Beware of Slim4Life and their misleading practices! See my complaint to the Better Business Bureau! Shady Business! Someone should look into Slim4Life before someone gets hurt!
The reason I started this program was due to my initial phone contact with Slim4life. It was my intention to lose weight while eating “real” food as the company heavily stresses in all of their advertising. As it turns out, their focus is on selling huge quantities of their products.
I would like to make mention of Slim4life’s “medical review”. The company dresses their employees in medical scrubs which gives the impression that they are medical personnel when, in fact, they are not. Ms. Lindblom’s reference to a” medical interview” consists of clients being asked if they are healthy enough to use their program after which they sign a statement to that affect. At no time was I given a “medical exam” or made aware of such, so what is the “medical review”?
Before I knew it, I had applied for $5000 in credit with their credit program. This happened so quickly and was so fast paced that it was difficult to follow. I have been in sales for 20 years and have never encountered a program as slick as this one. It is designed to maximize the sale of the company’s products without taking the time to fully explain their contents or how the program works. Another appointment is necessary to accomplish this! At no time prior to purchase was I given a product to examine the ingredients. The products are quickly boxed and, in my case, the representative even carried them to my car.
I began to feel bad shortly after starting on Slim4life’s “Thermo-Boost”. I was feeling tired and irritable so I mentioned this to Denise . Her response to my concerns was “drink more water”. I felt my concerns were not addressed properly. On the contrary, I felt my concerns were being shrugged off.
I had a 4-day convention to attend shortly thereafter and didn’t bring any Slim4life products along. I noticed I was starting to feel better in just a day or two. This made me wonder if there was a connection. When I returned home I re-started with the products and began noticing the same tiredness and irritability, just plain feeling crappy, again! The big turn came after I began to eat a portion of Slim4life’s pudding and noticed a tightness in my throat and on my tongue. This is when I looked hard at the ingredients and found their cappuccino product also contained aspartame. I avoid products with this ingredient, but the bottom line is that when I stopped taking all of Slim4life’s products, aspartame or not, I began to feel better.
I contacted Denise at Slim4life to voice my concerns and see if there was some way to amend this situation. Before I could explain, Denise’s response was to inform me that “all sales are final” and there was “nothin I can do” “it’s outta my hands” and that she would contact someone named Joey, but she already knew what Joey would say. Needless to say, none of my concerns were ever addressed. It was all about retaining the sale. Ms. Lindblom’s statement ,” What we probably neglected to do is try to explain why our policy is what it is” , is well represented here. It is my belief that a company with integrity will do anything it takes to make sure a client is well cared for, especially when it pertains to their clients health and well-being. Arrogance and denial has no place here.
I want to make it clear that my initial complaint to the BBB included my request for a full refund and that this request is NOT an escalation due to further avoidance by Slim4life to address this in a swift and ethical manner. The amount is significant, $2,056.99.
Further, I would like it to be known that Joey, the person I was told was an area supervisor of some type, was extremely reluctant to reveal Slim4life’s ownership when asked. She replied that she couldn’t “reveal that information at this time” and actually intentionally misled me when pressed for that information. I was finally given the name Kathryn Ott which turned out to be false. I also asked about where the products were manufactured and was never given this information. I was simply told they had many manufacturers. When I pressed her regarding this she told me she would provide me with their names…I never received this information either.
Slim4Life and their staff have made it intolerable for me to continue. I will not do business with a company that I feel is dishonest and unethical and places far more importance on their fiscal health than the physical health of their clients. A quick look at BBB complaints in both Minnesota and Colorado will illustrate the fact the company should take a long, hard look at their constrictive practices that are giving them an unsatisfactory rating even though they aren’t even BBB members. I am still asking for my original request of a full refund.
Please feel free contact me directly with any further questions.
Best regards,
Laura
On June 04, 2008, the business provided the following information:
Contact Name and Title: Dianne Lindblom Dir of Op
Contact Phone: 720-384-3187
Contact Email: dianne@slim4life.com
June 4, 2008
Response to Consumer Complaint
Case # 7505123
Laura Hansen
This is in response to the complaint filed by Ms. Laura Hansen.
