I took a quick trip by Amtrak on Saturday.

Unfortunately, I left my shaker in the seat back pocket of the train. Not the end of the world – just a little annoying. I have 2 – one I keep at work and 1 I keep at home.

So I had my weigh in today.

After I got off the scale and coach recorded my weight, it came back to me that I needed another shaker.

ME: … oh by the way, I left my shaker on a train this weekend; do you think it's possible for me to get have another?

C: Absolutely – sure – that's no problem. I'll grab you one as you walk out.

We head to the counter – I pick out some packets – coach grabs a shaker, bags it all up – swipes my credit card and give me the slip to sign. I notice that it's $12 more than it normally is.

ME: Doc why's it so much more this week – I thought each box was $30?

C: Huh? Let me see. Oh – yeah – that's right. It's the $12 for the shaker.

ME: Really? I see – I didn't know it was $12 … !

... dead air dead air dead air ...

ME: I don't think I want to pay that much for this shaker …

C: Oh?

ME: No – that's just too much.

C: Well – I've already run it through Marlene.

... dead air dead air dead air ...

ME: I know but I didn't know I was being charged for the shaker AND I didn't know it was going to be $12 …

C: Well – seeing as how I already ran it through, what I'll do is, next week, I'll charge you $12 less for your food.

I just signed the dang bill and get outta there.

I was ticked because – I wish I'd been told the shaker was $12 up front. My thinking – and I could be wrong – was that when I asked if I could have another shaker, the reply shoulda been something along the lines of; "Sure, but it's $12."

The whole weigh in just cemented my decision to leave and finish this on my own.

That is crazy and very unprofessional, I would wonder if they will actually give you $12 off your food next week. How will they account for the difference ?

I would ask for a refund either on your card or cash back!

Is she going to ask for the shaker back next week when she credits the food? If not then the shaker was free to begin with....

I wanted to but I just didn't have the strength. I was just floored and annoyed. Next Monday will be my last and that's it.

I've had struggles with this coach from the get go so, in a way, I'm not surprised.

Am trying to look at the positive ... I lost this week so - that's good.

But the differences in coaches are amazing - they are way too inconsistent. My coach says aspertaime is no big deal at all, but I read on here occasionally that it's a no no.

I mean - life is life and nothing's perfect, but - for the amt of money this program costs, there needs to be more hard and fasts, more consistency.

Lol !!! I agree ... as much as I love IP and as well as it works some coaches (and I am sure it is SOME not ALL) need to learn to better handle the money issues. It is an expensive program and IMO it is totally worth it BUT when they are charging you $12.00 for a shaker (and for future reference they have them in the diet section in Walmart if you ever need another) when it would be such good PR to just give it to you ...... I actually had a coach one time comment on the fact that I was copying pages out of the journal to track my foods - no I wasn't trying to save the $1.50 you charge me per journal I just ran out of pages - I thought I was doing a good thing by coming up with a solution (?) Wuv is right - some people just lack people skills.

I'm thankful I have a great coach, but I can still see some hints of this type of behavior - just taking our money. Like I said, my coach is great, but the program as a whole at my clinic is very centered on getting your money and not much else. I mean, for the price we pay, you'd think we would get a little more. I signed up during an info night where we got 10% off if we joined that day - so I paid $260 for the consultation fee, supplements and 1 week of food. After they got all my info, I heard nothing. No phone call, no email...I knew it was all up to me to move forward but if I were running a business like that I would be sure to keep in touch with people, especially dieters who are easily discouraged. Why can't coaches do weekly newsletters with recipes? That would be a great way for people to stay on track. Also, my coach discouraged me from going to this forum specifically after she saw I made a recipe from here - said I couldn't have an extra egg white and to just not go on here - but I think it's really because there are discussions on alternative (ie. CHEAPER) products to do IP.

Every week they try to talk me into getting WF products, getting more supplements, etc. I told her I was getting hungry in between meals and asked if I could break my veggies up and have 1 cup in between lunch and dinner and 1 cup at dinner, and she said no I needed to add another packet if I was getting hungry. Ugh. Oh well, I still love the program and am losing so I will just look over the other stuff.

I hear you Cole3.

And trust me - I know these shakers and many like them are kind of ubiquitous but, like I mentioned ... I was just sitting there and over the weigh in and gathering my stuff to leave, it just came to me - remembering that I'd lost my shaker so it just popped into my mind to ask.

The cost for the program and the coaching are driving factors in my leaving my center for sure.

There's not another one convenient / near me or that would work for my schedule so I'm just going to go it alone.

Re keeping in touch with us - I know it's not the same but, I find the weekly videos helpful ... I kind of considers those, weekly newsletters.

My coach / clinic from day 1, has been ALLLLL about the money. But I do understand this - to a certain extent. After all, it IS a business.

all the coaches are different, at my clinic we can have aspartame in moderation of course. Some times we have to do what we have to do to make the program work for us.

Here at my clinic I don't push any products on any of my clients or anything like that. I am just here to support and help out anyway I can, I want everyone to be successful. I have started a newsletter for our clinic when hours, recipes and suggestions.

Here at my clinic I don't push any products on any of my clients or anything like that. I am just here to support and help out anyway I can, I want everyone to be successful. I have started a newsletter for our clinic when hours, recipes and suggestions.

I think it is so awesome that you are a coach. You have done the program and know the struggles and rewards of sticking to it. I really wish IP was more strict about who the coaches were. I think they should at least try the products and have some training.

I probably would have quit the program without these boards, I have had no coaching from my clinic. But the boards are fantastic and encouraging. I have learned the entire program here. Thanks to all the "pros" that take the time to coach all of us along!

I bought an extra shaker at GNC - similar model, the cup is bigger. It was $8. Also, there's less expensive shaker on the Protein Store website

You can tell your credit card company that you were billed in error. They will investigate it. I have had similar things happen to me, I notified credit card company and in every case the charge was removed.

1.50 for a food journal? My clinic just hands them out for free. When I hear these type of stories it just makes me appreciate my coach more and more. She has never been about the money, never pushes me to buy a thing. I do of course, but if I only bought one box of food that week she would never question me, and never has. These clinics are there to make money of course, and I totally understand that, but people skills and support are what is going to make people come back.