Cooking Club of America / Scout.com review: all they want is your money and to screw up your credit! 63

Today I received a bill for a 24 month Membership at $24 from the "The Cooking Club of America". They told me that I was way overdue and if I don't send a check by 7/16/07, they will give it to a collection company and cancel my membership. I never applied for membership. I think I asked for more information and consequently had to give them the address. I've gotten a couple of magazines, but this is the first bill.

I have never heard of this club before and out of no where I was billed for a magazine subscription from Cooking Club of America... that i have never subscribed for. I don't care what you do but the CEO of Cooking Club of America better cancel this for me.

I'm very disgusted with Cooking Club of America. I received mail from them to join this wonderful club and start cooking like a gourmet. Well, let me tell you I sent them $24.00 for my membership dues and I haven't gotten anything yet. They were suppose to send me a cocoa lover's collection and a grater. I was also suppose to have a magazine subscription to Cooking Pleasures Magazine. I haven't received anything at all. They robbed me of my $24.00 and I received nothing in return. I'm totally fed up with this company. I'm just thankful that all I lost was $24.00. I've called and spoke to several employees of this shady company and still gotten no where. I've heard all their lame promises about shipping me the free grater and cocoa collection for joining the club and my magazine subscription will begin soon. I sent a check in the amount of $24.00 way back on April 25th, 2007 and haven't received anything. I absolutely don't want anything to do with Cooking Club of America. They're rip off artists.

When I complained, as a fairly new customer, for not getting the services promised, they cancelled my membership (they said "as I requested"). The $100. coupons is a farce! I am now trying to get back my $24. membership money. I will NEVER join a club like this again. The crafts club is the same, probably the same company!

I signed up for the membership trial in Jan of '06 and then sent the $24.00 for a one-year membership with the option to cancel at any time. After that one-year and never received any of the gifts, etc that was promised, other than a pad of paper a cheep maganet and a pasta measure, I decided to cancel. I sent them written notification that I wanted to cancel in Jan of '07. This past weekend 9/15/07 I recieved a collection notice from RMCB Collection Agency stating that I owe $301.00. I immediately tried to contact the Cooking Club of America to inquiry and couldn't get any contact information through their site. I then looked them up on Free 411 and found [protected]. When I called the number it sent me through several prompts entering the Pin # and then giving me options to pay or simply stating that I have canceled this membership. I of course selected the option stating that this membership was canceled and the automative system said that it would be noted and that due to the high volume calls that I need to call back tomorrow. What is that all about! It then gave me a customer service e-mail address memberservices@cookingclub.com where I sent an e-mail pertaining to this same issue and demanded immediate response or that I would seek legal advise and report them to the BBB. This Cooking Club of America is a total scam!

I have been a member of the cooking Club of America for a while now. For one, all of their contact info has been on everything they have ever sent me. Secondly, I absolutely love the quality of the products. Their cook book series is among my favorites and I refer to it often. I have never once had an issue with this company. They have done exactly what they claimed each and every time. I sent in the reply sheet claiming my cocoa collection and grater and recieved both promptly. I filled out the form online to become a product tester and have received free products. The only thing I was not thrilled with twas the $100 in coupons. You are sent coupons $10 at a time. The coupons are chosen from a list you pick out. I would imagine some home worker stuffs the envelopes with the coupons. However, there are 100s of dollars in coupons in my newspaper every month and I very rarely use more that two or three dollars worth. It is not the main product of the club. It is simply a small added bonus.

Perhaps the difference in satisfaction levels has to do with how well the membership literature was read.

Hi, I signed up with with Cooking Club of America and paid them $24.00 for a two year membership and was suppose to get a grater and a Cocoa Flavors delight. Well to date I have not received anything. They took my money over one month ago. I tried to call but get a recording to call back during business hours and I was calling during business hours. Please have someone respond to my e-mail from your company. Thanks you! Mabelle Pou

I have been a member of Cooking Club of America for almost 4years and have never had any problems with the club. I have received everything as promised. I have purchased items from them that I absolutely love. Whenever I call the 888 number I always speak with a live representative who are always very pleasant and helpful. I got through to the number just this morning.I have nothing but praise for this company and have recommended them to friends and family.

