A while ago, before Christmas, I was contacted by the lovely people at Jenny Craig asking if I'd like to have a 2 week trial of what they had to offer. I knew instantly that I would be taking them up on their offer but didn't have the time to arrange anything until after Christmas. I rang them up to sort everything out early on in the New Year and my 2 week supply of Jenny Craig food* was with me within the week.
I didn't get pictures of every meal or snack but here are a few.
The phone call before the dispatch of my box was great: the lady on the other end asked questions about why I wanted to lose weight, how much I wanted to lose, things like that - and I felt really supported. Add to that the text letting me know my box was on its way and I was truly impressed at their level of customer service.
Unfortunately, a few things started to go wrong once I had received my box. Closer inspection of my 2 week menu suggested I had a variety of different cereals but when looking at the other paperwork, I found that two of these were out of stock. During my trial, I also found that some packages had been labelled wrong and ended up with the same breakfast for 12 out of the 14 days. This wasn't a big deal for me, the cereal was pretty yummy and filling which is what counts - but I thought it deserved a mention.
I was told to expect a call on the Monday from someone, to go through everything and to see how I was getting on. I never received this call at all during the 2 week timeframe and I am left to wonder if they forgot? It was at this time that I was really struggling with the diet, constantly feeling hungry in the evenings. I confided in another blogger, Sarah from Life In A Breakdown, who has been on the Jenny Craig plan for months, and she had an idea what it could be - they'd simply dropped me down to 1200 whereas she and others had been dropped down to 1500 first. With all those missing calories, no wonder I was feeling hungry! I tried not to snack throughout the 2 weeks but I will admit there was the odd occasion where the hunger got too much and I had a slice of toast/ handful of crisps.
I don't want to be a negative Nelly throughout as I did find some of the food to be really filling and tasty - I particularly enjoyed the soups and the provencals. The pictures above are a handful of the meals or snacks I had throughout the fortnight - super tasty!
All in all, I have to believe that the Jenny Craig plan isn't for me. Although I lost an amazing 6lbs whilst on the plan, I didn't feel supported and I hated feeling hungry! However, the food was tasty and it obviously showed results.
I may try the Jenny Craig plan again in the future once I've tried out other options but for now, I think its time to part ways.
What a disappointment. It's great that you lost the weight but it's not great to hear about the complete lack of customer service. Particularly when they contacted you for you to blog about it? You'd think they'd be on their best behaviour! Think I'll be giving Jenny Craig a miss x
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment :) I know!x
DeleteCongrats on your 6 pounds! These pre-packaged diets - Jenny Craig, NutriSystem - are a great way to start getting used to smaller portion sizes, but 1200 calories seems way too low.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, that sounds like crap service and I'm sure the plan is also for someone not necessarily running around after a little boy all day long as well lol, so in a way you were probably getting even less calories than what you thought you were.
ReplyDeleteThese starving diets are not the right way to go really, though well done on losing 6lbs lol. You obviously worked for it, though I doubt that had anything to do with the diet considering how busy you always are! :)
Awwww <3
DeletePlus, as an afterthought if you have been feeling ill recently, you will have lost weight because of that anyway; in which case food and rest would have been your body's main way of protecting itself - and with children you will get ill frequently as I'm sure you have found out by now lol.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why I am more convinced that this has been your own work, rather than Jenny Craig.
Also, I just Yahoo-ed Jenny Craig diets just to see the company's reputation (as I must admit that the food in your photos looks scrummy :3) and the first article that came up was from Consumer Affairs:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/nutrition/jenny_craig.html 33 Complaints And Consumer Reviews.
I'm reading them now, and apparently people's food has turned up unsatisfactory (EXPIRED, burned, thawed, damaged, unhygienic etc), customers have been put on the wrong diets, been overcharged (and have spent anywhere between $300 - $700 sometimes more ANYWAY, then have received no products, calls or service), JC have been refusing refunds or have made it impossible to get hold of them to get their money back (¬_¬ hmmm, this sounds like that Studio64 scam), have been told if they don't like it to go elsewhere (see where this is going?)
One commenter said that she had a disease that was exacerbated by the food, after she had been informed that it would be OK for her to eat it, and then when she complained she was told that it was a case of 'buyer beware' and she was like, what? But this is a health issue - you are a company dealing with people's health! Jenny Craig didn't seem to care.
DORTHEA OF FLINT SAID:
This is a follow-up on a report done on June 07, 2010. I finally received news from a representative named Jenny, stating that the football shaped black dropping on the side of the turkey burger was a food particle - not!
Still, I didn't explain why there were spots chewed up on the burger. Also, they refused to give back refund, but they offered to give 10% off of future food orders. I will never eat any more of JC food.
(The previous comment had been)
I noticed something black on the little dish turkey burger comes on before opening package. After opening and picked up turkey burger, I noticed one side of burger had been chewed on and that was a mouse dropping on side of burger. The burger was returned and a report was made. I have not been contacted as of yet. I had just joined Jenny Craig on April 2, 2010 for a year. I do not want anymore Jenny Craig food!
G of Park City said:
ReplyDeleteAll my food came to me unfrozen and they told me to throw it out, second time unfrozen again, and food thrown out again. No one would call back, and they said I had a number that did not work. No counselors called and they have VERY horrible customer service. These products cost a lot of money that I am out for receiving nothing.
^^^ Loads of comments stating that the food arrived thawed.
Another member said:
I paid for a year of membership and the 3rd month of my food delivery got food poisoning from the food. I received a refund for future food delivery but nothing for the membership. There was very little sympathy from the consultant and she made it sound like I did something wrong. I nearly died and was bedridden for a week. You take your chances eating their food. It has been 5 days and I have stopped vomiting but still have diarrea. I am bed ridden. I have lost weight, but at too high a cost.
There were also some other (much more shocking) comments that I'm not going to post on here, but I will just say look on page 2 to see a story about someone being racially discriminated.
Clearly this is not just your average every day Joe whining about stupid things. I would seriously rethink before you give them any money.
My advice to anyone is always look up a company's reputation before getting involved, and don't be afraid to put in keywords like 'safety' and 'scam' just to rule out possibilities of over a few hundred / thousand people going 'can't get my money back', 'never heard from them since' and 'became ill after I tried this.'
I have looked at dietry programs myself, but it's for reasons like this that I would never actually spend money on them.