Things you need to watch out for…

A letter written by Hoodia Products CEO Jacob Mullins, to all Hoodia customers.

Kedric and I have been in the hoodia business for nearly four years now, and in those four years we have encountered many problems and overcome many obstacles that have stood in the way of two entrepreneurs.  We have stories of making the wrong decisions, stories of being lied to, and stories of being duped.  Most of these cases were costly and forced to taking things into our own hands and to never trust someone on their word. 

These mistakes have helped lead our company in the direction that we have gone, to have the most stringent quality control procedures around and to make sure that every bottle of Hoodia that we sell can be identified and matched to the test results proving its’ authenticity.

Obviously, if you’re reading this, you are researching Hoodia and you want to find a product that actually helps you lose weight.  Well, the first step to getting a product that helps in weight loss, is to make sure that you’re getting a product that contains real Hoodia.  Unfortunately, today, the Hoodia industry is being flooded with bogus products and many of them contain no Hoodia at all. Click here to find out, why are there so many fake Hoodia products?

From me, to you, here are the things that you need to look out for:

1) Watch out for companies that don’t have a mailing address or company telephone number – and call it!
        
Many of the “hoodia” companies listed online are fronts for illegitimate businesses that want nothing more but to gain access to your personal information and credit card numbers.  We receive dozens of calls per week from frantic customers trying to track down the company who they ordered “hoodia” from, who is now charging them at will.  
        
For some reason Hoodia Products International is the ONLY listed phone number under Hoodia companies in 411-information in the United States.  I am amazed at this!  The fact of the matter is, the people who are selling you these “hoodia” products, never actually want to hear from you again.

2) Watch out for “14-day trials.”
        
Many of these companies will lure customers in through a “14-day trial offer” where all you have to do is pay for the shipping.  Well, in taking your credit card number for shipping purposes, they have access to your money and will charge your credit card anywhere from $50 to $100 after two weeks.  What they didn’t tell you is that by agreeing to the “14-day trial” you’ve also agreed to all the “fine print” that goes along with this offer.
        
And it is nearly impossible to find these companies’ offices, or a phone number or even an email address you can get a response from.  These people are in the business of collecting money, not selling Hoodia.

3) Watch out for inexpensive hoodia products.
        
Today, the price of real Hoodia is VERY expensive.  This is due to the huge market demand for Hoodia and a temporary short supply of the plant.  Market economics says that high demand and low supply levels causes a spike in price.  This is exactly the case.

Watch out for companies that are claiming to sell hoodia for anything less than $30 dollars.  The only way this is possible is if they are diluting their Hoodia with bulk fillers, or they are selling fake Hoodia.  Remember, however, that in order for appetite suppression to be achieved you need a minimum of around 1200 milligrams per day in your system.

4) Watch out for extracts, syrums, potions, patches or anything that isn’t the pure Hoodia plant.

In the traditional usage the San Bushmen of the Kalahari would eat raw Hoodia.  On long hunting trips they would break off a piece of the plant, shave off the spines, and eat it – just like that.  Five years ago, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies began studying Hoodia and looking for the “active ingredients” in order to isolate them and synthesize a more efficient product.  This study did yield a patent, however, the project was eventually dropped because the results from the synthesized compound were simply not as effective as the natural plant.
        
Today the same is evident and the reason why companies want you to buy a more effective “liquid,” or “syrum,” or “patch” is so that they don’t have to actually buy real Hoodia, or they can drop a bit of Hoodia in a bottle of water and sell it to you as a “syrum.” 
        
Look around and do the research, but in the end the fact of the matter is that the more Hoodia you get the better.  Do you even know how much Hoodia is in the liquid, or on the patch…?  (Also, for my own interest, if you can figure out how to get a cactus onto a patch, please email me here.) 

5) Watch out for vague ingredient lists.

Because many manufacturers don’t want to go to the trouble of obtaining real Hoodia, many times they dilute their current supply or don’t have any Hoodia at all.  This is evident in the “Supplement Facts” section of the bottle.  First of all, make sure it has a “Supplement Facts” section.  Secondly, read it.  Watch out for the words “proprietary blend.”  If the ingredients and their amounts are not listed…be wary! 

