Rant About Slimming World USA

clevagirl73

clevagirl73

Full Member
Women's World Magazine here in the US has featured a cover story about Slimming World "Better Than Weight Watchers" this week. The article gives a brief overview of Extra Easy (apparently the SW groups in Texas don't offer the Green or Red Options) and some meal ideas.

I am so irritated with the article because this magazine has circulation to all 50 US States but they provide no information on how folks outside Texas can join. There is no mention of the online program (which is a small fortune with the exchange rate) nor do they talk about any future plans to roll out new meeting sites or an online program featuring American foods.

Essentially, I paid $95 USD for food lists for non-branded basics, a syns calculator which is essentially useless and a food diary that is elementary at best.

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving this program but why is it that SW HQ can't seem to get their business operations together? Oh yeah, and I asked a SW Consultant in the US if she could sell me a SW Magazine for the same price as they charge members and I'd pay extra for shipping to avoid overseas shipping costs. She had just announced on Facebook that the magazines had arrived for group members to purchase. The response? We can't sell you a magazine because it comes from England? Oh good grief! How moronic...If you sell to people in Texas, why would my copy need to come from England simply because I live in California?



/End rant
 
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Sorry but I don't understand why the syn calculator is useless? I do see how it might be frustrating that there are no classes where you live but SW is testing the market in Texas. I'm sure that if it is successful they will roll it out on a wider basis, and the magazine article is likely one step in this plan. And as for the SW maagzine I imagine consultants are only sent enough copies to meet the demand of their classes. Consultants in this country are not allowed to sell products to people who are not groups members either.
 
The syn calculator works fine, not sure why you find it useless, as i used it continiously for US and Canadian products and managed to find plenty of FREE products.

However you are right the site is not worth the money at all if you are not in the UK, as they have no US/Canadian syns lists and no extensive healthy extras list, despite the fact the groups in Texas have had the information for over a year. I complained many times and still nothing was done, it was the kind of attitude of you have paid now so tough. Needless to say I decided NOT to renew, as I was really only paying for the syns calculator which certainly isn't worth the monthly fee.

I also asked about books etc for the US/Canadian market like they have in the UK, but they have no plans to make any. I did contact the leader in Texas and she was kind enough to share some of the foods she has discovered like free yoghurts etc. But really this information should all be available online and it isn't.
 
I said I found the syns calculator useless because using the formula of 20 calories=1 syn has been dead on accurate. So why the exorbitant fee? If the calculator had added fiber into the mix, I could use it to determine US branded healthy extra B foods more readily. For example, I cannot tell if the Kellogg's Fiber Plus Bars here in the States are a HEb or should I treat them as a syn because the calculator doesn't account for fiber content in a product and the food lists for the US (and I would imagine anywhere in the States) is severely limited.

As for SW Magazine, why couldn't the consultant say they can only sell to group members? The annoying thing is with the exchange rate, I am actually paying a lot more for membership. Yet I was still willing to pay the group price and tact on some extra for postage. We have Media Mail rate here in the States which would have cost me $2.00 USD as opposed to paying 4.50 GBP (about $7.20 USD) for shipping alone.

After my 90 Day membership is up, I won't be renewing. I don't like the idea of paying more for less. Besides, now that I have my lists of free foods and basic Healthy Extras, I can glean product and recipe ideas from the web.

I get the whole idea of using Texas as a test market but if you look at the SWUSA Facebook page, you will see others outside of Texas who want to try the program but the exchange rate is a deterrent esp. once they realize thatTexas group members have access to their own online tools (which most likely has lists with US branded foods.
 
The UK doesnt get a healthy extra calculator though either, they just have an extensive list available to them.

But they should have a more extensive downloadable list for US members I agree, especially when the Texas meetings have a huge list, why havent they made it availalbe online? You are right about the Texas group members having access online to all that info too as they have a different log in available to them which gives information relevant to the US, but of course it isnt available to online members. Which is very wrong I agree.

The 1 syn for every 20 calories rule doesnt work for foods with a free food allowance, you need to use the syn calculator for that.

Only the snackulator uses the 1 syn for every 20 calories and that is for snack foods.

The syn calculator applies an allowance to foods when there is a free food allowance, so for instance a savoury rice, might come out as free on the calculator, because it gets a free food allowance for rice.

I do understand your frustrations though.
 
