A Fairfield company that marketed a system that claimed to improve your eyesight has agreed to shut down in the wake of a lawsuit by the state. The company will also pay 200-thousand dollars in restitution for customers. Attorney General Tom Miller says “Vision Improvement Technologies” made millions of dollars selling its product.
Miller says it was called the “See Clearly Method” and claimed it could improve someone’s vision so the person would not need glasses. Miller says people paid about 350-dollars for the program that was a series of eye exercises. Miller says they sued in August of this year claiming the product could not be proven effective.
Miller says the core of the case had they gone to court was the requirement under federal and state law that medical claims have to have substantial scientific basis. Miller says the company never had substantial evidence that the product improved people’s eyesight. Miller says the company had people endorse the product that were seen without their glasses in promoting the product, but later were wearing their glasses again.
Miller says there were also problems with the company’s refund process. Miller says about half the people who bought the product took advantage of the 30-day refund policy. Miller says the 50-percent refund rate is “remarkable” as the company tried to “fuzz up, jimmy up” the refund process to make it hard to complete. Miller says the 200-thousand will pay refunds for people who bought the product, and there are other provisions for repayment.
Miller says if you purchased the product and still have payments to make, the company cannot collect on the payments. And if failing to pay damaged your credit history, the company has to repair your credit history. Miller says the company stopped selling the product Monday (November 1) and will shut down totally December 22nd.
Miller says the owners of the company are Cliff Rose, David Sykes and Gary Korf, who all live in Fairfield, and David Muris, who lives in California. If you bought the product and want your money back, call the Iowa Attorney General’s office.