Scammed by Diet Chef!!

[Treacleq]

I am having quite a traumatic time with this awful company and wanted to know if anyone else out there had experienced the same thing? They will not stop sending me food and taking money from my account despite cancelling my subscription and speaking to them repeatedly!

I have told them I am happy to send the food back but unhappy that they expect me to cover the postage for this!! It will be a fortune and I didn't ask for the stuff in the first place! :(

i havent had experience of diet chef
they sound awful
hope u get it sorted

Hi Treacleq,

I am really sorry to hear about this. I am Head of Marketing at DietChef and will sort this issue out - Could you PM me your number or email address and I will make contact.

We are not a scam company and have helped 75,000 people lose weight. So I just want to reassure you and put this right.

Kind regards,

Brie

Thanks eggsaplenty - The lady above finally sorted for me! Still wouldn't recommend though!

Is it just me who thinks it brilliant the lady from Dethef is named after my favourite cheese?

Brie- great that you sorted ths problem out ......

My 75 year old mother has also been had very bad servicefrom Diet chef, I just found out today when I went to visit her (17/5/2013). This is her story below, she is upset as she thought she was subscribing to a legitimate service.

I joined Diet Chef just over 4 weeks ago, I wanted to try out their diet for 1 month. I was led to believe the cost would be £39 per week but, when I placed the order I was informed the cost was £190 per month and I would have to buy 2 months in advance, this I did. Before I had the food for one week I was informed via e-mail that my next delivery was to be less than 4 weeks after the original delivery of 2 months supply. I immediately sent Diet chef an e-mail informing them there was no way I could afford another £380 and wished to cancel any further supplies. To my horror, today, I received another 2 months supply of food which I refused to accept. I phoned Diet chef and told them I had cancelled any further supplies, firstly, because I had already cancelled via e-mail one week after the first delivery, and the other reason, being a pensioner, I could not afford the sort of money they were charging. I informed the telephonist that I cancelled by e-mail and she confirmed that I had, but said another e-mail was sent to me saying they would hold the order back for me, and that I had not replied, therefore they took the liberty to send more food and helped themselves to the money from my Bank account. I want to warn others of my experience so they know what they are letting themselves in for. Tomorrow I am off to my Bank to cancel any more payments being taken from my account without my permission, for food I do not want.
As a first step my son will be contacting consumer websites to warn others. I just hope I get my other £380 pounds back. From the 18th of April to now I have been charged £760 in less than 1 calendar month. I'm very upset as I have never fallen for this type of thing before and entered into it in good faith. The person I spoke to on the telephone did not understand what the word cancel meant. The email helpline was equally useless.

Jesus.. Surely it's easier and cheaper to just go to the green grocer and buy some veg.

Sounds like a terrible company.

Brie: how on earth are you not a scan company when you have failed to understand the word 'cancel' on two seperate occasions? Shame on your company.

Thank god for the Internet though and how easy it is now to find out a company are a bunch of dodgy thieving cowboys.

Wow, sounds like a company to totally avoid.

What a scam. Thanks for alerting us to this both of you. Definitely one to avoid.

There is no right in law to cancel perishable item orders by the way under distance selling law. Once you agree to buy you agree to buy. So that is the first point although for PR reasons companies might want to be nicer.

Secondly then you need to read the terms (and always always read the terms before you buy anything) to see what the cancellation terms are and check if the company followed those. Do not assume you have some God given right to cancel everything. That is not the law.

If the contract terms have not been followed then of course you can claim for that.

My diet advice -see healthy eating threads. Just eat unprocessed food, buy tins of sardines, carrots, veg, bits of fish and walk a lot. That is all you need.

Xenia some of that was very helpful and interesting, some of it was just patronising. Not sure the OP was asking for dieting advice.

I'm having the same trouble Ive cancelled my order and they still taking money from my account .. I've repeatedly emailed and called to cancel and yet again I find out money has gone from my account again. In my opinion an awful company awful customer service!!

