The world can't seem to get enough of Chip and Joanna Gaines. Texans call them the first couple of Waco.
In July, Janie Carpenter came across an ad that nearly broke her heart. It said the couple was parting ways with their famous show to "start a new project."
"It stated that she was starting up a skin cream line," Carpenter said.
It even included testimonials.
"And I thought 'woo hoo,' I'm going to try this product," she recalled.
Carpenter signed up for a free sample of "Zarza Revive Cream," but another product also appeared in her cart.
"A secondary product for an eye cream, and I had no options to delete that eye cream," she explained.
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It was only an extra $5.95 for shipping, so she just went with it.
But after receiving the two products, she realized she was charged $94 for one sample and $104 for the other.
Carpenter called the number on the website to find out why she was overcharged. She said a representative informed her that there was a 14-day window where she had to return the product, and she was already beyond that 14-day window.
When the company only agreed to a partial refund, she says she realized it may be a scam.
The Responds team in Boston found customers with similar complaints.
"About two weeks later, I was scrolling through my online banking account and I saw a couple of odd looking charges, and they were for $97 and 98 each," said Jean Straupenieks. "I couldn't determine. There were these strange names. We figured out it was this company."
The NBC 5 Responds team has learned that Joanna Gaines isn't endorsing this product.
In an April blog post, she warned fans, "I am not getting into the business of facial creams."
Her company, Magnolia Market, issued this statement:
"We are aware of the ongoing scam linking Joanna to a line of skincare products. We have been working to identify as many of the skincare scam sites as possible and we have been able to shut down several already, but we'd love everyone's help in spreading the word that this is a scam and to not click or engage with any of these ads."
Documents obtained by the Responds team show 37 complaints about the Vlamorous free trial offer have been filed with the Federal Trade Commission.
We tried calling both Vlamorous and Zarza, but couldn't reach anyone for comment.
"It was very deceiving because they made you think this was Joanna Gaines' skin products," Carpenter said.
Fortunately, she was able to dispute the second charge with her credit card company, so she got the rest of her money back.
As for the Zarza ad, it's still falsely advertising products using Joanna Gaines' name.
