Cooking Club of America / Scout.com review: false membership and bullying 30

Yes SCAM here in more than just the membership. My Mom replied to an add through the Cooking Club of America to receive $100 worth of free groceries for only $25. She applied and paid the $25 and did indeed receive 10 $10 grocery coupons. The information was that they were good at over 300,000 grocery stores, with no list of them. The 4 well known stores that I took her to to redeem these coupons refused to because they lack information of how the store was to get reimbursed. I reviewed all the information that came with the coupons and there is nothing referencing how to redeem these with the store or how the store can redeem them.

I, too joined this club. It has been a disaster. As a lifetime member, I got my set of pots n pans. While washing them to use, I slit my thumb on the rim of a pot and it didn't heal for a month, it was that bad! Then, like a fool, I ordered a couple things that were overpriced to begin with. Took me time to pay it off. Figured, that would be the end of it. But NO, they send me some damn knife and bill me for $89.95. I have all these types of knives and needed it like a hole in the head. Testing produces that are good. Nope, just like the others, a small set of measuring spoons and the plastic pasta measuring thing. Mind you, I AM a lifetime member. I haven't gotten anything to "test" so that too is a scam. I have been a member for over 2 years so they had plenty of time to send me something to test. This is one hell of a scam or the worse company in the nation and they couldn't run a dog race. I am so disappointed because there is alot of us out here that loves to cook and would be glad to test products. It was and is an untapped market, if anyone were truly interested in doing it the right way and with good customer service. Count me in. I am not going to pay for the knife as I got the exact same one for $29.00, Not $80.95 AND I did NOT order this thing. There has to be a good company out there some place.

I am also a victim. What can I do. I tried calling but was on the line for at least 20 minutes. They want $301.00 from me.

I hope I don't end up having to owe any more than I already do. I replied to the mail they sent me and got my free pasta thing but decided I didn't want to join. I understood it as if I sent in the $24 then I was joining, so I never sent in the money. I don't owe them anything. But they have sent my name to the credit agency! I am so pi**ed off. We are a young couple trying to build credit for a house, and now this! Does anyone know what I can do? Please help!

yeah that sucks. all these stories. i just got something in the mail from them... when it sounds too good to be true...it usually is.

I want to thank everyone that has commented on this company and thank the owners of this website. I was going to mail in the membership card tomorrow but now i'm not. Thanks again everyone

I too am a victim of the scam. When I sent in my authorization for a $12 one year membership with a few freebies that is what I expected. I didn't really believe I was going to get free prodect to test, but I figured $12 was probably worth the magazine and a few little freebies. But then the old bait & switch happened. I was sent only a couple of the promised freebies and got a bill for a $24 two year membership. I sent them a letter back with the billing saying that I wasn't paying it & accepting the membership because it was not what I agreed to. But alas I kept getting bills and now they are threatening a collection agency. I have very good credit and don't want it ruined because of a $24 incident so I'm paying, but they aren't getting anything more from me and I will do my best to let everyone know that they are SCAM ARTISTS!

Thank you all so much for these comments! I, too, got the pasta measurer and was going to send card back and pay the $12 membership fee. I decided to just take a quick look on the computer to see what it was about and all of these comments came up. I think I will pass on this and not open anything else I get from them!

i got the membership too and since im only 12 i thought 'hey this would be a good way to start off my future' i got recipe cards, the pasta thing, the measurement table, ID labels, and stickers all stuff you can get at the 99 cant store i was excited to join but now i think we should tell the higher authority people so they can take care of it

I TOO got the $12 membership notice. Then before I got a chance to pay the $12, I got a bill for $24. WTF? I'm SO glad I looked here because now all they're getting is a return envelope with CANCEL written all over it.
Thanks much for the info. You have saved me from what sounds like an ongoing problem.

The old adage "if it sounds too good to be true..." popped into my head as I read through the invitation to join. And since we have the internet I thought why not just check this out before I send the acceptance. Well, thanks so much for all comments. I'll pass on their "generous" offer.

