Hello from an LA counselor
 

Hi, I'm new here and was just kind of flipping through the posts and just wanted to set some things straight. I am a COD, as you guys call it, and we are not all paid on commission. LA centers are not all owned by the same people. Most centers are franchised. In my center we are not paid on comm and we care about you guys more than you realize. I have run into my clients out in public (and off the clock) and have answered questions they have had. I have made agreements with clients to give them checkup calls when they are battling with late-night snacking. That's right I was awake at 11:30 well after the center closed (and I was again off the clock) and called a client from my home to encourage her to avoid the snacking. Maybe some of you need better counselors in your centers, but we are not out to take advantage of you.

As far as the bars go, we do recommend them as part of the program because of their content. The bars are designed to be part of the program. Luna and Pria bars do not contain the same ingredients nor the same nutritional value as LAL.

Give your counselors a chance. They are only there to help you. If they didn't they wouldn't even try to give you any suggestions to help you.

Hi There,

Welcome to the discussion group. I also work for LAWL as a Center Manager. I'm in North Carolina. Where are you?

I would like to say that there ARE many different centers, and they are run differently. While you both may sincerely care about your customers, and may not work on commission-there indeed are centers where the counselors are paid on commission, and are trained to hard sell products to their customers-even taught such phrases as "cryers are buyers".

I realize that not all centers are ran this way, but there are some that are, and they have done many questionable and rude things to their paying customers-things such as advising a woman to stop breastfeeding her baby so that she could take some of the supplements they were trying to sell her. I am glad to hear that you are not one of these counselors, but they do exist. It isn't that the members are not giving their centers a chance, it is that they maybe do not have a counselor that cares, like you obviously do.

I also would like to add, that the Pria bars are not nutritionally adequate for substitution for Lites, as I have stated in another thread-because they are too low calorie and too low in protein-but the Luna bars are VERY similar in protein, calorie count, and in the vitamin and mineral content. VERY similar, and I deem them a suitable, and less expensive, alternative-and highly recommend them to those who cannot afford the LA Lites. :) The Lunas were not chosen by randomly grabbing any energy bar in the store-the nutrition labels were compared.

Aphil
moderator

hello lagirl and :welcome: to our forum.

Thanks for your input and we appreciate the work you do at your center, but I think you can tell from many of our posts that we DO NOT have counselors who care about us, who do not push products. I have actually changed Centers because I was so unhappy and I am not thrilled with the new one, but at least they do talk to me even if I don't buy stuff.

Both you and joy seem to have wonderful centers, and I applaud you for your work there, but sadly many of your colleagues do not have the same care in place for their non product buying clients.

I hope you will stay around here and show that there are counselors who do care, but please do realize that many counselors give the same advice for the same thing over and over again and of not try to assist as you do or to find real answers instead of guessing what is wrong.

We have all paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on this program and we believe in the program, but it would help to have counselors who are really there to help as much as you seem to be there.

Freudian slip??? :rofl: I know it feels like that much sometimes!! ;)

I have said it before. I am lucky. My center is great. They are still the COD, though, because that is where I have to face the scale and the cheats. Nothing personal.

LAgirl- Are you on the program? I am glad that you care about your clients. I'm sure that they love you. My center must be non comission based too, because they do not push their products at all. Buy them if you want to, or don't. Thanks for your feedback. Joy has said before that this site has helped her to better her center. I wish that the big LA in the sky would take some of our experiences to heart, and use them to make things better at all centers.

One other question, since I have IBS, I cannot do the bars, and I have lost as well as everyone else. So has several other girls on here. If the bars are the answer, why can I lose so well without them? Katie

hello
 

LAgirl - it is Center of Doom Counselor; COD:devil:
Just so you know the lingo....lol

I have a question regarding the staff at the centres. Do all cousellors need to have attempted the program at one point or another? I have one at the centre that I always seem to get and she is tall, thin and blonde... Barbie type. I guess I have a hard time when I'm trying to follow the program and she is givng me crap for eating grapes and banana's (high in sugar). It's hummiliating enough to have to sit there and count out 15 grapes, but she gives me flack over it.

I think it should be a requirement that the counsellors have done the program, so then they knows what their clients are going through.

Okay, that kind of turned into a rant!! Lol Sorry!

I don't know. All of the ladies at my center have done it, or are still doing it.

I have some wonderful "counselors" at my center. From bits and pieces that I have heard most of them have done the program.

As far as the nutrition goes with the Pria bars it all depends on the type of Pria bar you get. The ones I get have 170 calories, and have more protein (it's soy protein even), more calcium, and is higher in other nutrients than the LA Lites. Not all bars are created equal, but I am a label reader and have weeded out the ones that are not so good.

None of the counselors at my center have ever been on the program. One of them said she use to be a loan officer and through her job met an LAWL manager who told her she had great sales potential and that she should consider a career change. Although she is one of the nicer counselors I still feel as if I have to go back and check out everything they tell me for myself. Everytime I go to weigh in it is like a factory they rush you in and out. When I go into the center I am in and out in 5 mins. Some of them don't even ask to see your diary.

They are also very pushy when it comes to selling their products, they make you feel like you cannot lose the weight if you don't use their supplements, bars, etc.

I don't mean to go on a tirant but for the amount of money I spent to have "one on one counseling" I should be able to at least trust the information I am given.

:lol: sorry meant hundreds or thousands....got really into the typing, lol

The regular Pria bars are the 110 calorie snack bars. Are you using the Pria Complete? (They are called something slightly different, at least, than just Pria.)

I am using the Pria Complete Nutrition.