Monday, November 7, 2011

My Experience with Team BeachBody Customer Service

I want to share my experience with the folks over at Team BeachBody customer service.  Whether you have a great, good or bad experience, people tell someone else so they know what to expect when they are considering who they are dealing with.  Word of mouth is extremely powerful and can change the course of a company's success or failure.  And so after having dealt with a situation, I would like to pass along my observations and recommendations.

I am currently enrolled in a monthly supply of a product from Team BeachBody called Shakeology since the beginning of September.  In my opinion and the professional opinion of dozens of doctors and thousands upon thousands of other customers, Shakeology provides amazing health benefits.  My first full month of using it I experienced the benefits made in the claims the company advertises.  I blogged a post back in September about how Shakeology Acts like a salad and tastes like a dessert.

My plan was to use the shake to replace my whey isolate protein powder and the multi-vitamin/mineral supplements I've been taking as part of my healthy diet, with no extra out of pocket expense.  Only there's been a HUGE problem.  I've not been able to drink Shakeology for over a month!  Reason being I haven't received my 30 day auto shipment to my new home address in British Columbia.  In the beginning of October I called and notified Team Beachbody of a new shipping address, but it was already too late.  They'd already sent my second shipment to my previous address.  However, customer service said they'd simply mail me a package to my new address and the residents at the old address could simply return it to sender.  Sounds like a simple thing doesn't it.  Well, the package was promptly returned in the postal mail while I awaited the shipment of Shakeology to arrive at my new address.  Only it never came.  The weeks have gone by and I'm still waiting.  I thought well maybe it got lost in the mail system, or the Canada Post system is really slow, or maybe it got hung up in customs.  Who knows.  Last week I sent an email to Team Beachbody.

 Customer By Web Form (David van der Leek)11/03/2011 06:17 PM It has been weeks since I talked to a representative at beachbdoy to have my shakeology order sent to my new address and still my order hasn't arrived. Please confirm the order was shipped.  The previous auto ship order that was sent to my address in Alberta was received and immediately returned to Beachbody.  It is extremely disappointing and frustrating to have such a lengthy delay in having the product shipped and received to my address in BC. Please contact me ASAP to confirm delivery of the shakeology auto order. I hope that this is not typical of the kind of experience customers have with shipping to Canada. I may have to reconsider the use of the product if I cannot receive it in a timely manner.


So fast forward four days later and this morning I received this response from Customer Service.  Someone didn't use a spell checker before sending out the response below.  LOL


 Response Via Email (Valeria Dominguez)11/07/2011 08:36 AM Hello David:

Thank you for contacting Team Beachbody!

We Apologize for the delay in your order. This was an error on our nehald we had the incorrect postal code, so your order never was shipped out. We have corrected the postal code and have send it to the correct address today at 7:35 AM as of yet we do not have a tracking number, as soon as we do we will email you the information. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter, please accept a box of protein bars as an apology for our error. Here is the order number for the bars 10792398 This order was shipped out to: my new address

For any questions or concerns please contact us via email at coachrelations@teambeachbody.com or toll free at 800 240 0913

We wish you are having a healthy day!


Well, that was a very nice gesture wasn't it?  It did raise a couple of concerns.  First, the order for the October auto shipment to my new address was NEVER shipped.  Why?  Because they didn't have the correct postal code.  Hmmm....how difficult would it have been to email me and ask for it, or pickup the phone and call?  Never happened.  Second, I've never ordered any other consumable products from Team Beachbody and wasn't particularly interested in the Protein Bars.  No one called or emailed to say, "hey we made a mistake on your postal code and need the correct one.  In return, we would love to be able to send you some extra product as a way to say thanks for your continued support as a good customer.  Would you like to try some Protein Bars or would you prefer something else?"

Hey, I'm really not trying to be difficult or a pain in the backside.  So I picked up the phone this morning before going to work and called Customer Service.  A nice voice answered after a brief number of rings.  For the life of me I don't know what the heck she said after she rattled off her robot greeting.  I actually thought for a moment I had reached an answer machine!  LOL  Anyways, as soon as I realized I had a live person on the other end I explained the situation.  I said I wasn't interested in any products other than the Shakeology and asked to have the goodwill of Protein Bars removed from the order and replaced with a bag of Shakeology instead.  She was very quick to reply that it wasn't possible to substitute.