Ask yourself, why wouldn’t you want to let your customers know exactly how much good, pure, healthy Hoodia they are actually getting?

6) Watch out for massive Hoodia brands that sell in nationwide retailers.

This is similar to the answer of why Hoodia is so expensive….because there is such a short supply!  Now if there is such a short supply, how can there be a real Hoodia product selling in the nation’s largest health food store chains, or retail bargain outlets?  It is simply impossible for there to be one tenth of the amount of Hoodia in the entire world to supply just one of these massive chains. 
        
For more information on the limited supply of Hoodia and the impossibility of supplying the world, please read here.

7) Watch out for spam emails.
        
Spamming is the most annoying advertising method invented in the last one hundred years.  For a product such as Hoodia where quality is absolutely key, why would a company advertise via mass email.  A company with this business model is looking to maximize the number of bottle sold, not the quality of effectiveness of each bottle.  This seems shady to me.  If, however, you do respond to a spam ad, just make that the company selling you the hoodia fits the bill of other things to watch out for…

8) Watch out for companies who don’t have a CITES certificate for their Hoodia.

A CITES certificate is a document that does two things.  Firstly, because the material is inspected and certified by international customs authorities it verifies that the plant material being exported is Hoodia.  Secondly, it verifies that the material is not poached and was exported legally. 

However, it’s important to note that while a CITES certificate is one piece in the puzzle of proving 100% pure Hoodia, it is by no means the only thing a company should have. 
        
9) Watch out for companies who don’t prove they have real Hoodia.

The easiest way to show you are a real company that sells real Hoodia is to prove it via definitive testing.  I mean, if you have real Hoodia, and you’re selling it in a flooded market that reeks of fake Hoodia, why wouldn’t you be quick to shout to the rooftops that you do, in fact, have real Hoodia!
        
This testing, HPLC, TLC and Microscopy (details of which can be read about here) must be done by an independent lab, and the company should be eager to show these tests to their customers.  These tests are not difficult and relatively inexpensive to do.  Think about this, if you were selling real Hoodia why wouldn’t you want to prove it to your customers?

10) Watch out for C of A’s (Certificate of Authenticity)

Many companies that are selling Hoodia are quick to provide their “Certificate of Authenticity” or “C of A” for their Hoodia.  This document does not mean a gosh-darn thing.

A Certificate of Authenticity is simply a form that is filled out that describes the material, and it can be made up by any raw material supplier, me, or your next door neighbor.  The information is never tested, cross referenced or verified against anything or by anyone, to make sure that it is truthful.  It’s essentially the same as me emailing you telling you what you want to hear.

11) Watch out for companies who claim to have been THE ONE product suggested by Oprah, The Today Show, 60 Minutes, etc.
        
Over the past year and a half the Hoodia plant has been gaining a lot of interest and buzz from the media community.  Oprah wrote about Hoodia in her July 2005 issue of “ ‘O’ Magazine,” 60 Minutes sent Lesley Stahl to South Africa to report on the Hoodia plant in 2004 and The Today Show did two spots on Hoodia in November of 2005.  This sort of interest from independent news sources is great!
        
However, in all of these spots there has never been ONE particular Hoodia product suggested or pushed.  These news pieces were on the plant itself and the state of the industry, they were not advertisements.  If a company claims to  be “the one” product suggested by Oprah or 60 Minutes – they are lying.  I wouldn’t buy from a company who told me false information, would you?

Wrapping up...

So there it is, those are some of the "buzz" words and phrases to watch out for when you're looking into purchasing a Hoodia product. Remember, the most important thing is making sure you get real Hoodia. For, if you don't get real Hoodia, you can never expect to have successful appetite suppression and weight loss.

Please feel free to contact me at any point, thank you and best wishes,

Jacob V.O. Mullins
CEO, Hoodia Products International, Inc.