Trim Down Club has become the first health program to move from Contra Health Scam’s dreaded Blacklist to the much-sought-after Whitelist! Read this second review to find out why the program was blacklisted in the first place, and why it’s now off probation and whitelisted.
Trim Down Club (link to website) is a community-based weight loss diet program for healthy people. The aim of the club is to provide and promote healthy, balanced diet recipes that will eventually lead to healthy weight loss. It was created by a group of certified nutritionists and dietitians. Its Director of Nutrition is Ossie Sharon, a registered dietitian based in Yokneam, Israel.
Why Trim Down Club Was Initially Blacklisted
I first learned about Trim Down Club at around July 2016. While reviewing the program, I noticed that it had an insane amount of negative reviews from customers who signed up for it. In my first review of Trim Down Club (which is now archived), I listed some of the customer complaints:
- Trim Down Club was selling information that is already available online for free
- There were too many upsells, and you’d get bombarded with them as soon as you signed up.
- There were also spam email complaints. Members claimed that they kept receiving emails urging them to buy one product after another.
- Trim Down Club allegedly never issued refunds despite having a 60-day moneyback guarantee. Those who managed to get refunded claimed that they only got their money back after threatening to expose the club’s shady activities on social media and news sites.
Other findings that didn’t help matters for Trim Down Club include:
- The identity and location of the parent company (B2C Media Solutions Ltd) was questionable and difficult to verify.
- The parent company’s official website only had a ‘coming soon’ message on it despite being online since 2012. This caused a lot of confusion because, given the circumstance, it indicated the possibility that the company itself does not exist.
- While verifying the identity of Dr. Karen Shackelford (the voice in the video presentation), all the evidence pointed to possible identity theft.
- Speaking of the video, there was low-key scammy advertising.
After considering these findings, I concluded that the customer-reported flaws reached the scam level. So that’s why Trim Down Club got blacklisted.
Trim Down Club Reaches Out To Contra Health Scam, Pens Open Letter To Aggrieved Customers
On May 14 this year, Trim Down Club’s Director of Client Relations Adam Feldman reached out to Contra Health Scam to defend his company. Prior to that, I’d noticed that Feldman had been busy replying to some of the most damaging reviews scattered around the web. So I decided to give him a chance to defend Trim Down Club … which he did by writing an open letter.
In the letter (which you can read here), Feldman admitted that Trim Down Club indeed made a lot of costly mistakes and that the angry customers were right in skewering them. But he then claimed that the company used the negative feedback to ‘take our program to new heights.’ He then went ahead to list two of the changes:
- Removed the word ‘free’ from their upsells, which had confused a lot of people
- Stopped sending out emails promoting products and increased the number of free tips
Doing these and more, Feldman said, ‘helped increase customer satisfaction by 15% and provided our members much more value for their money.’
Feldman didn’t just stop at the open letter though. He also addressed the other issues I listed in the previous scam review via email to Contra Health Scam:
Concerning Trim Down Club’s Actual Location
Feldman: We are a global brand with employees from all over the world. In addition to our global footprint, we have offices in San Francisco, United States, Tel Aviv, Israel and Yokneam, Israel. The locations in Israel primarily focus on the development of our innovative weight loss tools like the Menu Planner application.
Trimdownclub.com has been operating for over 5 years with a member base of over 1 million. Please keep in mind that we didn’t hide our identity on “Whois Data” by choice but rather because of how our websites are hosted.
Concerning Trim Down Club’s Parent Company’s Website
Feldman: Additionally, as you stated, we sure are the owners of b2cmsl.com, which is inactive. And, since this part of the company is linked to the development of our tools, there is currently no plans to update this website, since members have no need to interact with it.
Concerning Dr Karen Shackelford
Feldman: This is a sensitive topic because I have a personal relationship with Karen. But, happy to explain. Karen is a part of our team and has lost a total of 75 pounds by following the Trim Down Club principles (without her there is no Trim Down Club!). Yes, it sounds crazy, but she didn’t do this in a few days as you stated in your review “This Shackelford claims that she lost 75 pounds a few days after taking out the 5 foods away from her diet.” [I admit my error. She did NOT say she lost 75 pounds in a few days. My sincere apologies.]
In our free introduction video, we say the following: “Hi, my name is Dr. Karen Shackelford and in just a second I’m going to reveal the exact steps I took to drop over 70 pounds and a whopping 14 inches from my waist … all with a few simple changes.”
We don’t specify the time frame for her weight loss for many reasons. The main reason being that all people are different and for some it might take more time than others to reach their goals. Another reason would be that we hold ourselves to very high standards, and lastly we would not be able to publicize our plan on Google or Facebook Ad Networks.
Regarding hearing similar stories from Karen Shackelford, I can ensure you that this is not her. Karen has no association with Red Smoothie Detox Factor.
Contra Health Scam Confirms Trim Down Club’s Changes
In order to verify the claims of Trim Down Club, I knew I had to gain access to the members’ area. So I requested, and was quickly granted access.
On logging into the club’s members’ area, I was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of the interface. Contrary to the customer complaints, I was never bombarded with upsells as soon as I logged in. Instead, you’re greeted with a short pop-up video welcoming you to the program and giving you tips on how to get started.
The Dashboard consists of 5 sections:
- Menu Planner (My Menu): This tool will help you plan your weekly food menu … and you get to choose your favorite foods.
- 8-Week Plan: After choosing your food menu using the Menu Planner application, then you can begin Trim Down Club’s 8-week weight loss program proper. This section allows you to monitor your progress on a weekly basis.
- Recipes: In this section you’ll get instructions on how to prepare the foods you’ve chosen using the Menu Planner.
- Diet Journal: With this tool you can record and access your progress in the program.
- Forums: Here you’ll meet and interact with other people in the same weight loss journey with you, as well as consult Trim Down Club’s fitness and nutrition experts.
Contrary to what some aggrieved customers reported, I didn’t see any third-party offers clustering the dashboard, or pop-ups pressurizing you to try one offer after another. The only ‘upsell’ I found was an online grocery shop where you can buy the ingredients you need for the food menu you created at discounted prices.
Speaking of prices…
Cost of Trim Down Club
Trim Down Club initially offered their program for a one-time fee of $47. But now this system has been replaced with a monthly subscription plan.
According to Feldman, membership costs $1.99 for the first month and $9.90 per month thereafter. According to him, they switched to the membership plan because it helps them ‘guide people through the program step by step’ and it ‘has really helped with customer satisfaction and was a great way to spotlight the Menu Planner.’ He also adds that they ‘often discount the pricing and offer seasonal deals.’
Trim Down Club also offers a 60-day moneyback guarantee. So if you’re not satisfied with their program, you can contact them directly for a refund by using their Contact page, or contact Adam Feldman directly through his email adam.feldman@trimdownclub.com.
Pros of Trim Down Club
- No scammy advertising.
- Company listened to their aggrieved customers and completely overhauled their program to correct the mistakes.
- Testimonials are real and verifiable.
- Promotes healthy eating, discourages crash dieting.
- Presence of money back guarantee.
Cons of Trim Down Club
- Negative Testimonials. The fact that they still exist online will hurt Trim Down Club’s reputation, even though it’s now clear from this review that the major issues that triggered them have been fixed. Thankfully they’re doing the PR work now to fix this con. I hope this review will make their job easier.
- Pricing. Personally I don’t like monthly pricing. I like the idea of ‘buy something and own it forever.’ But hey, that’s just me…
Final Conclusion: YES, TRY Trim Down Club!
Whitelisted Website: TrimDownClub.com
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Thank you for understanding!
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