Did You Get Your Money From Healthy Wage?

04/15/2021

I believe that this company is preying on people who are looking to lose weight. They take your money with no way to get it back. Feels like a scam. HealthyWage is a service where you bid money for a weight loss challenge. You put in some money, and when you lose the weight, you get that money back plus a small sum above that. If you don't hit your goal, you lose everything. I joined Healthy Wage in October-November 2020 with the idea that the company was here to help encourage me to lose weight. I thought it was a great idea and a great motivator. And I was happy that this company was trying to do something good in the world. So I invested $2,000 into the program - a hefty sum under any circumstance. A few weeks into my challenge I broke my foot and had to have surgery. The surgeon said that the surgery was pretty straightforward and he would have be back to exercising in 4-6 weeks. With 5 months left in the challenge, I thought I could recover and still lose my target weight within the remaining time. However there were complications, my foot started to have massive pain. Despite that, I began working out again and attempting to continue the challenge. When the pain got too unbearable, I went back to my surgeon who determined that I require another surgery to fix the pain. At this point in time, I contacted a guy who called himself "Joe Smith" (definitely not this guys name) and asked him if I can cancel my program and they can return the money or can I extend it so that I would be able to recover and have a chance of getting my money back. I even supplied them with a doctor's note which explained the situation I am in. In both cases, I got a horrible response. They were willing to cancel my program but refused to even offer a partial reimbursement. And yes they were able to extend the challenge, but for only 3 weeks. There would be no way for me to lose 6 months with of weight in 3 weeks which means I would lose my money in this scenario well. This is insane. For a company who is supposedly designed to help people, all they are doing is hurting people and stealing their money. This is a SCAM and should be investigated by the Better Business Bureau. Shame on these guys for preying on people who need help.

Desired Outcome

Either that the business return my money given the unforeseen circumstances of two doctor-verified foot surgeries. Or a 4 month extension to the timeline which will give me a fighting chance to get my money back.

HealthyWage LLC Response

04/23/2021

HealthyWage is not a scam and in 2020 alone, we paid out more than $13.6M to winners (who lost over 860,000 pounds). On November 1, 2020 this participant wagered that he would lose 25lbs in 6 months. If successful, he would win $2,120. He advises he experienced an injury early into his challenge, but this was not reported to us at the time. Instead, as he explains himself, he elected to continue the 6-month challenge in order to achieve his goal. He did not contact HealthyWage about his injury until 5 months later on April 13, 2021 (19 days before the end of the 6 month challenge) when he indicated he was not going to reach his goal and requested accommodation. Please note our FAQ, which specifically states that if you experience a medical event, it needs to be reported within 14 days of the diagnosis/event: https://www.healthywage.com/healthywager/faq/ Choosing to continue a challenge and then waiting until the end to request special accommodation when you do not meet your goal, does reduce the amount of options available. Regardless of this and our stated policy shared above, our representative Joe (which is his real name - he's worked for HealthyWage for 7 years) provided details of our medical hiatus option. He even spoke with this participant on the phone, trying to work out a solution to help him. In response, this participant demanded our employee's personal details and then searched for him on social media and posted his full name on another review platform - violating our employee's right to safety and privacy. He has since had to edit his review on that platform to remove this information. This participant is attempting to tarnish our reputation and has already violated our employee's privacy in order to achieve his desired outcome. This participant paid for a 6-month challenge and that is what he has received. We offered the options available to him, based on the conditions of his situation. If he elects not to accept them, that is his choice.

Customer Response

04/26/2021

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) As the complainant, I do not accept their answer. First I think it's important to clarify that I paid them $2,000 to receive $120 in potential prize money for completing this challenge. The way they write their response, they are leading you to believe that I would win the full $2,120 which is not true. The prize money is less than 5% of what I 'wagered.' So this is a misrepresentation. As I stated, I broke my foot in October, my doctor at the time, felt confident that I would recover in time to continue this program. I had surgery, and was saddened to hear that the surgery didn't take. After several consultations with my doctor, he came to the decision that we had to conduct another surgery which would put me out for several months. Soon after that conversation with my doctor, I reached out to them to see what I could do. They gave me two options, 1) cancel the wager and lose my $2,000 or 2) continue the wager, try to lose 25 lbs in 3 weeks, and lose my $2,000. Neither of these options seem reasonable or viable. They would like to paint me as a disgruntled customer who never intended on losing weight or taking this program seriously. That is not the case. Were it not for the injury and, now two, surgeries. I would have continued the program in good faith. But presented with my bad luck, they are leaving no viable path to resolve this issue. Attached are two doctors notes describing the situation. My doctor's name and phone number are on the letterhead in case anyone wants to validate what I have stated in this complaint. I don't see the logic in them wanting to keep my $2,000 in a situation which is out of my control, unless they didn't plan to return the money in the first place. I implore the better business bureau to encourage this business to provide a solution that gives me a fair chance to retrieve my money. For instance, they can offer me a partial refund, they can extend the program for a few months. There are solutions out there, but at this point, they are not willing to consider any of them. And as last note: I have no intention to tarnish their brand. When I joined the program, I was hopeful and how it could help me along my weight loss journey. It is only their customer service and their inability to be flexible in a situation truly out of my control that I have issues with. And their employee was extremely rude. When I asked him his last name, he lied to me. Yes, I shared his name on my review, but promptly removed it when I realized that it could potentially harm this employee. My goal is not to hurt the brand or its employees. My goal is to have a fighting chance to get my money back since MEDICALLY unable to complete it. They should not shame me for voicing my opinion on this matter.

Customer Response

05/12/2021

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The company has offered three options, all of which are untenable. To appear to be reasonable, they are trying to claim that they are offering reasonable options when they are not. By way of recap, I gave them $2,000 to enter into a weight loss context to win my money back plus $162, or roughly 8% of what I gave them. Less than a month after I made the investment, I broke my foot and had to have surgery. I was hopeful that I would recover and resume the competition. In fact, I tried. But it only re-injured my foot, causing me to have another surgery. As soon as I learned of this, I informed them. Despite my legitimate, medical reasons for not being able to have a chance to win back my substantial investment, they offered me these 3 untenable solutions. 1. Cancel the program and lose all of my money. 2. Pay another $2,000 and extend the program, putting me at an investment of $4,000 to win $162. 3. Accept a partial refund of $189, which they graciously rounded up to $190. Due to my broken foot, surgery, and rehabilitation time, I would not able to compete in this program for 4 out of the 6 months. I don't understand why they feel justified in keeping 90% of the money I invested, unless that is their business model. I ask that the BBB consider that, given their approach toward solving my grievance, you look at their business with greater scrutiny. I am asking them to consider one of the following - more reasonable solutions. 1. Refund $1,333 or roughly 2/3 of my bet. This equates to the fact that I was medically unable to do the program. 2. Extend the program free of charge for an additional 4 months so that I may have a fair chance of winning my money back (assuming this is even possible). If they are willing to offer either of these solutions, I would consider the issue closed and would consider this a positive resolution in regards to any reviews I have shared.