Thursday, January 26, 2017

Million dollar inaccurate breathalyzer "was deceptive and dangerous"



Breathometer"s "A01 Smartphone Breathalyzer" billed as the "world"s first smartphone breathalyzer" is a failure! The Breathometer company which ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, received $1 million from wealthy investors on "Shark Tank" to develop a smartphone breathalyzer.


FTC calls Breathometer inaccurate and deceptive



The Breathometer was so inaccurate the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) forced them to stop selling their "law enforcement-grade" breathalyzer.

Breathometer claimed they could accurately calculate a person"s blood alcohol content from 0.000% to 0.250%. But the FTC discovered, it was all a lie.

"Breathometer agreed to settle FTC charges that they lacked scientific evidence to back up their advertising claims. Overstating the accuracy of the devices was deceptive — and dangerous.”

Breathometer is also permanently banned from making any breathalyzers or Breathometer apps. unless such claims can be supported by rigorous testing. The company"s CEO Charles Michael Yim also agreed to compliance monitoring and reporting for TEN years




Shark Tank is still promoting the Breathometer






As of today "Shark Tank Products" is still promoting, the Breathometer! 

They claim, it "gives you an accurate measurement of your blood alcohol content. The Breathometer app on your smartphone instantly displays an accurate BAC reading so that you can make an informed decision. It also provides an estimate on when your BAC will return to zero."

Why would "Shark Tank", still be promoting a deceptive product you ask? According to the FTC, Breathometer made investors $5.1 million, so in one sense it wasn"t a total failure. Was it all about the money? Why didn"t the FTC force "Shark Tank investors" to return their profits?




Breathometer customers forced to pay their own shipping



Breathometer agreed to provide refunds for everyone that purchased their inaccurate breathalyzer, but their refund policy makes it extremely hard for customers to ever get a refund. Customers have a 30 day window from the date of purchase and must send it back in its original box. They also have to pay their own shipping!

So to re-cap, customers were deceived into purchasing a inaccurate product and had to pay shipping & handling, now they"re being asked to pay it a second time? Hey Breathometer, why didn"t you send all your customers RMA"s so they don"t have to pay shipping & handling a SECOND time!

Why didn"t the FTC force Breathometer to pay for all the DUI"s people got using an inaccurate breathalyzer?

A recent "verified" Amazon purchase dated January 11, 2017 warns people, "DO NOT PURCHASE THIS. IT DOES NOT WORK AND YOU HAVE NO OPTION FOR A REFUND. INCREDIBLY ANGRY"

Breathalyzer redesigned to be a bad breath detector


 

Breathometer only sells oral breath testers now, because the FTC forbids them from making any product that doesn"t "rely on competent scientific evidence by experts." Their Mint bad breath tester claims, high sulfur compounds in a person"s mouth can be an indicator of poor oral health.






Well I guess, if the Feds forced you to stop making breathalyzers, then yeah, you"re only option is to be a "pioneer" in the bad breath field. 

No comments:

Post a Comment