When I mentioned how even though I'm not an official BeachBody coach because I live in Canada,  I do have a strong following of friends on Facebook and here at my Blog, where people will be interested to learn about my experience with the product and with Customer Service.  I expressed again my desire to have an additional bag of Shakeology instead of the Protein Bars.  Customer Service put me on hold while she went to talk to a supervisor.  Upon coming back on the line about 5 minutes later, her tone had changed drastically to rather uncaring and was very short.  I was told that the supervisor has authorized your request.  I thanked her for the service and said I was satisfied.  The call ended.

I came home this evening to find a message on the answering machine.  Hmmm...strange, I don't recall giving her my phone number.  Anyhow, the message was from Customer Service, only this time the tone was very warm, very friendly, very caring and with much concern that I was completely satisfied.  I was assured that I would be receiving my original auto ship order for October, plus an extra free 30 day supply of Shakeology, PLUS the Protein Bars, and that I could use them or give them to friends.  This was totally unexpected and I think that Customer Service went above and beyond to make sure that a customer was completely satisfied.  For the most part I am.  I'm only frustrated that I will still not have my Shakeology for at least another two weeks while it makes its way through Canada Post.    It's thrown a real monkey wrench into the my healthy eating plan as I have been without my supplements, and I NEED MY SUPPLEMENTS!!!  As a result, I've put off my intense workouts until such a time as I receive them.

Well that's my experience with Team BeachBody Customer Service.  In a nutshell, they made a mistake in my address.  Nothing was done about it even though they knew there was a problem until I called wondering what happened.  I think they could do a better job of being more customer oriented and focused on customer needs.  They certainly did make me a satisfied customer when they agreed to my request, but went above and beyond to also include the Protein Bars.  Companies need to be very aware of their customers needs and concerns no matter the size of the company or the products being offered.  Good customer service is hard to come by, but on the whole I think Team Beachbody is doing a tremendous job at a tremendous value for people who are seeking the very best in healthy alternatives.  People make mistakes.  Great people resolve them in a timely and fair manner.  Thank you Team Beachbody for providing good customer service today.  I don't expect you to be perfect, but I did expect you to fix things when they went wrong, and you did!  Kudos!!  DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Fell Off The Exercise Bandwagon

At one point or another, everyone who starts out gungho on the exercise wagon, falls off.  Things come up for all of us such as the kids, career, a vacation and a host of other things that might mean you deal with those before your workout.  Then one day before you realize it you're sluffing off and haven't exercised in days, weeks or a month!  I'm here to tell you that it's in the past and not to worry.  Simpy get back on the exercise wagon and remember your reasons for WHY you started in the first place.  Make it YOUR plan to get back on track.  I'm writing this in part to re-motivate myself and get my mind right and on track.  I hope it will also encourage you to be a striver

Goals are critical to your success.  Once you've achieved your goals, set new ones and make sure to have them somewhere you'll be reminded of them.  If you've fallen off the wagon, think about WHY you chose your goals when you first began your transformation.  Keep your goals updated and make them your priority for the day.

If you fail to plan on when you're going to workout and just hope that you'll fit it into your day at some point, you're setting yourself up to fail.  Be sure to schedule your workout session for a specific time of the day just like any other important daily event in your life.  Write it down.  Put it in on paper, the internet, the computer, the phone or any place where you'll see it and be reminded of it.  Friends, your health and fitness is just as important as the rest of your commitments.  Don't let yourself down and fall off the wagon.  Set yourself up for success!

Sticking with an exercise routine is challenging for everyone, even for me.  So if you feel like you're alone, just know that the difficulties of sticking with it are the same for each of us.  Don't give up altogether.  If you find that you're unable to workout 5-6 days a week, if that's just a little too ambitious for someone as busy as you are, then modify your workout schedule and continue to get the benefits from working out less.  Maybe you'll switch up your routine and simply exercise every other day.  Or maybe you'll put in 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening.  Just modify your schedule however you need to make it work for you!  Being consistant is important, and working out a little each day is always better than none. 

So remember, no one is perfect so you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you fall of the exercise wagon.  You didn't give up when you started walking before falling down, you didn't give up riding a bicycle before falling down, and you need not give up execising when the going gets tough.  The key is getting back on as fast as you can.  DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED!