LA Weight Loss lighter after deal with state

OLYMPIA – After struggling with her weight, Stephanie Aleshire decided recently to try LA Weight Loss. She signed up for the program, met one-on-one with weight counselors, and says she followed their instructions to the letter.

After six weeks, the Redmond woman says, she hadn’t lost any weight. But she had lost something: hundreds of dollars.

“Once you’ve paid your money, they don’t care what you do,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Forget you.’ “

On Friday, state Attorney General Rob McKenna announced settlements with three companies operating LA Weight Loss diet centers in Washington. The companies – which admitted no wrongdoing – agreed to reimburse up to $800,000 to customers who say they were misled about the true costs of the program or who bought a “fat blocking” diet supplement that the state says did virtually nothing. The agreement only covers the chain’s Washington centers.

The companies, who all did business under the “L.A. Weight Loss” name, will have to refund the money of unsatisfied customers, pay another $75,000 in state attorney fees, and also pay a still-undetermined amount into a consumer-education fund for dieters.

“Although the program, if followed, is effective,” Assistant Attorney General Jack Zurlini said, “the way they were selling it was unfair and deceitful in our opinion.”

The settlements cover three businesses: LA Weight Loss Centers Inc. and LA Weight Loss Franchise Co., both based in Horsham, Pa., and NWM Inc., of Lake Oswego, Ore. Combined, they operate 19 diet centers in Washington, including in Spokane and Spokane Valley.

Calls seeking comment from NWM and LA Weight Loss Franchise Co. on Friday were not returned. LA Weight Loss Centers issued a three-sentence statement denying any wrongdoing, but said the company would reimburse any client who feels misled.

“We are committed to the satisfaction of our clients in all aspects of their experience with LA Weight Loss Centers,” CEO Vahan Karian said in the statement, “and look forward to continuing to serve the people of Washington in meeting their weight loss goals.”

Zurlini, who works in the AG’s Spokane office, said that about two dozen dieters complained about the company.

“Which is a lot, because people don’t bother with it most of the time,” he said.

Many, he said, were attracted by ads indicating that the program cost only a few dollars a week.

“But the small print was that you pay it all up front,” Zurlini said.

Another selling point, he said, was that dieters didn’t need to buy special foods.

“After the person signed up and paid hundreds of dollars, LA Weight Loss did a 180-degree turn,” he said. Counselors recommended a wide array of supplements and products, he said, “with the pitch that now it’s important and vital and key to your success. It was a misrepresentation of the total cost of the program up front.”

Aleshire echoes those allegations. She said she paid $550 up front, and in the second week began to be pressured to buy products, including a recipe book, water jug, supplements and breakfast bars.

“Why do I need to buy 52 weeks of breakfast bars?” she said.

She said she spent about $300 on vitamins, “fat blockers” and bars.

“And they were really ticked when I said no to the other supplements they had,” she said.

One of the products she bought was called FB500. LA Weight Loss representatives, Zurlini said, claimed that the supplement blocked, trapped or otherwise absorbed fat, preventing calories from ending up on dieters’ waistlines.

“Don’t we all wish there was something like that?” he said. The claims, he said, were “just unfounded. There’s no competent reliable evidence to prove that that’s true.”

The primary ingredient was chitosan, he said, and studies have shown that dieters would have to ingest massive amounts of the substance to see significant weight loss. Both the Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration have warned companies in recent years against unsubstantiated claims of miraculous weight loss from the substance, derived from the exoskeletons of shellfish.

As part of the settlements, the companies were banned from claiming health or weight-loss benefits from all their supplements unless they can show “competent and reliable scientific evidence.” LA Weight Loss Centers Inc. and the franchise company both maintain in the settlements that they “had a reasonable basis (for) substantiating claims made” about their supplements. But they agreed to refund the money of unsatisfied customers who purchased FB500 since 2003.

The settlement only covers LA Weight Loss clients since Jan. 1, 2003. Refunds must be requested within 90 days.

Those who believe they were misled when they enrolled can file a reimbursement request with the LA Weight Loss center they enrolled with, with the Better Business Bureau, or with the attorney general’s office (1-800-551-4636 or www.atg.wa.gov).

Consumers who bought FB500 from a location run by LA Weight Loss Center Inc. will be sent a refund automatically. Those who bought it from a location owned by NWM Inc. – which runs centers in Spokane, Spokane Valley, Kennewick and Yakima, among others – should file a written request with that company, the Better Business Bureau, or the AG.