After reading online about how horrible NBC’s The Biggest Loser is from a dietitian’s perspective, I decided to watch an episode. In case you’ve missed it, it’s the show where Average Joes struggle to face their diet demons while competing to win $250,000.
Then I logged on to BiggestLoserClub.com to see if there if there was helpful advice or tools for those who wanted to lose weight. Boy, was that a mistake. I signed up, paying the monthly fee to join. As part of the initial fee, you’re supposed to receive three books, including a cookbook and fitness program, as well as access to an electronic newsletter. What I received, however, were nothing more than charges to my credit card and shipments of unwanted weight-loss supplements.
Even though the letter read, “Thank you and congratulations on your FREE Trial of Lifescript,” my credit card had already been charged for the product.
After several calls, e-mails and rants, I was finally able to cancel my membership. I never received the three books that were promised as part of the initiation fee, and my scale has probably ticked up a pound from the emotional eating that resulted from my unhelpful calls to customer service.
I’m sure that many of you can relate to my experience, but you can avoid it in the future. There are several terrific weight-loss sites that offer similar calorie-counting tools, fitness programs, and weight-loss advice at no cost whatsoever. I am a fan of SparkPeople.com; you might also want to try FitDay.com. Both are 100% FREE.
Bottom line: Gritting your teeth in frustration over confusing website rules and lousy customer service is not an effective way to burn calories.
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