I have been trying for MONTHS to get signed up on Slim-Fast.com since having the baby. The website contained errors at almost every mouse click. Every day I would make my shakes for breakfast and lunch - and loved them - but needed the added bonus of support and encouragement to get through it. Yes, I realize that it’s a ‘free service’ from the company, but if it’s offered, dammit, it should *work*. I’ve gone so far as sending emails (no response) and calling the customer support line (helpless). I’m done reaching out to try to get their product to work.
Now that the site is finally (somewhat) functional, I can’t even create a user ID. Trust me when I tell you I’ve completed all the fields marked in red. From the looks of the message board, no one from the company is keeping their customers informed or answering their questions. It seems that the community was very committed to the product, to their friendships online with other weight loss seekers, and to the message board and personal statistics. Several members complained that their weigh loss tracking data that had been online since 2001 had been erased, with no explanation given. With the current state of health the country is in, any effort to lose weight in a reasonable manner should be encouraged. Granted, Slim-Fast is not the healthiest way to go about it - just take a look what is IN some of that stuff! - but it’s a start.
I am sad to say that the Slim-Fast product website is the worst I’ve ever witnessed. They are losing customers, and not by the handful, or dozen, but by the thousands - and they don’t seem to care. Hell, all you people are FAT and need our product, so do you really have a choice? Why, yes we do! I’ve been looking at joining Jenny Craig, but money is tight and gas is expensive. In the meantime, I’ve stopped purchasing any Slim-Fast items. They just don’t get how business is supposed to work, and how it’s supposed to work on the web. The social part of it, the community of it. It’s about more than just your product.
P.S. - Unilever, once you get your act together, fire your back-end staff, hire a team that actually realizes that you should test your site before putting it live, and care about your customers … hire a *paid* community manager to help gain back the decades of trust you pissed away trying to be cheap.
Original post from the Reviews From The Radio blog. This post is an unpaid and unbiased personal review of the products discussed. Subscribe now for more opinionated goodness!
Technorati Tags: Slim Fast, Slim-Fast, Unilever, Jenny Craig
