LA Weight Loss Australia Goes Bust

So, has anyone actually successfully cancelled their direct debits? What do you think the best way to go is? Give them the 14 days, cancel the DD with the bank or close our account entirely (ie those who have a savings account)?

It soes not make sense to me how they could go bust so quickly as there overhead did not seem so high and they were charging people up to $1500 up front.

If Certegy say they have already paid out to LA then they must have received tremndous amounts of money in advance.

I guestimate the rental of the units they were in was not more than 50K per annum and shopfit maybe another 50k per unit.

Only staff members on here can estimate staff costs but I would guess around 100k per year.

All told I doubt if overhead was more than 12 k per month and they would not need many more than 20 members per month to break even including allowing for TV advertising.

It will be interesting to see where the money has gone so quickly.

This is interesting if anyone was sold bars based on false medical claims then they should be in a position to cancel their payments

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/wa_la_weightloss.html

Yes I cancelled my DD with the bank on Friday night and told Certegy on Monday I had done this and got threatened with been sent to their Debt Agency and I could end up getting a bad credit rating. Did not worry me as I do not beleive they will be able to do this. This was at 12 o'clock on Monday and by the postings already I see everyone has been told different things from Certegy. When I researched the company on Friday night they are listed as a Direct Debit collection agency as also has been mentioned already. I am waiting now to see the legal advice other people will post.

The Sceptic said:
This is interesting if anyone was sold bars based on false medical claims then they should be in a position to cancel their payments[...]

The US operation are a bit more reslilient

http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/contentview.asp?c=187191

I started up with LA Weightloss last year and after being on the program for 2 months, I still had not lost any weight. I actually gained weight!! I gained 7 kilos. I followed it down to a T with their Detox and all their other crap. After the 2 months they still couldn't tell me what was wrong! They checked my diary and everything was perfect!! In the end i got my money back of them and threatened legal action when they tried to get out of refunding the money i had already paid. I also then threatened legal action to Certigy when they tried to tell me i would still have to pay. Needless to say i got my money back right quick. A few of the other girls had also put on weight since starting the program!!!

Hi Sonya, Wow I am so proud of "C" she has been doing so well, and you too. this is the part that breaks my heart the most, Anyway, keep going, we will help you through stabilization.

Let us know as soon as you need to.

Mandi

Penny said:
That certegy contract we signed, Im not sure if this is the same with all direct debit agreements, but shouldnt we have been made aware that we were actually taking out a loan with this company? I guess Im a bit nieve about this kind of transaction. Also I dont believe we should have been signing a form like that anyway, Im not aware of anyone who [...]

Hi All

I did mention on earlier pages on this blog that it mentions on the contract that Certegy is a "direct debit payment processor" which means that they are only the means they are like a government shared services agency and don't actually do anything except input and output financial data for LA. If they have paid our amounts in full then this is not on the contract anywhere and definitely was not part of the explanation that I received in signing this contract.

From legal advice I received the best thing for everyone to do is 1. contact Certegy in writing ie fax to place a hold or cancel your payments (make sure you use the wording that you are "withdrawing your authorisation" for them to make these direct debits), 2. contact your bank. They can definitely dispute the payments on your behalf and 3. contact your Office of Consumer Affairs to register a complaint against both Certegy and LA for their dealing with us. If everyone does these three things then we will be in a good position for later proceedings. The office of fair trading (that's what it is called in Qld) can then take a lead in investigating and protecting us from Certegy and LA.

Is it possible to place a copy of your letter to Certegy so that we all get it right?

Hi Everyone, I have just read all your comments after hearing what has happened with LA. I started with them when they first opened but resigned after about 6 months due to the 'sale tactics' they told us to use to sell the lites. At first i thought that i was doing the right thing by encouraging people to use them as i thought this would give my customers, who i genuinely cared about, the easiest weight loss. But after i saw so many people who were getting constipated and not losing weight it didn't take a genius to work out that the lites are more harm than good. Don't get me wrong...i saw a lot of people with great results but people who were unable to use the lites often got better results. I really felt like we were blindsighting customers with the way we sold them and this is a major reason why i left. I think it's disgusting what they've done, however unsurprising. Their treatment of staff was terrible. We all had AWAs and at the start we got paid on public holidays, annual leave, sick days and we were also promised at certain amount of commission. However, after the centres didn't take off the way they had hoped it was the staff who copped it....we were no longer paid sick days, public hols, annual leave and got no commission unless that centre reached a target they set which turned out to hardly ever happen. We all questioned how this could happen with the AWAs we had but there was fine print (gotta luv fine print) that said the contract could be changed at any time without our agreement....what a joke!! Can't believe i signed the damn thing!!

They also fired staff by the masses (like 10 at a time) if they didn't 'sell'. They said they didn't have room for people who were just good counsellors and not sales people. It became all too obvious in the end that they were just there to make money and didn't really care about the staff or customers.

Although i moved on sometime ago, i am still hurt by the way we (and you) were treated by them, and i have still not received any of my super (which i ws told when i questioned this was in a 'holding pattern', more lies).

I feel really bad for all of you out there who have been cheated by them, but i can guarantee one thing...they had great staff when i was there and no doubt all the cousellors who you have been referring to are exactly the same....they really do care and most probably feel really hurt by what has happened also.

On a final note (gee this is turning into an essay), don't use the lites (swap them for some extra protein and veg, all that processed crap is not good for youeven if you do lose weight), keep supporting each other and don't ever trust the company again.

Good luck!!

Hi all,

Yeah I agree that the staff were excellent. Krissy from Springwood was so supportive of my siutation and was equally excited at my quick progress.