Hi I'm also having same probs with your company keep taking money from my account and I've cancelled my order repeatedly by phone and email

Terrible company . I was led to believe that it was a fixed price for 3 months and yet more money taken out my account .i was advised to send the next hamper back and pay a downgrade fee of £ 80 otherwise i will be charged every month. Also the guy i spoke to was very rude . Im glad the calls are recorded as its now proof that the initial conversation i had with the call handler led me to believe i was paying £ 165 for three months and that all i had to do was telephone and cancel after the 3rd hamper arrived. To be honest its not a great plan and people would benefit more from cutting down on bread and eating more fruit and veg. I DID lose a few pounds but i did get hunger pangs and i felt nauseus quite frequently. Please read the terms and conditions fully and be careful with the clever play on words used by the telephone call handlers. I feel conned. I will be refusing the hamper thats on its way to me and i will be canceling by bank card as i feel its the only way to stop this money from being taken

What a scam, thanks for info

tricia/kezzyjane

I am the Customer Service Manager from Diet Chef.

I am sorry your feeling some pain.

As Brie has said in earlier posts, e are certainly not out to "Scam" anyone, we do run promotions from time to time, and each promotion will carry terms and conditions, possibly relating to minimum terms, these are made very clear on our website as / when we run them, and in return for agreeing to a minimum term, there are significant discounts offered during these promotions.

We are proud to have help thousands of people successfully lose weight and change lifestyles, and hope to continue to do this.

Yes - it is something that some people can do themselves, and we do not deny this, in fact we actively encourage people to help themselves, its just sometimes they need a starting point to get them in the right direction, and that is where Diet Chef comes in.

If you feel you have not been treated fairly, by all means please PM me, and I will happily review this for you.

Regards

Paul

I undertand how tempting something like Diet Chef can be: lose weight, someone else does all the hard work. WELL IT"S ALL BULLCRAP!!!! I implore anyone out there to not let their desperation take the better of them and join DietChef. Now as a foodie, I can tell you the food is less than satisfactory. It's practically overrated microwave meals. I made the grave mistake of applying for the 12 week plan. Of course as any sane person (who isn't completely absolved in the hope that they will one day find they've lost a pathetic amount of weight through this extremely costly venture), would tell you that after you realise how useless the first month was and how bad the food was, you should cancel. So I came to cancel after only one month and I was told that I'd have to pay a ridiculous £155 to cancel. This was because they had already taken out next month's payment without my knowledge. When I spoke to the lady and expalined to her my situation, she didn't really seem to care and just kept saying I had to pay- barely heard me out! They claim it's all in their terms and conditions - I guess that's why you read the fine print. Just to add to the injury, they made me pay for the return and the box itself is extremely heavy. COSTLY RETURN + CANCELLATION FOR A PRODUCT THAT WAS TERRIBLE AND DIDN'T DO WHAT IT CLAIMED IT DID. So why all the happy reviews; I can only imagine people just feel good that they are actually doing a diet for the first time, but if they simply wake up and smell the coffee they'll realise that they haven't lost that much weight, and if they have, it is more than likely it is due to exercise and not the pathetic badly tasting microwave meals they send you. Also, make sure you have a lot of storage space because they send you the whole month supply at once. Terrible. I don't even write reviews online or anywhere but I felt a moral obligation to let everyone know what this company is up to.

Kareem1

I run the Customer Service Department at Diet Chef.

We do pride ourselves on our levels of customer service, and transparency throughout every stage of our website, and the buying process.