I love my membership with Cooking Club of America. They have been up front with me. Sent my books on time. I love the e-mails and the test products. They always call and confirm before they send the next set of books. I am very happy with their quality and customer service. I also like the updates on new products and coupons and savings opportunities. Their products are hiqh quality. I have seen them in up scale kitchen ware shops such as one with the initials W-S.
They have been completely up front with all of the costs and choices.

I just canceled recently. They charged me a $40 processing, even though the was never mentioned in any of my communications with them. As writing the BBB. If you have a problem that help. I also joined two other clubs affliated with the Cooking Club. Canceled them, because they never sent the promised products and never answered emails. So I complained to the BBB and the company never responded.

Hope no one else gets taken in like I did.

I have been a member for many, many years without any problems.

I agree 100% with a previous poster that the brunt of these complaints come from people failing to read through all the print material.

There was never anything in my original documentation that said the $12 a year would be billed in two year increments. I still have that documentation. When I got the bill for $24 I sent it back as CANCEL immediately. I have recieved no free gifts. They sent me threatening letters about my account being delinquent, so I emailed them and asked them to cancel, I don't have $24 in my budget to give to them. They offerred to bill me $12 a year, which I might have done, but after the threatening letters, I don't want to do business with these people! I am sending them a drop-dead letter.

So glad I decided to read this. I know nothing is ever as it seems so I decided to check it out and found this page. I can see them screwing people big time! I am just gonna rip up my return letter now. THANKS!

I have sent them numerous emails asking them to stop sending me books, they reply and say they have posted that I do not want to receive anything and then a month later I get another book. I do not have a car and refuse to spend $20 on a taxi to return the books and PAY shipping to return them. Do they report to creditors? I have no paid any of the books in the past 3 months since this has been going on for 3 months. I have all the emails saved and each one from them (a total of 8) tell me they are going to stop sending me books. In my last email I told them I would not pay any of my bills until they can actually go more than a month without sending me unwanted products.

I joined Cooking Club of America about a year ago. The promotional material stated $12 a year, so I thought I'd try it. When I got the membership material, the invoice enclosed was for $24 for two years. I called the phone number in the membership material and questioned this. I was told that I could just pay $12 for one year if I wanted. I decided to try it for 2 years anyway, and paid the $24, by check.
I signed up on the website to try products for free. The first, and only, thing I ever received to try was a pathetic, useless, cheap knife, that I would never use in the kitchen. What a joke! I returned the rating card and told them what I thought of it. I put the knife in the garage to use on weeds.
I also received a cookbook I didn't want and wasn't expecting. Even though it was only $10, the material with it indicated that if I kept it, I would be agreeing to receiving "future books in the series" every month. There was no indication how many books there were in the series. I could see that this would never end, and I returned the book, with the invoice marked "cancel". About 2 months later I received an email from them, saying that "your (unspecified) returned item has been received". So far, I have not received any more books, or further bills for the returned one.
They have an email newsletter called Food Now. For the longest while, I kept getting a blank message, and if I clicked on "View" at the bottom, I got a new screen with a partial newsletter in plain text. I called them and asked for it to be sent in HTML, but the girl I spoke with was quite unhelpful and told me that the fault was probably with my ISP. My ISP said there was no problem on their end. I emailed CCA and was told they would refer it to their "technical" staff. There was no change for several months. Only recently, did I start receiving the newsletter in HMTL.
They also keep sending me material trying to get me to become a "lifetime" member, for $300+, implying that they will "refund" my original $24. Why would I want to fork over $300+ for a lifetime membership in something so non-essential? I have better things to do with my money, and at present I couldn't afford it; but I wouldn't consider it even if I could afford it. I keep throwing these "offers" out.
The promotional material also promised "$100 Grocery Coupon" and since I am unemployed, I thought this would be very helpful. As it turns out, they send you a plastic card, which you have to return to "Grocery Coupon Card" in Bloomington MN, with a self-addressed first-class-stamped envelope, to receive "Grocery Coupon Savings Certificates". I did this once, and what you get is a 2"x5" sheet of 10 stamp sized "certificates", a list of 928 grocery products, and a form. You have to choose exactly 48 products, and list them (in strict numerical order!) on the form, glue one of the certificate stamps to the form, and send it back with a $1 processing fee and another self-addressed first-class-stamped envelope. I did this once, recently. After 2-3 weeks, I received $14.55 worth of coupons, cut from the same coupon sections that come with my own Sunday newspapers. All the coupons were due to expire in 3-4 weeks. I was unable to use $7.80 worth because I didn't have the money to buy the products before the coupons expired. I only used $4.75 worth, and there are 2 $1 coupons still good for another week or two. However, it cost me $4.76 so far to get these coupons ($1 processing fee, plus four 44 cent stamps), so it obviously isn't worthwhile to do this. This is a joke and SCAM. They aren't saving me $100 on groceries at all!
The last straw is, they are running a sweepstakes to win a "$99" food processor, but you have to enter through a Facebook account. I don't have, or want, a Facebook account. I'm a member of the CCA, and I should damned well be able to enter this sweepstakes as well as any other member. This policy is plain DISCRIMINATION! They are discriminating against their own members by making entries available only to those with Facebook accounts!

