HOW MUCH DOES PURE WEIGHT LOSS OWE YOU?
December 28, 2007 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
[PICTURED ABOVE: SCREENSHOT OF THE PURE WEIGHT LOSS WEBSITE]
(FranchisePick.Com) Shortly before Christmas, Pure Weight Loss (formerly L.A. Weight Loss) abruptly announced that it was closing all 400 locations nationwide by January 4. Many Pure Weight Loss customers, some of whom had signed up only the day before, learned the news by reading a sign posted on a locked Pure Weight Loss door. Many vented their frustration to hapless Pure Weight Loss center employees, who were still reeling from the news that they would be ringing in the New Year from the unemployment line.
Many Pure Weight Loss customers prepaid hundreds, even thousands, of dollar on in fees and for Pure weight Loss food products. We’re inviting Pure Weight Loss customers to answer this question in the comment section below:
HOW MUCH DOES PURE WEIGHT LOSS OWE YOU?
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Between the weeks I still had to go and the lites they owe me well over $1000.00
They owe me over $600.
l am in maintenance and l was promised to get my $250 back if l maintained my desired weight for one year. I did that, and I feel good but I’ll feel better with the $250 I was promised! No one answers my questions or returns my calls. I feel scammed by Pure weight Loss.
They owe me $500 and 36 boxes of bars.
I can’t believe this even happened. Doesn’t anyone have any business ethics anymore? I went through the program, and then I renewed for another 12 months of weight loss program plus lites the first week in December. It cost me over at a cost of $800. I went to my Pure Weight Loss Center was December 14th and was told they were closing January 4! Tell me someone didn’t know when they took my money.
the Attorney General has been contacted along with the FTC. This is poor business practice expecting the clients that paid for LA Lite Bars to take them all at once or whats left over/tuff luck attitude of the unprofessional employees!! These nutrition bars are a required purchase when you join and they have a limited shelf life also. All total this company owes me $1,148.06 in unused weeks and LA Lites. From the millions of dollars that this company milked from the unsuspecting consumer may what was purchased in good faith be refunded immediately to the people in full!!
Sean;
Prepaids are unsecured creditors who are in the same boat as all the other unsecured creditors.
Don’t pre-pay, unless it is put into a trust account.
Michael:
What do you suggest these customers do to get their money back, or to at least feel vindicated? Anything in addition to the posted suggestions?
I am somewhat confused by the separation between L.A. Weight Loss and Pure Weight Loss. 3 years ago the partners split with Harold Katz (who started NutriSystem in the ’70s) taking the L.A. Weight Loss franchise units and Vahan Karian keeping the L.A. Weight Loss corporate units. In Augusts, Karian’s LAWL units changed to Pure Weight Loss, then in Dec. announced it was closing. LA Weight Loss, Pure Weight Loss & NutriSystem all operate out of the same office park in Horsham, PA outside Philly.
PWL sold memberships and took orders right up to the day the closing was announced. the salespeople had no warning.
Michael Webster said: Don’t pre-pay, unless it is put into a trust account.
Or unless you’re hiring Michael Webster or IdeaFarm. Especially IdeaFarm.
Sean;
First, the clients need to find out why PWL is closing. Is it a court supervised bankruptcy or merely a corporate name change?
Second, the PWL clients should establish a website in order to share information.
Third, when PWL appears in some new reincarnation, demand that the new entity honour the old PWL obligations -unless there has been a formal bankruptcy.
Just some ideas off the top of my head.
L.A. (Pure) weight loss owes me 25 weeks of maintenance and my rebate of $150.00. I thing a class action law suite should be done to get everyones money owed to them. I know I depended on the weekly weigh ins to keep my weight off. I need the support of knowing I was accountable to someone once a week to look at my weight and help me if I was struggling. I feel like I needed the whole 52 weeks to keep off the weight I lost.
I attended 13 counseling sessions with Pure Weightloss and lost 16 pounds. I subtracted the total number of visits I had from the 27 visits I paid for and figured they owe me $206.10, plus the $95.50 in metabolism boosters that I ordered but never received. Pure Weightloss owes me $301.60. The counselors told me to send a copy of my contract via Registered Mail and that I would get my money back.
Wichita, KS, east side
They owe me around $1,800.00. I just joined in August I paid for two years of service and lites.
I am so dispointed as I feel I was giving a false sence of help. with my unused fees and la lights I nevcer received the owe me $1500.00.
I joined about 6 months ago and signed up for 3 years I recieved one order of bars and and was told last month they would refund back $ 600.00 and today I called to find out they have closed and no one at care credit who they had finance the membership knows anything about the refund. they say I owe $1600.00 and I got nothing for my money but a few boxes of bars.
