post office box to pick up a few packages - some books, my Zoya Earth Day order, my regular mail - I also got another unexpected package from Stages of Beauty.

Hm, I thought. I wonder what this is? They already sent me the trial creme, maybe their system just glitched? And then I opened the invoice to see the charge of $69.99 (plus shipping.)

I was less than thrilled to see the charge - especially since, when I had received that initial trial, there was nothing on that invoice about any future shipments or my enrollment in some kind of auto-delivery plan. I looked at the new invoice, and for “Next Ship Date” the date was 0001-01-01 - which looked like their computer wouldn't be sending anything out, unless it rolled over to Year One somehow or found a way to ship things back through time. I thought I'd have to call their customer service the next day, since it was already after 6pm Pacific time. Luckily, their customer service is open until 9pm Central time. I got home, spoke with a rep named Kristen, and did get my membership cancelled.

Be aware that what they're doing isn't precisely illegal. I don't remember anything on the site about being automatically charged for future shipments unless I cancelled, but that might have been there in very fine print (which is a little bit dodgy IMHO. But anyhoo.) The good side is, if you are also one of the people who signed up for their trial (whether 14 days, 30 days, whatever) be aware that you do not have to stay with this plan. You can call them up as soon as you receive the first shipment (or even before - the instant you notice the charge on your card), tell them that you want to opt out, and ask them to refund your money and don't charge you for any future shipments. They'll try to get you to agree to paying a lower price, they'll try anything to get you to stay with their program and thus give the company a recurring revenue stream. Unless you have tried the product and really like it and genuinely want it, though…know that you don't have to just passively accept this shipment. Unless you explicitly agreed, if a company is less than straightforward about getting you signed up for some kind of auto-delivery service, you do not have to just accept it, or even just accept that first shipment. Just be sure to call the company straightaway, be firm but polite, say that you did not intend to get on their autodelivery program and want your money refunded.

I did use the stuff for a little over two weeks straight, when I got the trial cream. It worked fine, but I didn't see a noticeable difference from my normal skincare regimen - which costs me a hell of a lot less money than $69.99 for one month's supply. As with all beauty products, your mileage may vary. Some of you out there may genuinely like the product, and it may work better for you than what you've been using. If this is what you want, then go for it, by all means. But if you're like me - and you didn't think you were signing up for anything other than that initial trial - don't just sit back and take the hit. Call them up and they should cancel the charge and drop you from the program.

The customer service number for Stages of Beauty is right on the invoice (1-877-869-3162, M-F 7am to 9pm Central time). You'll need to give them your name to cancel - I had my invoice with the order number, but they never asked for that, they just got my name and looked me up that way. I then received a confirmation email telling me that my charge would be refunded, and that my participation in their program was cancelled. I've found my initial receipt from the trial-order and the initial email-receipt from my trial order, and nowhere in either of those documents does it mention this auto-delivery program. I'm not entirely thrilled…but I am happy that I now have legal acknowledgement that they'll refund the charges and not send me any further shipments.

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