I hope you all get your complaints taken care of though. They are definitely NOT A SCAM! I dont work for them I am just a loyal customer who has had a wonderful experience with them. I am also a life member.

Below is a letter I sent to CCOA on October 12, 2007. As yet, I have not received a response. Like all of you, I am throughly outraged as to the way this company operates. It should be shut down for fraud. You may use my letter as a template to craft your own if needed.

This letter is to complain about the way you treat your “Members”. Cooking Club of America has misrepresented itself. This was supposed to be a member’s only club about the passion of cooking. Yet you treat your members as a captive group in which you can send unsolicited items without the prior approval of members, and expect them to either purchase or return the item. This has happened to me several times and I have instructed you in the past not to continue to do this, yet you still send me items that, quite frankly, have nothing to do with the culinary arts, just some overpriced trinket or calendar.
Consistently I have returned these unsolicited items the same day I receive them yet each time I receive a notice three weeks later asking for payment. I am tired of it. According to Maryland law, any unsolicited item received is considered a gift and payment cannot be collected by the sender. It is not the obligation of the receiver to return the item, even if there is a postage paid return label provided. This is to discourage companies from doing the very same thing you are doing.
I expected a much higher level of focus on cooking than trying to sell an array of gadgets, overpriced mixers, skillets, electric pans and steamers. The Cooking Club of America is nothing more than a rouse for selling merchandise than collaboration of their members and their passion for cooking.

There are vast numbers of disappointed members according to postings on the internet. You are well known, but it’s not flattering. Many have experienced no responses from written inquires, e-mails to customer service, receiving notices from collection agencies for lack of payment even though the items had been returned.

I am upset at the way you conduct your business. Even though I am a Life Member, I am requesting to be removed from your membership list. I do not want to receive your magazine, offers, or any unsolicited “try before you buy” offers, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. I will state again that if I receive an unsolicited item, it will be considered a gift. It will not be returned and no payment will be made. You have been served.

You can call [protected] to cancel. If you got the time to wait to talk to someone. Hey I just got through. I sent back everything and told them that I had also cancelled. They said the would cancel today and to disregard any billing from here on out. I hope it really works this time!

I have been a member of ccoa for several years. I have always received everything as promised from this company. I have been satisfied with everything but one item. Its amazing to me that some people have had problems. I have never had the kind of problems these people describe.

I have never had a problem with the Cooking Club. I am a lifetime member and have been with them since the beginning, have always gotten everything they promised and will always get the magazine for the rest of my life. I have never had any problems that any of you have described. I'm wondering if we're all talking about the same company.

I couldn't agree more with all the articles here, Is there nothing we can do is this america or what ? who owns this company the oil companys. I am outraged that this kind of thing can continue to operate, where are the people we elect into our government to protect us from vilians like cooking club and handyman clubs of WHAT AMERICA I have now been turned over to colection for there lousy $24.00 guess what you can't get rid of that once you have been turned over it's there to stay. someone needs to hang those ### from the higest tree. if some politician wants to score some point before the election he or she should be looking for our votes by solving this kind of thing.

i did not order anything.
do not send bills

guy lewis

I also did the 24$ two year subscribson with the "company". Everything was fine at first , got the magazines just fine, but then the free gifts arrived. Cheese graider, what a joke, pasta mesure (peace of plastic), I can do that with my own hands, when I need to cook spaghetti. If you get the coco lovers colections, don't drink it. Mine probably was in some wearehouse for years, it was so stale. Now my broblem is that they started to send me a renewal notices allready, when I still have one more year to go.They can have it, I am done. If they sends me the magazines, that's fine by me, I pay for it. Thank GOOD I did not use a creditcard...

This is a HUGE joke.. i dont even remember signing up for this and i got got a bill in the mail toda.. thats not gonnna happen.. and def. Not after reading everyone else's experiences.. and i have been on the hold call thing for 20 minutes trying to cancel.. this is crazy..