This stinks but I was one of the somewhat lucky ones to get boxes of products from my Forest Hills center. They gave me 20 boxes of Caramel crunch lites and some biscotti and cereal bars and bottles of supplements They owe me unused weeks over $575.00 and if anyone took out a care credit account like I did for over a grand , you better call them and close it and get a dispute application from them because you still need to pay your monthly dues to keep your credit unblemished. If anyone has any interest in maybe swapping some uopened boxes of lites and or anything else let me know . If we want to be successful at this we can still stick together eventhough it will cost us it might be worth it to keep in touch. I was very successful on this plan and eventhough I won’t be getting weighed in every week I am sticking to it dispite the bad taste the company left in my mouth. HAppy 2008 ??????
They owe me $2000.00
I think it is unfair to expect clients to prepay for weight loss services. My heart goes out to any customers or employees affected by this closure. I am not affiliated with PURE weight loss. I am a Health Advisor with Medifast which I lost over 97 pounds on. That company does not require advance payment for services, and it is a shame that this one did.
I wish everyone the best, and don’t give up your weight loss efforts. There are better and more ethical companies which provide even better results.
they owe me $300
They owe me 20 boxes of lites plus a year of maintenance. They took orders for the bars when they heard they were closing, but I kept calling and surprise the bars never came in.
The office in Iowa owes me about $200.00. I am glad it is not more, also, I know I am darn lucky it is not more. The office I went to had really limited hours from December 22nd through Jan 3rd, so I was totally shcoked when I went yesterday, the place was cleaned out, with the exception of one really nice gal that has worked there for years and a chair. I do feel bad for those that lost their jobs but I wonder how much the employees kenw. I do know that a gal I work with called the corporate number for LA Weight loss last week and was waiting for a call back to schedule the consultation. I wonder if she lucked out due to the limited hours. Best of luck to everyone. I am not expecting to see my money or my la lites anytime soon. Also, the business next door to the center told me a U-Haul came in last Sunday, the 30th, and emptied the place out. so much for what the webite said..the website I had access said that pre paid bars could be picked up through the 4th. the big dissapointment I havr is that I did lose 70 pounds about 2 years ago. I gained about 15 back so got back on the program. I am sad for those that got taken for more money and their programs..for some reason this did work for me. Good Luck!
LA Weight Loss owes me over $450!! I knew something was up when their “support” started slipping. I joined the program in August of ‘05. In the beginning they were wonderful but toward the end they would rush to get me out of the office, not offering any advice when I would plateau. Then in September of ‘07, they announced that their doors are closing. I still had 59 boxes of bars on my file. Upon instruction I went that next week to get the bars, they changed their mind, now their sending them. Okay Fine, right? No…I finally got them THREE months later, not 6 weeks like I was promised after I made several calls and sent emails. Before that I recieved a refund check of $118.80, over $450.00 short. They called me after I sent another email. I told them that I was unable to reach my goal weight by my goal date. They moved me on to Stabilization and Maintenance WITHOUT telling me. That’s how I figured out where the $118.80 came from. Right there is a breach of my contract. They proceeded to tell me that there was nothing they could do and they were not planning on to right the wrong against me. So, yea I am irritated that they cheated me out of all that money. It’s not right, something needs to be done.
They owe me about 5 months of maintenance plus 17 boxes of LA Lites along with the $250 rebate I would have gotten for staying at my goal weight for the year. I was totally shocked when I went today only to find the doors locked and a note on the door. I feel they should have contacted their clients to let them know that they were going out of business so we could at least get the lites that they owed us.
my refund for staying with them for a yr.318.00 and for the bars i did not get 500.00 im so upset with this whole thing. Iwant all my money that I put into this. total 600.00 for joining and 900.00 for the bar that is 1500.00 total.help.
Please don’t forget about the maintenance weeks that you paid for. They were included in your plan when you paid. I belive it was for 12 months. That’s a lot of money!!!!! You are owed it as am I.
I’m really disgusted by this. I’m owed 19 LA LItes, also I still have eight months that was left on my contract. I wrote to them, now I want to see whats going to happen.
I have also been victimized and robbed of hundreds of dollars. I would like to talk directly with some former clients in Pittsburgh Pa, so that we can support one another and discuss taking legal action.
If they are filing bankruptcy, we wil all be considered “creditors” and they will be discharged from any debt owed to us. This is how bankruptcy works, for the most part. don’t expect a refund or any help.
They me 40 lites and 9 months on my contract.
They screwed and they know it. They lied. Prepaid everything, they said thoudsands of dollars, all they wanted was the money. THEY DID NOT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS, ONLY OF THE WALLET. Shame on me for believing in them. Shame on them.
I knew back in October 07 when I joined what a rip off they were. I couldn’t get any kind of refund and they recently called me to get me back. They just wanted to pus more prodcuct on me and I would’nt return the calls. I spent 500 dollars on this bullsh**t. I hope the owners go to jail for a long time. I will never go to a place that asks for that kind of money again.
I am owed about $800, I asked for a refund on July 02, 2007 and havent seen a penny yet. If there is a class action lawsuit please contact me.
