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! :(

[Girliebiker]

I have just had exactly the same problem as Meddie. Thought I had cancelled my order (over two weeks ago) by selecting the 'Cancel' button under the 'Your Subscription' section. I received an email today (sent at 6pm) saying my order was on its way. I started talking to their customer services via 'livechat' at 7.10pm to be told that they had no record of my cancellation and it was too late to stop the parcel as it was with the courier. Eventually at 7.55pm I gave up all hope of getting a full refund. They have asked me to reject the delivery when it comes and they will refund the charge minus a £15 'delivery fee'.
It is awful that a company like this will still charge a delivery fee for something I am not receiving when it is a fault with their own website and systems that caused the issue in the first place.

[Melanie0710]

I got scammed by diet chef. I ordered a supply for 12 weeks and payd for it 380£ thanks to a discount. Now I found out that tomorrow they are sending me an 8 week supply that I have never ordered and making me pay over 500£ for it. This is disgusting!

[BeccaMumsnet]

Diet Chef would like to respond with the following message:

'Diet Chef plans do repeat monthly until cancelled, to allow continuation of
weightloss at a protected price point.

Cancellation is offered in our My Account section of the website, but we
appreciate there are different reasons for cancellation, so prior to
cancelling account we do offer the options of

• Deferring by 4, 8 or 12 weeks to take a break from your plan without
  

cancelling.

• Migrating your plan to a maintainance option
  
• Or confirming your cancellation - if you confirm your cancellation you will
  

receive an email confirming your subscription is cancelled.

If you are in any doubt whatsoever the team can be contacted at [email protected] or on //www.dietchef.co.uk Live Chat option during office hours.'

[mrsmorris1234]

I am in the same boat - I have so much Dietchef its untrue having had an order at the end of July and to my utter amazement I see that they have taken money from Paypal and sending me another huge box - I cannot find anywhere on their site to cancel this or cancel a subscription that I did not know I had. I buy ad hoc so where this has come from I do not know. I am mortified and have sent them a message on their website and hope they do not send this huge box to me - what a cheek its harrassment - its unbelievable and really inconvenient. I now want nothing to do with them ever ever again!

[mrsmorris1234]

I see that Dietchef responded to BeccaMumsnet saying that you can amend or cancel in the account section of their website - well its certainly not there - there is nothing under Account about a plan or subscription yet alone anything to do with cancellation and when I look under payment there is no opportunity of cancelling Paypal payments - they have got me cornered and I do not like it. Hard selling like this turns customers completely off and gives the company a bad name. I feel threatened that it is now Friday evening of a bank holiday weekend and there is nothing I can do and as one of the other posters said if you return the box you have to pay postage - what a cheek. They should email the customer before taking money and sending an order to double check that it is required. I am fuming......

[Dowser]

Sounds like a real nightmare. Just looked at the breakfast, dinners and snacks. Doesn't even come across as particularly healthy and a heavy reliance on grains, and sugary sheath snacks.

If a company can send you a months food upfront then you know you are not getting good nutrition ie Fresh, vitamin and mineral bursting food. We need protein and amino acids to build and repair our bodies and in processed food we all know that the protein content is low.

I'm not saying it won't sustain you or you won't lose some weight but buying fresh organic eggs, good quality protein and veg with some good quality carb like whole grain rice for eg and a snack of a portion of fresh fruit will build you a healthier body.

Part of the enjoyment of food is in the preparation and anticipation of a nutritious and satisfying meal. You dont get that by buying processed, bung in the microwave food. We had south African bobotie the other night with wholegrain rice and peas. It's basically a mince curry, sweetened with sultanas( not everyone's taste I know) then topped with whipped up eggs and baked in the oven. We left out the bread and milk. Delicious, nutritious. Everything from scratch, no MSG or anything that is not proper whole food.

[Dowser]

Sheath? Wheaty!

[Dowser]

I hope you all get your money back and pronto. If DIETCHEF want a reputation as an honest and reliable company they need to sort out their returns and cancellation policy or maybe just not bombard people with too much food in the first place otherwise they will get a reputation as scammers and will no doubt see them featured on Anne Robinson, Matthew Albright type programmes like watchdog.

And rightly so!

[Quills]

Those paying by Paypal, log into your Paypal account and you can cancel their payment authority there directly - settings, payment settings, pre-approved payments is where you'll find it.

They sound like a bloody awful company. I hope you all get your money back.

[Andymoore123]

Brie, life would be so much easier if there was phone on your website which we could use to contact Diet Chef directly.

[Andymoore123]

Paul, how about making it possible to contact Diet Chef by putting a contact number on your website.

[Goingtobeawesome]

I've used diet chef twice. Like every other attempt I lost a stone then nothing and have put weight on.

Neither time was I charged what I expected to be charged and when they made an error they lied about it. It cost me about £2-300 over what I expected.

Some of the food is nice. Some looks like vomit.

I did it as I really struggled and do the necessary. Wasn't worth it.

[newmummie198958]

I'm so annoyed at the moment I've just bought the groupon deal with diet chef 28 day hamper so I go into diet chef website choose all my meals ect and my groupon code is entered upon paying I still see the groupon code I've now been charged another £250 on top of the £94 I've already paid groupon I'm so angry right now as I can't afford for that £250 to come out my bank as I've got little kiddies and bills to pay I'm quite heartbroken that this has happened and no one from diet chef is coming back to me all I want is my £250 back in my account and the food I've chosen to be delivered as ive already paid £94 for it lets hope someone gets back to me as I feel so ripped off atm I darent tell my partner what I've done I feel like such a fat numpty.

[loveliesbleeding1]

Bumping this for you newmummie.

[Nisosha74]

Hi Paul! Can you please help me with my issue with the Diet Chef, too? You say there is Live Help available on your website. But I couldn't find it. Also, I want to cancel my delivery as I am leaving the country. But there is no such option! Again!

[Nisosha74]

Hi! There is no live chat option anywhere on the website

[Nisosha74]

Paul, do you have a direct phone number for customers to call?

[Lilaclily]

Paul posted in February 2014
He's probably working somewhere else now !

[Nisosha74]

I saw his name on another site and sent him a message there....

[meerkat27]

diet chef i am having trouble with them as stated by previous people trying to get money refunded taken when i was not expecting it as only signed up to a 12 week programme but they are saying in there terms and conditions rolling programme thats not what i believed i signed up for i have had to cancel my bank card and get bank to block them and paypal have supported i have returned food delivered to a neighbour and am awaiting refund the goods have been returned tracked at a cost to me of £ 35 pounds are others still getting this. Also i keep asking them direct questions not being answered.

[Tjon]

I am also having huge issues with Diet Chef. You cannot speak to anyone despite many sttempts. I have written to them to cancel my order and accessed their website which is a dodgy as they are. They have continued to send orders and take money out of my account without my permission for which I have now contacted Consumer Affairs and if necessary i will seek legal advice. Disgusting way to treat people who have been customers. I would never recommended them to anyone.

[JulesyMac17]

Hello Brie, I too am having huge problems with Diet Chef. I have been using them for a few years now and ever had any customer service issues previously. However, I recently discovered that they have been taking money out of my account for the last three months without my consent (as far as I was aware) and I have not received any goods from them in any case.

I did email but got a very curt response basically telling me that it is my bank that are at fault. Of course, the bank soon put me straight. If I could find a telephone number for them I would call. The strange thing is that they have refunded one of the months and my Diet Chef account is showing that there will be a further payment taken in August - this just shows that it most certainly IS Diet Chef's responsibility. Your help would be greatly appreciated.