So, please rest assured Diet Chef is not a scam of any kind, we do have several thousand customers who have reviewed and testified to the success they have had on the diet. Yes we do admit that the diet is not for everyone, and for that reason we do have a 21 day money back guarantee

On reading your review (without the benefit of access to your account) it certainly sounds like you have opted for our 12 week minimum term plan, with a substantial discount in return for the completion of the minimum term. We do make if very clear on all of our plans that the discount is valid on the first hamper, and that hampers are processed every 28 days, we also do everything possible if you contact us within the laid down timescales to make changes, and updates to your hamper. I am sorry you have not enjoyed your Diet Chef experience, and I am sure that on speaking to our team, there is some ground to be made to find the correct resolution.

If this has not been resolved to your satisfaction, then please do PM me over the weekend, and I can look into your issues further.

Regards
Paul
Customer Service Manager

I decided to take out Diet Chef because I thought for 4 weeks the price would be £90. I did not realise that the price would be £two hundred and something silly pounds for a month! That is ridiculous. Liposuction is more affordable at that rate Paul. (It actually is, I checked.) I feel like it wasn't made explicitly clear that this offer was only dependent on me signing up for three months, and the reason I cancelled was because the food was less than satisfactory and what I ordered online was not what arrived in the first hamper, and I received food that contained alcohol. You have to understand that when something like this happens Paul, I can no longer trust in the company. Hence, I just wanted to cancel and that would be that. I wasn't going to make a big fuss but when I'm told that I have to pay silly amounts for wanting to cancel as a result of your company's incompetence, it hurts. That is ridiculous.
To add to the injury, when my mother spoke to one of your call centre employees and explained that part of the reason I wanted to cancel was due to the wrong foods being received or substituted without informing myself, she was quite frankly called a liar. I find it absolutely hilarious that you claim to "pride yourselves" on customer service when this is the level of service I receive.

Kareem

I cannot discuss specifics of your account and transactions on a public forum. As per my previous post my team are contacting you to discuss your issues, and we will be happy to provide screenshots of the offer to clarify your purchase.

You have my contact details or can pm me if my team have not provided an amicable resolution

Regards

Paul

Let me echo the same thoughts shared here, especially Kareem's. The way they "market" their products is simply misleading. I have someone from customer relations telling me off, stating the terms and conditions are clear (they are not). Who wants to enter a contract for food and get charged over £180?

I ordered a plan just to try it out. I received my package and was disappointed, it is just microwaveable food and portions of snacks. My financial situation also changed during the course, which I told them about, now I want to cancel and apparently I have to pay £115 to cancel. This even though I have paid for my initial package. What exactly is this £115 for? It's not like the food is freshly sourced, they haven't shipped anything again? So how do they justify this?

The bottom line for them I suppose is your £. My advice is to stay well clear of Diet Chef. For what they're charging, you'd be better off buying fresh fruit and veg, healthy and organic options from your grocer.

If anyone knows a formal channel or government agency I can complain to, especially in terms of their marketing and also this charges, then please let me know. My first stop is a consumer rights group. Anymore info would be of great help.

Thanks

Wow - I've seen a lot of adverts for this recently and was thinking of trying it out, but I'm not now. Thanks for the warning!

I have had exactly the same expeirience I am furious. I cancelled my subscription on the 25th April.
first you go to the website and click cancel on your subscription it then asks you are you sure. I clicked yes, it then asks you for a reason why you cancelled. I ticked the box, you then get a "sorry you are leaving, please feel free to come back". In my subscription it showed no active orders, so I assume that my order has been cancelled, apparently not, Today I recieve a package which I tried to refuse from the courier, he insists I take it saying that returns get lost in the system blah blah blah and I am better taking it then contacting diet chef for collection,
So I contact diet chef who say I have to return at my own cost ( this package weighs a bloody ton), not to mention i have multiple back problems and cant even lift it, and that apparently my order wasnt cancelled, because after going through 3 pages where it says , sorry you are leaving us I was supposed to scroll down off the screen to click a confirm button. their is no indication of this.
Why would I need to do this after its already said, sorry your leaving, why are you leaving us etc etc.

Avoid them

Thanks for the warning about Diet Chef - will definitely steer clear!