I just went to your website memberserices@cookingclub.com and guess what I found all the sex services you would ever want. I didn't click on because I didn't want to vomit. All I wanted to do was to complete a product test profile as instructed on page 60 of the Dec./Jan. issue of cooking pleasures magazine. Please remove all this filth from your website. THANK YOU!

The Cook book, You Deserve Dessert!,
It has an ingredient called for 1(7oz)jar of marshmallow creme. But it doesn't tell you what to do with it or when and where to use it. This reciepe is a good one, unfortunately it is missing something.
I would like to know more about it.
Thank you,
rose

I'm getting the runaround by you & cooking club.

Why haven't you answered?

I can't seem to get anyone to answer me.

My complant is that rthe password you gave me doesn't work! Do I need one ever time I try to log-on?

Disturbed & confused!?

I've been a member for less than 1 year, it cost me $24. I received a cookbook and I was pretty excited about it because it was a very good one, only to read that it would cost me more to have it. I sent it back and was not billed for it. I receive the magazine on time, but the $100 in coupons is frustrating. I get more savings by searching the local newspaper and on line. I did receive coupons once, and it was as promised, $10.00 plus a coupon to make up for the return postage. I submitted in October 2007 again, but have not received my second round of coupons. I have no idea what happened and I don't expect I'll see the coupons either. Other than that the membership is ok but I don't think I will renew it when the time comes. I appreciate seeing all the feedback regarding CCOA.

i paid my bill on feb.3 and today is march 16 and i got another bill, please send my free stuff and get ur records straight!

I would like to say that i notice that i had beed getting repeat membership packets, new membership kits and duplicate gifts. i joined the cooking club i guess around 1999 and sometime in 2001 i was told i was no longer a life member. i rejoined the cooking club in 2006 thinking i would rejoin as a life member. i was told in 2007. i was not a life member and had to rejoin as a new member. i sent in my $24.00 each time and october 2007. i recieved something around december, 2007 for new membership again the garlic press, and the stickers, magnet, recipe cards, etc. i have recieved these at least three times and still have them to prove it!s. Today, since i've seen this e-mail i begin thinking how i though that something must be wrong with the people running the cooking club. because i was just allowed to rejoin and i paid the $24.00 again october-november 2007 and they sent a cooking collection book offer for 10.00 a book. i sent the 10.00. i recieved a letter threating me to cancel my member ship and send my info to collections for not paying for the book. It is so, funny, that i found the copy of my money order receipts for new membership and the book. i did contact the cooking club about the payment already sent and i recieved a letter of apology but, i also, recieved another request to renew my membership for $23.00 and it is just 03/31/08. What i am feeling is that either some one has gotten a hold of the cooking club database of members information and are working as cooking club frauds or the cooking club has lost it's integrity and it's mind. and i have been and still am a life member and i want a years member ship which shoulod not end until october -november 2008 and should not be memtioning renew until a couple of months before that time. also, i will remain neutral at this time but, i do suspect something is very wrong and agree an investigation of some type should be done on behalf of paying consumers who expect integrity and honesty in this deteriating society we live in. Nothing is sacred anymore. The word is trust, we want to trust in something clean still. The good news for me is a packet came before i closed the comment- membership packet offering a (free) new life membership kit, (valued at 125.00) but, i need to return $23.08. a new member card (which is a true improvement) the old one you could fold it in half and it would bend. this one is made like a credit card. and, the packet looks very much professional likethe company i've always dealt with. and my card does have 10/2007 on it so, i am not sure what is going on but, it still looks legitmate to me. i remain neutral. i Love to cook. i pray this all gets worked out because i really like the idea of the club itself. i think it is great!

I didn't ask them to send me a recipes, etc. i got a bill. haha

I am getting very scared as I keep going down to read evryone's comments! I just received this letter claiming that I have to pay a fee... And I've never signed up for this! The name written on the bill was not even mine! Are they going to send me stuff until they win over this war? How am I supposed to cancel, if I've found out through everyone's comments, that they never get your messeges from e-mails nor phone calls?! I am getting very nervous, I would very much appreacite everyone's help!

