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Originally Posted by Carrie3146
Well, I do wish you luck for another good day tomorrow! I actually had my first lunch out with a friend since I started dieting, and I did pretty well - had only a salad.
Thanks! And good for you!! That's awesome! Dinner out is a big hurdle when you're doing home-delivery dieting. It's nice to be able to face the challenge and not let it throw you off-kilter. Woo! Go, you!
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Originally Posted by Carrie3146
Have to say, I'm a liitle bit annoyed with BMD right now though. I came home and found my second receipt email of the week, and found that I had been charged for the second time this week too. So I've now been charged for three weeks of food, and I've only received one week of meals.
Actually, I think that's how the timing works. I was billed for my first shipment on 2/4/08, my second shipment on 2/11/08, and my third shipment on 2/18/08. And as of 2/18/08, I had only received ONE shipment--and that was on 2/15/08. But that's the timing of the ordering system. You have to pay for the order that will ship out on a Monday for delivery on a Friday... and since I made my first order after the deadline for *that* Friday, it had me cycled out to be billed way before most of my food arrived.
Now that I've been on the program for months, I can see how it all works out, and whenever I decide to cancel my service, I'll still have another week or two of pre-paid food coming.
But I think if you do the math and check the calendar, you'll see (likely--don't want to assume your situation is exactly the same as mine) that you are right on target for having paid for the orders that are scheduled to come in accordance with their drop-dead date for billing/changes and shipments.
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Originally Posted by Carrie3146
In addition I received a FedEx tracking number on Monday saying I'd be getting a delivery today. No delivery, and that tracking number has never been updated beyond "information transmitted to FedEx."
I've had to keep an eye on the FedEx tracker too, but only two times has it been "wrong." And if I noticed it wasn't budging beyond that initial scan, I shot an email to my CSR and she made sure a new shipment was expressed out *that day* for me to receive on schedule or just one day off. And, once you've had more than a week or two of the food delivered, a day "off" from the schedule doesn't mess you up, because there's still food in your fridge and cupboard (or at least that's how it stacked up here).
Anyway, it's only been twice in 18 weeks of delivery that I've had to check in with BistroMD about a non-moving FedEx tracker. And both times, they've worked it all out with no problems.
Of course, I know that might not make you feel better--and believe me, if you see my blog posts from February and early March, you'll see that I was having my share of issues with BistroMD when we started up together as well--but they do eventually get things straightened out and it just FEELS like it's all messed up in the beginning.
And from what I've read, there is NO home delivery service out there that is 100% problem-free, in this area. ALL of them have delivery mistakes, billing mistakes, shipment contents mistakes, you name it! So, for me, the fact that BistroMD has made *every mistake RIGHT* and *very promptly* is enough to keep me happy. Because it looks to me like NONE of them are mistake-free companies.
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Originally Posted by Carrie3146
And twice now, I've been promised that I would receive an email with detailed menu and ingredient info from their (I think) dietician, and I haven't received anything.
Have you requested this via email? I've found that the email CSRs and phone-based CSRs are not in the same "class," if that makes sense. (Heck, they may not even be in the same building or in the same state, for that matter.) But I've always found that if I ask for something via email, I'll get it. And if I ask for something via phone, I always have to follow up via email to be SURE I get it. I think their phone volume is just very high and perhaps the more detail-oriented CSRs have the cushy email-based support jobs.
Just a theory!
I received that detailed ingredient list in several different formats even before my first shipment arrived, but I requested it via email and that's how it arrived. I never asked anyone via phone, which is why I'm suggesting maybe you try the email request thing too. Worth a shot!
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Originally Posted by Carrie3146
And of course, they only have anyone who can help you between 9-5, so I can't even call to straighten it out until tomorrow.
Another point in favor of the email, if you ask me.
But... I've called them on weekends and after hours (and I'm on the west coast, so I've called at like 4pm here which would be 7pm in their offices) and reached people, so maybe I've just been really lucky.
I'm sorry. It probably sounds like I'm trying to talk you into loving them when you clearly don't love them. I guess I'm just hoping you'll stick it out because I know that ALL of these diet plans are hard and losing weight is so tough as it is and because BistroMD has been both yummy and *great* with customer service for me (not to mention, effective for losing weight so far), that I'm just glad that *I* stuck it out all of the times when I really, really, really wanted to tell them to just jump in the lake and then take my business elsewhere.
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Originally Posted by Carrie3146
I will call tomorrow, and hopefully work it all out. I'd really like to keep going with them. But as much as you love their customer service, I'm just having a really bad experience with them. Normally I would not continue doing business with a company if I had this many issues with them at the start. But I'm really liking the food and the convenience, and I'm afraid I won't find anything else that I can stick to!
Sorry to vent! I'm just feeling very frustrated tonight, because I really want this to work!
Thanks for listening. Hopefully I will be a better cheerleader tomorrow!
Hey, I totally understand! And that's what "diet buddies" are for, right? We're here when times are good and when times are bad. If we were only fair-weathered friends, we'd be the worst support group ever.
And I know I will need to lean on you sometimes too, so it's absolutely not a problem for me to offer a shoulder if you need one from me!
I just wish you were having a better experience.
Hopefully it will improve for you, and VERY soon.
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Originally Posted by oseybaby
hey ladies, I am thinking about BistroMD, is it really has good as y'all are saying. I was on DTG, but I wasn't losing any weight, so I need a new plan
Well, I sure as heck love BistroMD (clearly) or else I wouldn't have stayed on it for 18 weeks so far... and spent thousands of dollars *gulp* doing so.
So, obviously, I love it and feel that it's working for me, albeit slowly (through no fault of the plan--simply because I am not following it to the letter nor am I exercising like I should).
I'm one of those, "If I can't stick to it for life, I'll never succeed at this" types. So, for me, I knew when I signed up for it that I'd be doing it for most of the year. And, yup, I'm right on schedule to be doing this all year and reaching my goal by then for sure, at this rate. Fair enough. I can do that and, hopefully, over that time also really re-work some habits.
I already know much better what size my portions should be, how much proteins to carbs to fats I should eat, what an average day's caloric intake should feel like, etc. And I really do enjoy the food, which is primary for me. If I'm not enjoying what I'm eating, I'm not going to stick to anything. So, the fact that I'm sticking to this for 18 weeks and counting is a huge comment on how "it's working" for me.
Slowly... but in the right direction every day. I'll take it!
Hope this helps! Good luck in your decision. I've learned (mostly through reading) that none of these home-delivery programs is perfect and everyone has a favorite, based on his or her needs. This is the one that seems to work best for me, so I'm glad I chose it. But who knows! Maybe one of the other plans would've worked for me too! (I just couldn't get any of the other companies to answer my pre-starting questions about gluten content. So, BistroMD won my business by default. They were the only ones who worked to GET ME to be a customer, before I even was one. That said a lot to me about how their service would be.)
Good luck!