Activated You’s Morning Complete – Not a hassle-free money back guarantee
Quick Notes –
-Product advertises very well, connecting with a lot of people
-Did not work for me
-90-day hassle-free money back guarantee is BS
The Long Version –
I admit it, I was fooled!
Bloatedness and not going regularly (only going every few days or so) has been something that I’ve been dealing with for years. I saw an ad for a product with someone named Maggie Q talking about nearly the same issues that I’ve been having – the bloating and not being able to go regularly, and how this product called Morning Complete (by Activated You) had helped Maggie with those issues. I later learn she’s part of the company.
The Advertisement
Morning Complete is advertised as a daily wellness drink that tastes like apple cinnamon, loaded with prebiotics (to help the good bacteria in the gut), probiotics (to replenish and nourish the good bacteria in your gut as well as enhance digestive functions and health), and energy nutrients from green leafy veggies (to help get through the day without energy crashes).
The Packaging
It comes as a powder in a jar, with a scoop inside. The amount of powder in the jar reminds me of a bag of chips, some chips on the bottom, with lots of filler air on top, but each jar does contain 30 scoops.
Recommended Consumption
Per the company’s FB comments, to get the best results with the product, you should drink it first thing in the morning, at least 15 minutes before consuming other stuff. Also, the powder goes in the fridge after each use. That doesn’t sound too bad, as I’d just need to grab an 8oz+ cup, put in 1 scoop of morning complete supplement, pour in 8oz of water, stir, drink, wait 15+ mins to finally have my coffee and food. The company says you can also mix the powder in a smoothie, but that sort of counters the no food/drink until after 15+ mins to me. Besides, I’m not going to find my old blender, blast it on while everyone else in the house is asleep, and clean the thing just for one drink.
A darn Facebook ad cause Facebook knows I have issues
I first saw the ad on Facebook (curses), and read a lot of comments re: how it worked for their digestion issues and such. There were many comments asking if the product works, and responses from the company saying to give them a try and if you didn’t get the desired results within the 90 days, they would refund the money without any fancy T&Cs in the responses. OK, so it doesn’t hurt to try, since they really stand behind their product, right?
The ordering process –
So I started the ordering process, and should have known that the product would most likely not work, but didn’t think about it then. I was so focused on how my bloating and constipation would be reduced significantly, so I proceeded to check out. The morning complete product is expensive – $79 for a jar that lasts 30 days, but there was a discount that overall each jar was around $45. Since most comments I read mentioned to try for 90 days because it may not work immediately as the body may need to get used to the product, I ordered 3 jars so that it would last me 90 days.
Some more BS
There were so many additional pages of advertisements of Activated You’s other products and to add additional jars of Morning Complete at a discounted price before the final stage of the check-out process. These additional pages appeared after providing your payment instructions, so they’d end up charging you more if you clicked yes to any of the products (including get 3 jars of Activated You for $119 or something, but it’s actually an add-on to your order and not to discount your original order). I kept clicking “no” and my card was finally charged for just the 3 jars.
When the jars arrived –
The jars came in the mail quickly, and I started the process the morning after. I opened a jar, scooped one scoop of powder in a cup, added 8oz of water (cold/room-temp), stirred, and quickly drank it. It did not look appealing, but that didn’t matter. The apple cinnamon taste didn’t really bother me, but it wasn’t too pleasant either, so I drank it quickly rather than “savor” it. Besides, the quicker I got the last drop in me, the sooner I could have my coffee.
Just kept up with it…
I kept up with that process for 90 days (wow, go me). During the first week, I’ve noticed more gassiness, but no decrease in bloating or help going regularly. The company says this is normal as it’s expected to have “die-off” symptoms as the good bacteria crowds out the bad stuff. After I finished the first jar, I hadn’t noticed any improvements to my bloating and going, and I was getting a bit frustrated. I thought maybe my body was just taking a bit longer to show results, but there was still nothing after the second jar.
Not Satisfied…
I contacted their customer service as I was finishing up my third jar to see if there’s anything else I should be doing and expressed my dissatisfaction with the product. The response (same day) included the following –
- If I’m not satisfied by the end of the 90 day money back guarantee, contact them and they will assist further.
- Increase water intake, reduce sugar as much as possible, avoid processed foods, avoid bread as much as possible, add raw vegetables to your diet, use natural zero-sugar sweeteners, locally sourced raw honey can also be used.
What’s the point of the product?
Seriously… all that about changing my diet while using the product? Wouldn’t the diet be doing most of the work with no real way to know if the product is even helping? Based on the advertisements, it was to be believed that the actual product would help with the digestive tract, and not require completely changing one’s diet. It seemed really ridiculous to me to the point where I got rather frustrated at them for trying to push further use of the product and saying the changing diet stuff, and mad at myself for getting fooled to buy this product in the first place.
Time to ask for that refund…
I responded the day after saying again that I was dissatisfied and asked if I could get a refund or at least a partial refund (I felt bad if they would refund the whole amount no questions asked especially for shipping the product initially, so I also asked partial too). I got a response 3 days later, which gave me quick tips that helped others experience incredible results – set an alarm, take it with a full 8oz water, stick to natural sugars, and do at least 2/3 or 3/3 of those, which I already have been doing the past 90 days!
No refund yet…
After some further emails later, they finally emailed me a refund request form, which had me confirm some information and to include a reason for the refund. It also told me to send back the product and include tracking, and how they are not responsible if they never receive the return package, etc. My first question was, “how do I return something if I already consumed it?” I went ahead and asked, and they mentioned I should send back the empty jars and that I would need to pay for the return shipping.
Not free returns, and who keeps ALL their empty jars around?
Wow… the empty jars? Once I’m done with a jar, I toss it unless it looks or feels nice enough for me to reuse it for something else, and the Activated You Morning Complete jars are not those types of jars so they went straight to recycling. I wrote back to mention I tossed the jars after they were empty. They told me the jars, whether full, partially full or empty, needed to be sent back for the money back guarantee so they could track and keep a record of all returned inventory based on specific lot numbers. Really? They don’t do that before shipping the products out? Why would I keep those jars lying around unless I was planning to return it from the start?
What a hassle…
So I responded saying that their “policy” was confusing and asked if it was mentioned during the purchasing process or came packed with the products, and also mentioned that the “policy” didn’t seem like a no-questions-asked money back guarantee as advertised. With the back-and-forth of emails, they finally offered me a refund of 40% without me having to ship back anything. It wasn’t 100% money back, but it was something, though it took a lot of back and forth.
Nope, learned my lesson
Overall, that was quite an interesting experience that I do not plan on repeating again. The product may be a miracle to other people, but for me it’s a no.