Thank you for your information. I was holding on subscribing to the Cooking Club of America because I wanted to find out more information about the company and what it was about. Your complaint has saved me from making a mistake. Thank you very much!

I received the Pasta Cookbook and sent it back with a note that I do not wish to received any more. The other day I got another book which I have not opened and want to sent it back. If I give it back to the Post Office, how do I know that they will acknowledge receipt of it and not pester me with statements? Would like to know what to do.

I have been a member of CCOA for 6 years and have received all the products they promised. As a matter of fact, I am a life member and have also received the cookware and other items that come with being a life member. I receive the Cooking Pleasures magazine every time.
Each time I returned an item, I did not receive a bill for it.
I am sorry that so many people have been dissatisfied with CCOA. It is a good company.

Report them to the BBB! Send them a certified letter, document your calls and e mails.

Try this number Phone
[protected]

I contacted them by their e mail, and got a response the next day.
memberservices@cookingclub.com

I just stated that I never ordered their magazine, and I would refuse anything that came to my house.
I put the account number on the e mail and my name.

the cooking club is the worst club ive ever joined. iam a new member and iam not pleased with the cooking club at all. i only sent them 12.00 for the magazine subscription and it took forever for me to recieve my packet of intormation and my first magazine subscription.

iam now fed up with the cooking club ! i just recieved a cook book from the cooking club and they want me to pay 30.00 for this cook book can you believe this ? the agreement for these books was 10.00 for each cook book they send.. now the price has went up. my advice to everyone is not not waste your time with the cooking club, craft club or gardening club... they are all scams !

iam in the process of canceling my membership. iam not paying 330.00 to become a life time member for those stupid gifts they send out randomly for you to product test. no thank you

Hi. I am a lifetime member of the Cooking Club of America, and for the past few months I have been completely ignored.
Nothing to test, no literature, no nothing. It is as if I didn't pay the lifetime membership, to which I did.
My account number :[protected]
Please replt. Thank you, Rose

I was happy to note that others have similiar complains.

I was offered a membership for $24 a year (that is how the offer read), now I am constantly being called to pay them $125 past due amount and a total of $325.00 for life time membership.

Who are they kidding? There is something very wrong with this
deal...the only thing which I received was a some stickers, recipe
cards and a magnet for my refrigerator.

I do think that it is time as consumers that we put an end to what-ever the game is...

I can relate to the many dissatisfied members...I submitted
$24 dollars for a membership, and the only thing which I have
received is a few recipe cards, some stickers and a magnate for
my refrigerator.

The membership was suppose to be cancelled; however I a gettin
daily harassment calls about money owed...them in my book when you cancel something that should be the end of it, if you are
not under contract, and I do not have a contract with them.

I just received another overdue bill from the Cooking Club of America. I agreed to a free trial. Upon receiving it, I cancelled. I have notified them several times since that I cancelled but I am still receiving notices. I found this site when I tried to email them. No wonder I have not been able to rectify this. I refuse to be held hostage so they can do whatever they like. I will not pay a dime for something I don't want!

I have never recieved a bill or any items.I did join and all I recieved is a call from universal fidelity in huston texas which are a rude collection agancy.I never gave them my money and until I recieve anythingwhich I don't want know since I signed up in 2004 and its 2008.they can keep what ever and sick it.

I contacted the better bussiness burea and if enough people do about the company we can get some where.Hopefully shut them down.

I couldn't agree more that the COOKING CLUB OF AMERICA is a low budget, sham of a company. I couldn't believe that I had to return the cheapo magnet and flatter than flat sponge because I wouldn't agree to become a Life Member to the tune of an additional $25.00 a month for a year. I also never received the items promised to me. One thing I will say is that the cookbook is beautifully done, and I will remain a member to complete the series.

I joined this club in May and it is now the middle of August . I still have not received anything that was suppose to be shipped to me.
I called and requested a refund of my money and have not received that yet. That was back in June.
Sorry I ever got involved with this group of ripoffs.

I was a member to this magazine for one year and was told I was a
life member then. Now I am another life member How many times do make people a life member When I find my check for the last time I will call the better business bereau for this another scam