I was also told on the monday before that i could only buy one box of lites at a time because customs was holding up the shipment, but I wouldnt be surprised if the owners had lied about this too. I dont blame the workers one bit. I just think this whole thing is wrong and it has exploited so many people.

I agree with a few of your comments, such as why would they shut down or sack people if they had no more lites? It just seems ridiculous and they must think we're stupid!!

I was also told by Certegy that we would all receive a letter from them explaining what is happening to our payments. I also rang Qld Fair Trading again and they werent saying much either.

You would think in this day and age information would be overflowing!! I rang channel 9 to see if they had any sources and they told me one thing : la weight has closed its doors.... ugh

Hello, I have just sat here for the last hour reading from page 1-5 of everyones comments.
I have been with La since October and was due to go onto maintenance this week. My weight has definately stabalised. The program definately worked for me.
I have not had bars now for about 8 weeks. I just could not justify the cost. Glad about that now.
Still have about $200 owing to Certegy. Paid upfront for the joining costs. All I guess I am owed is 52 weeks of consulation for my maintenance. I just hope I don't full through without someone watching me.
Thank you for the girls at Capalaba for all of there support. You watching over me definately got me to where I am now.

I have been doing some sleuthing and I have a number for the head office of franchises. It is 001112153464400

I rang them adn of course no-one has a clue what I am talking about. I was promised a call back, haven't received one as yet.

No penny, I doubt they will be re opening

I just read ex La Workers comment regarding the bars. Funny she should mention other people being constipated cause when I started eating them, I didnt do number 2 for 6 days! So i went to the chemist and have been on laxatives ever since! Thought six days was a bit unhealthy and nothing seemed like it was in a hurry to change it anytime soon, was scared of exploding!

I just read on the other site that Certegy have decided to cancel our contracts! Someone pleaseeeeeeeee tell me that is true pleaseeeeeeee!

Cant write to the other site for the blocking system here at work bummer! rotten government!

Hi Penny

One of my friends that was also on the program phoned certegy around 11.30am yesterday. She confirmed that apparently certgy will be sending us all letters with in the next week, canceling our contracts. They said they will persuing the money through other chanels, I can only take it they will be slapping some kind of legal paper on LA weight loss. But I would suggest in the meantime to ring them yourself and put your payments on hola and if the letter doesn't turn up with in the fortnight, ring them 24hours before your next payment is due.

To Mandi and the Belconnen girls, thanks for your kind words. (C) and I will miss our visits to you all in the morning. When all this has settled down (C) has asked me to aks you and your girls out for a coffee or lunch. (C) loved and admired you all very much and would like to show her appreciation, she's even willing to use her own pocket money.

Thanks
Sonya

Hey Im soooooo relieved to hear that Sonya, andddddd if any of the canberra staff and clients are interested in a get together vino or coffee, count me in! Would have been our get together for the six week challenge tomorrow night, was looking forward to meeting everyone!

Yay it is definitely true. Certegy will be sending us a letter next week saying our contracts are cancelled. Well done ladies and gentlemen!

Woo Hoo!!! Good work guys. This is great news about Certegy cancelling our contracts. Can't wait to get my letter in the mail confirming it.

Still a little disappointed that LA really won't be opening back up. Although I would never sign a contract with them again, I will miss the Morayfield girls and the help they gave me.

Shannon

Ex LA Employee said:
Hi Everyone, I have just read all your comments after hearing what has happened with LA. I started with them when they first opened but resigned after about 6 months due to the 'sale tactics' they told us to use to sell the lites. At first i thought that i was doing the right thing by encouraging people to use them as i thought this would give my c[...]

Well im really sorry but i have to completly say that is not how we were trained or told to sell in the centre i was at. We told the clients form the start that the La Lites are a seperate investment different to the program. Some clients could not afford them so we just change to a menu with No Lites.The program works without them you just dont lose weight as fast. We were never after the money as they have already paid for the program it was there choice if the want to use them or not. We would still help them no questions asked as we are here to help them loss weight not talk about there money .

And with the whole commission thing yeah you have to reach a target but after working in retail i dont know anywhere you get them paid out to you if you dont reach you set target. Thats just crazy. And with the AWA as well dont be unspet with LA weight loss it's the goverment that brought in the AWA and i it was you choice to sign them, You were never forced, to it was your choice.

All the staff at the centre i worked at loved our job and never had anything bad to say about the company. We would go back tomorrow if we could. I have never been happier to work for such a great company. and believe me i have for for a few big ones.

Hi All

Canberra Times reporter is on phone to me at the moment. For Canberra people the story was run today and Jenny Craig have contacted the Times offering all LA weightloss clients in QLD and Canberra that if it is closed they are offering 12 months membership for free (value $249) which includes, service, membership, guides for what menu to choose, counsellor etc. I guess you just have to pay for food.

Well the canberra Times article just busted me out with my fiance lol!!! Told him when I joined that he really didnt want to know how much I had signed up for to buy chocolate. He just read the paper that stated a holt woman was signed up for $2500, so yep just got a call from Paul who might I add is still concerned about me losing the $300 I paid as a deposit! Said quit worrying about that and be glad I dont have to pay the other!

well i found out today that LA is going barkrupted and with the people paying it off with certegy it is going to be cancelled, we will get a letter in the mail,in the next few days.

i also wasnt happy with the program i have been doing it for 20 weeks and i should of been at my goal weight by now but, i still weight the same from when i started. since they closed last friday i have been doing a new diet. i found this web site and it is great www.calorieking.com.au it is free to use.