THEY NEVER CALLED AND INFORMED ME OF THEM CLOSING UP…THEY OWE ME $336.00 …WHICH I WILL NEVER SEE…
I filed a complaint with the Ohio Attorney General and suggest that everyone do so in their states.They owe me $234 in unused weeks. Luckily I joined before the bars were manditory. Every weigh-in was a hard sales pitch. It became a game for me to not buy something. I did lose 60 pounds and I have 25 to go but my main motivator was getting 1/2 of the money back with the maitainence part of the program.
I am livid. I had JUST reached the 50 pounds lost mark when they informed me that they would be closing! I am so upset. I am not sure how to calculate the money I am owed, but I know I had just purchased more weeks. I was on about week 31 of 85 when they told me they were closing! That plus the maintainence weeks. I am soooooo glad that I didn’t purchase any bars upfront. I couldn’t afford it. Can someone help me figure out how much I am owed. And if there is a class action suit I would love to be informed.
Pure Weight Loss owes me 12 weeks and 16 boxes of bars
They owe me 52 weeks of service and 8 boxes of lites. I feel cheated. Is there anything that can be done to recover my money?
They owe me $675. I sent my dispute to care credit in and sent back my refund also. We will see. Hopefully we will all be refunded, although I doubt it. I just joined the Monday after Thanksgiving!
I signed up in July 2007 with my two teenage daughters then I got sick in August and froze my weeks for a month, however I don;t have anything in writing. I had not been to the center since the end of November so I was totally surprised when I went in Saturday and it was closed! I am owed more than $1000 between weeks and product for myself and my daughters I am sending the refund request today but I am not hopeful. I will also file a complaint with the attorney general. Count me in for any class action lawsuit!
from ca. we all need to get together and do somthing about this im up top as suzie owed 1500.00 total
I am not sure how much I am owed. I was given extra weeks, told something about giving me back all of my weeks. But I am sure I had to pay some money. My plan did not require the purchase of bars when it was L.A. They they abruptly closed down the center in my city, I had to travel to another city. A lot of time. Advisors that I was used to in the center where I joined were gotton rid of, one way or another.
I am owed for probably week left, stabilization and maintenance weeks. I doubt that I will ever see my money. I am not sure how to figure the amount.
LA weight loss owes me $75 and 13 boxes of LA Lites.
I have noticed that some of the comments here don’t know how to figure out how much you are owed. I believe the way I figured it out is : #1 figure out how many “unused” weeks you have (include 6 weeks of Stabilization and 52 weeks of Maintenance), #2 take the “amount” you were charged for one week wether it be $9.00 or $11.00 a week (example $9.00 times the # of weeks “unused”, you should get a # that would tell you the amount you are owed). I hope that helps anyone trying to figure it out. If you still help let me know.
I have a question though. I want to know if there is a class action lawsuit for the state of Washington or if there is one for all of the states that LA Weight Loss occupied? How much would that cost to get one organized? I am interested if I can afford it or don’t have to pay anything at all. If someone knows please keep me informed, Thanks.
Are all of the weeks the same price? I mean, do you pay the same for weight loss weeks as you do for maintenance and stabiliziation?
I am so frustrated over this situation! First I was upset because this is one of the few programs that has really worked well for me. But I thought I would AT LEAST get my money back! Now it’s not even looking good for that!
All the weeks that you paid for should be the same price. If you are unsure look at all the paper work (your contract and receipts) you received from them. That will tell you just how much you paid for each week, wether it be the same or different. But make sure to take the “unused” weight loss weeks and add them to the Stabilization and Maintenance weeks.
A class action lawsuit needs to happen before we even get a chance to see the money that we are owed. They, themselves are not going to step up and right the wrong that they bestowed upon us. Sad but true.
wow!! I just found out today. They made me take all my lites home with me when I moved, they had said that they couldn’t transfer my lites. So I have like 15 boxes of lites here. It was in the summer that I had moved so all my bars are melted and fell to the button of the wrapper so it’s just a little smashed cube of a “lite-bar”. When I had told the “nutritionist” about it she said that all I could do is buy more, and that eating the ones I had was not a good idea, but they couldn’t refund me the money for them of replace them at no cost.
So what do we do now?? how do I file a claim to refund me the money?
when i found out they were closing i immediatly called care credit and my other credit card with which i had pre-paid the entire program with. then i filled out the dispute paperwork and sent the credit cards all my receipts and explained why i felt i was not getting what was promised. i could not fill out the refund paperwork as for some reason i did not receive a contract and they would not give me a copy after they decided to close. i hope something becomes of this fiasco.
suzie again Iwhuld like somone from the bay area to contact me . I SEE no one here from Ca. we have got to get together and do something.
I am owed about 400 dollars in bars and god knows what in weeks. I sent in the form before the offices even closed and am sitting with fingers crossed that I’ll get something back within the 8 weeks they said it will take. has anyone gotten a refund yet???????????????????
All i want are the lites owed to me 18 boxes, i never recieved my money back for keeping the weight off at 6 months don’t figure i will get it for the year which was up in December. i don’t know why they couldn’t have taken the time to call the client to come in for their products. they called if you missed a week or they wanted their money.