Untrustworthy Product FAQ

As you make your way around our site, you might have come across an icon that looks like this.

https://www.supplementcritique.com/wp content/uploads/2018/08/untrustworthy product

So, What Exactly is an “Untrustworthy Product”?

An untrustworthy product is just that, untrustworthy.

We have determined through our research, testing, and analysis, that this particular supplement is doing something deceitful, and you shouldn’t consider using it.

See how we rate products as “Trustworthy” here.

What makes a product “Untrustworthy?”

There are various reasons why a product may be deemed untrustworthy.

It can be a combination of the below factors, or even just one of them.

They include:

  1. Injecting illegal (or dangerous) ingredients into their formula.

We’ve come across a LOT of products that do this. They’ll put an illegal ingredient (like Sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra) into their supposed “herbal supplement” in an effort to make it work.

Even though this may make the product “work”, there are severe dangers to this.

Some supplements that have been caught doing this include:

Any many others…

If we come across a product that is doing this, rest assured it will be marked as an “untrustworthy product”.

2. They are scamming people with a “free trial”

Free trials can be good, sometimes. For example, Netflix used to run a free trial of their service which allowed you to get streaming content for 14 days.

Another example would be Planet Fitness’ free trial.

When it comes to supplements, the problem with free trials is that many of them:

  • Hide the fine print

They will list the terms and conditions of the trial on an obscure / hidden area of the page. Most times it will be way down at the bottom, below where you would enter in your credit card details.

rejuva brain terms and conditions

Sometimes, you won’t even see the terms and conditions on the page, like this:

https://www.supplementcritique.com/wp content/uploads/2018/08/missing terms and conditions

  • Make them impossible to read

In some instances, the terms and conditions will be on the page, but it will be in size 7 font and with a very light grey text.

cognilift terms and conditions

This can be nearly impossible to read, and they are clearly trying to deceive you.

3. They’re using deceptive marketing to advertise their product

This is a big one. You’ll see ads all over social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, claiming that some celebrity has used a particular supplement.

This is VERY common with Nootropic supplements, otherwise known as “brain boosters”.

Here’s a few examples of ads like this:

intellux ad facebook

cognifocus facebook ad

It’s not limited to Nootropics, either. We’ve seen ads like this for virtually every category of supplements, including:

test boost elite facebook ad
This one led to an ad about a Testosterone Booster.
shark tank yoojin and angela kim facebook ad
Another one for a testosterone booster
alpha monster facebook ad
This one was for a weight loss pill

We do our best to expose these ads when we see them, but many of them slip through the cracks.

If you ever come across an ad on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest that looks suspicious, drop us an email with the link to the ad here.

We’ll even pay you $20 if we end up writing an article exposing the scam!

4. They make outlandish claims without evidence to back it up

The FDA does a pretty good job of keeping track of supplements that are doing this, but occasionally some of them will slip through the cracks.

This is VERY true in when it comes to supplements in the male enhancement vertical.

Many of them will make outlandish claims, most noteworthy being that their supplement will increase the size of your pecker.

3 inches in 3 weeks ad
Like this one for Xanogen and HGH Factor

We’ve personally tested dozens of supplements that make this claim, and not ONE of them ever lived up to it’s promises.

5. They ignore customer emails / phone calls

This one never ceases to amaze me. There are literally dozens of supplement brands that are simply NON RESPONSIVE to customer concerns.

https://www.supplementcritique.com/wp content/uploads/2018/09/ignored

The repeatedly ignore customer emails and / or phone calls, whether it be for questions on how to use the product itself, information on how to get a refund, or other common questions.

If we get enough complaints of a company not following up with their customers in a timely fashion, rest assured they will be marked as “Untrustworthy”.

Our Promise To You

  • We can’t be bought

We’re not paid to change products from “Trusted” to “Untrustworthy”, nor would we ever accept payment to do such a thing.

Trust me, we’ve been offered a lot of money in the past to change our opinions of certain products, and have NEVER budged.

  • We WILL mark a formerly tested product as “Untrustworthy” if something changes

Just because a product is marked Trustworthy doesn’t mean that can’t change.

We’ve had several products that we’ve tested in the past that were marked as “Trusted”, only to find out later on that they were injecting illegal ingredients, scamming people with a free trial, or otherwise deceiving customers.

If a supplement is caught doing this, they WILL be marked as “Untrustworthy”.

Conclusion

While we haven’t rated each supplement that’s been reviewed on this site as trustworthy or untrustworthy, as we get around to testing them out we make modifications to pages all the time.

If you have any questions about how we rate untrustworthy products, you can always email us here. We’d love the hear from you!