Ms. Hansen said she "would have NEVER taken their product if I would have known they contained Aspartame." If Ms. Hansen would have disclosed to us that she had sensitivity to Aspartame, our staff never would have allowed her to purchase products that contained Aspartame. She had ample opportunity during our medical review when we asked her if she had any sensitivities or allergies. Her only reply both at this time and when she completed her consultation sheet was that she had allergies to some soaps, Tide & Zest. These questions were asked prior to Ms. Hanson enrolling in the Slim4Life program and again before she purchased thermo-snacks. She denied having any sensitivities both times she was asked to disclose them, with the exception of soap. This fact is documented in her file. One would think that she would know right away to reveal this information when asked the question, if this is such a concern to her. The degree to which Ms. Hansen is reacting to how dangerous Aspartame must be, one would think that this is not something she would forget about or overlook. The facts are, if Aspartame was such a dangerous product, the FDA would take it off the market.
Ms. Hansen is correct about stating she approached Denise in our center about exchanging her products containing Aspartame, and was told that our policy would not allow any exchanges, returns or refunds. What we probably neglected to do is try to explain why our policy is what it is. Maybe there would have been a better understanding at that point. Thus, Ms. Hansen was probably left feeling like she had nowhere to turn. However, Denise did advise her that she would discuss her dilemma with her Area Director, Joey, and would get back to her.
In this process, Joey called Ms. Hansen to discuss this situation with her. During this call Joey reiterated our policy of no exchanges, but told her she would take the situation to our Advisory Committee to see if they would make an exception to this policy, especially since Ms. Hansen said she would like to continue with her program if she could exchange her product. Joey told her the Committee was meeting the next day, Wednesday the 28th. Ms. Hansen told Joey that would be ok. Joey was to get back to Ms. Hansen after the meeting with the decision.
Rather than wait for Joey to get back to her with the Committee's decision, Ms. Hansen filed this complaint with the BBB on the 27th, the same day she spoke with Joey and agreed to let it go before the Committee. The Advisory Committee subsequently agreed to make an exception to the no exchange policy, on the basis that she had agreed to continue with her program. We thought it would be a great opportunity to help her complete her weight loss objectives, and we did sympathize with her situation. Joey called Ms. Hansen on the 28th with the news that we would exchange her product, as she requested. At that point, everything seemed to be satisfactory, and Joey told her we would review each product she had to make certain they did not contain Aspartame. Ms. Hanson never mentioned that she had already escalated her complaint; in fact, she led us to believe that this situation had been resolved to her satisfaction.
This whole issue has been blown out of proportion due to Ms. Hansen's impatience. Ms. Hansen, in fact, later admitted that she was angry and filed her complaint with the BBB immediately after talking with Denise the first time, before Joey even came into the picture. Why would she not mention that to Joey when Joey was trying to get a resolution for her with the Committee? Ms. Hansen is over-reacting to a situation that could have been prevented if she had been more patient and, even more importantly, avoided all together if she would have originally disclosed to us her sensitivity to Aspartame. Ms. Hansen should accept responsibility for causing this event in the first place.
Slim4Life handled her complaint expediently and fairly and our offer to exchange her product containing aspartame for product that does not was the resolution she initially asked for. To now, not accept any responsibility for this concern, to not return our phone calls accepting the resolution she initially asked for and to threaten to further take her complaint to the Tom Martino show, is unjust and disingenuous . Her complaint is essentially without merit.
It seems further disingenuous of Ms. Hansen to up the ante each time we talk to her. With each succeeding conversation, she has asked for more than her initial exchange of product and now wants a full refund, blaming us for the way we managed this situation and making it intolerable for her to continue her program. Again, she is the one who created this problem by not disclosing to us her sensitivity to Aspartame. The complaint resolution process requires fair consideration from both parties. Ms. Hansen apparently does not feel that she needs to participate in that process.
The team of professionals at Slim4Life made a fair, quick and generous offer to Ms. Hansen, which we will continue to stand by. We will exchange her product containing Aspartame for non-Aspartame product, and she can continue her program if she desires. The offer to make this exchange will be valid only within two weeks from the time the BBB forwards our response to Ms. Hansen. After that time, if we do not hear from Ms. Hansen, our exchange offer will expire and we will assume that Ms. Hansen has decided not to continue her program. Refunds of any other nature will not be considered.
We will await a response from Ms. Hansen.
Sincerely,
Slim4Life Advisory Committee
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