Britmum, if you want I could post a copy of the magazine out to you each issue, can't be that expensive to post to Canada can it?! xxx
 
charlies_mummy said:
Britmum, if you want I could post a copy of the magazine out to you each issue, can't be that expensive to post to Canada can it?! xxx
Click to expand...

That is very kind to offer to do that. I did have a subscription to it, but never renewed as I rarely use recipes etc out of them. Thank you all the same :)
 
I was interested in joining SW after reading the tons of threads on Minimins, but I have to say that, for the North American market, the program is "not ready for prime time". (Props to anyone who gets the reference!) Live meetings are in a very limited test market area, the language on the site is veddy British and needs tailored editing for our market, and the price for the on-line group is more than twice what I'm paying for WW. My $60.00 a month CDN includes eTools and live meetings, as well as the infrastructure in place to fully support me. SW would cost me $159.99 CDN a month, and I'd be missing the F-2-F support as well as many of the bells and whistles that UK members get. (No magazine? Not even online?) So, till it's fully launched, I'll be sadly saying no to SW.
 
Hi Clevagirl. I agree that the SW USA stuff is kind of a waste. At least you have the lists and everything now. It would be nice to be able to determine HexA&Bs on US branded food, but i just forgo trying that all together. I use the basic stuff. WW bread, cereal etc. It would be nice to have a bar to eat, but I just gave up on that thought.

The only support I really found was on here. And, I've found that there are a lot of nice american recipes out there that fit the plan. The brits have TOTALLY different taste buds and "staple" meals. While some of them seem appealing, not all do. I eat lots of "american" things and they work out nicely. Last night I made pot roast and it was DELICIOUS. What have you been eating? Do you follow red/green/ee?

I'm in Wisconsin. :)
 
the US version of slimming world is being released online very soon, they are still testing it out, but it will be all the information relevant to us. So keep any eye out :)
 
Hi,

How irritating for you! Least you are still giving it a go!

Do you have an itunes account? I buy the SW magazines through itunes, maybe worth a try?

x
 
I rejoined now that the US site is updated and it is loads better. First, they have updated Healthy Extras for the US Market, restaurant guides for US chain restaurants and the recipe measurements use the Imperial system. The introductory 3- month price is $30 USD and includes Food Optimising books that are shipped later.

My only question is what will be the monthly or quarterly fee after the initial period?
 
As a matter of fact I just did!! So surprised to see certain foods on there...like nutri grain bars!! Yummy hex b!!
 
it is really annoying they havent made it accessible to us in Canada, as the info would be much more useful to us than the UK stuff.

I tried signing up to get all the stuff and lists, but you have to have a US credit card and address.
 
Also weird...they only offer the extra easy plan. No mention of red or green. Kind of weird but not a huge deal. I only paid the $30 for the books. Otherwise not worth it. I dont really like their website. I find it jumbled. But thats just me.
 
BritMumInCanada said:
it is really annoying they havent made it accessible to us in Canada, as the info would be much more useful to us than the UK stuff.

I tried signing up to get all the stuff and lists, but you have to have a US credit card and address.
Click to expand...

Hi,

This is my first post so first apologies if I have done it wrong. I am an Englishwoman currently based in Trinidad and after having great success with UK SW (sadly lapsed) in the UK I stumbled across the US version a few days ago. As most of the food here is imported from the states it seemed ideal. Anyway, let me cut to the chase. We use a shipping company in Trinidad to shop online in USA. They give us an address in Miami to which we have our orders delivered. However, on some sites I had the same problem with Credit card so I registered my UK one to the shipping address in USA and have been shopping happily since! It may be an option for you of a company offers similar service where you are.
 
I was still a member of the UK online site so I contacted SW about switching to the US one and I'm happy to say they also added three months to my membership and are sending me the books.
 
Hi,
I'm a slimming world consultant from England. I'm so sorry you have had such a bad experience of Slimming world. I lost 80lbs and six dress sizes going from a uk 20 to an 8 ( i think the US equivilant is a 16 to a 4) As a member and have now gone on to open my own groups to help others. I had tried every diet under the sun until I found Slimming world, I only wish I had found it earlier. Online membership does not compare to the support, love and encouragement a member recieves in a group, unfortunatly due to various laws and red tape in the US slimming world are finding it difficult to open groups and have launched the online service as the only viable option at the moment. They are currently relaunching usaonline at a reduced rate. Hopefully you will get the same service soon, good luck on your weight loss journey x
 
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