To Cheat Customers

Using The "Embarrassment Factor" To Cheat Customers

A consumer protection group for retired persons in Florida says it has received complaints that suggest 30% of vendors of cheap Viagra, Cialis and Levitra online are offering erectile dysfunction medications that may not be the genuine article. And getting away with it.

"We believe these vendors are counting on the embarrassment customers might feel over ordering such a product," says a spokesman for the group. "When you order something online, privacy is a key motivation, and if your treatment doesn't work, you may well feel inhibited over making a complaint to a third party, such as government authorities which protect the consumer."

Add to this disappointment the fact that many of the cheap sellers pushing "generic" Viagra or Cialis can pad their prices with hidden charges and high fees for medical consultations. A consultation is standard when you buy prescription products online. You have to fill out an online form that's eviewed by a licensed physician. Respectable online pharmacies don't charge extra for this, they factor it into their operating costs and view it as a necessary step in providing a comprehensive service... not an opportunity to gouge their customers.

A pharmaceutical consultant put it to us this way: "It's extremely irresponsible for these cut-rate vendors to offer a cheaper copy version because we're talking about pharmaceutical drugs – ingesting something foreign into your system. When you purchase Viagra, Levitra or Cialis through a reputable online drugstore, you can be sure you're getting the genuine brand name product dispensed by pharmacists and doctors who take into account how these erectile dysfunction drugs might affect you and your health, what side effects you might experience, any contraindications, a whole range of things. But these other guys are selling something that might have a completely different effect on you.... or no effect whatsoever."

Men Misusing Viagra

The men included in the study were all attending a love making resort in northeastern Georgia, and the findings are not representative of trends among all gay men.

U.S. investigators Richard Crosby of the University of Kentucky in Lexington and his co-author R. J. DiClemente found that men in the study who experimented with cocaine and ecstasy were nearly three times more likely to have used Viagra without a prescription in the previous three months. Many obtain free samples of generic viagra and other drugs at websites like PillSamples.com . Nevertheless, the results raise concerns, Crosby and DiClemente write.

Taking Viagra may increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) because the drug can prolong intimicy and enhance the size of an erection, which increases friction, they note. These are two effects "that could conceivably foster tissue abrasion and therefore increase the odds of STI transmission," they write in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.