Summary: <br> <br> You're about to hear a recorded call between an individual seeking information about a dieting program and the sales rep for the major organization that sells that program.<br> <br> In this call, in which the caller's voice is altered and language that could identify the brand name of the company is redacted, you're going to hear a jaw-dropping exchange.<br> <br> Not jaw-dropping in terms of a scam or anything of that magnitude. Draw-dropping in the sense of total incompetence and negligence. Here's some key takeaways:<br> <br> * That they’re using international, outsourced call centers for their sales staff.<br> * That everything they say to you is based on reading generic scripts. There’s even a few times in the call where you can tell that the rep is pausing to figure out which part of the script she should read.<br> * That they have no idea how to help you. And, in fact, the use of outsourced sales reps raises the question of how much they actually care versus how much money they can make while keeping costs as low as possible.<br> * That they grossly inflate their success metrics and make false promises about what behaviors will or won’t be effective (including telling the caller that being extremely stressed could be beneficial in terms of weight loss).<br> * That they’re totally unprepared to answer any question beyond, “where do I sign up?” And that’s simply gross incompetence and gross negligence.<br> <br> Note: I have verified the authenticity of this audio as I have listened to the unedited original. There are a lot of bleeps where identifying information is communicated, but none of it is relevant to the overall point. The further the conversation goes, the less bleeps there are (and the better the conversation gets as well).<br> <br> If you figure out which company this is based on the context of the discussion, please do not identify the company in your comments below. Your comment will be edited or deleted. You can speak about the company or your experience with them, just do not mention it by name or use other obvious indicators. The purpose of this audio is to bring light to a massive problem in the entire health and fitness industry---it is not to call out, put down, or undermine any specific organization.