In summary, this company is just out to take your money. They don't "give" you anything. The blank recipe cards, and the wafer sponge (that puffs up in water) that you get with the membership material, is all you're going to get out of these people. The products to try are garbage - probably made in China for pennies. The magazine is okay, but comes so infrequently that it's a surprise when it shows up, and it's full of ads, trying to get you to buy expensive kitchen products. This company is just wants to sell stuff, and all their so-called "membership benefits" are really just worthless come-ons to rope people in. I will let my membership expire after the second year. Thank goodness I paid by check, so they have no credit card number they can keep fraudulently billing things to. Stay away from Cooking Club of America and all their sister "clubs". They're all shams and scams!

Just got mine in the mail yesterday with the flimsy pasta measurer, Good thing I googled it! I have looked on 4 different websites and the feedback is def more negative than positive, So I will decline. I will not send ANYTHING to them I will just toss it all in a burn pile and lets see if they still try to contact or bill me as an above member stated.

I have been with them for just about a year and haven't had any problems. I have received several test products. It does state every time you receive a test product that you have to do they survey they send you or they don't send you anymore...but that's the point of testing. You also have to fill out another test product questionaire...to see what else would they can match you up with. If you don't do that every time then you don't get new test products.
Like I said I haven't had any problems with them.

I started filling out an application to join the cooking club of America, but i changed my mind and deleted my info. a few days later (3/ 27/11) I received an invoice urging me to send $12.00. I went to their website and sent them a message telling them to cancel and remove my name from their mailing, and email list. I decided to check them out and I am so glad that I ended up here reading all of the complaints about this company. I never purchase anything on line nor do I join any clubs on line and I refuse to be strong armed by these people or any other on line crooks...

Ha this company cannot be serious. How dare they try and scam a college student. Not only am I informing some of the best computer science students about this website (so they may do with it what they wish), but I am personally going to troll the living hell out of them. They will wish they never contacted me. WE ARE ANONYMOUS.

To antidisa, how wrong you are and don't know what you are talking about. There is little or not information on costs with the literature. Today I received a piece of mail stating my subscription price would be refunded for answering 4 questions and I would become a lifetime member. In the literature in one place did it refer to a cost, but did not say what that cost would be, just your lifetime membership would be billed to you. So, antidisa, people are being scammed. So glad I found this website before I sent in my refund paperwork. The $24 refund could have cost me $300.

Well, as mama taught me, "If It sounds too good to be true, it likely is". I received a weird looking knife (supposedly a ceramic paring knife...uh-huh) and some block of wood to put in our grill which is only pretty much good for a couple of uses. I signed up for at least 1 year (may have been 2...was a little while ago). I definitely WILL NOT sign up again. I love to cook...but these people aren't about all that. They just want to see how far they can reach into your pocket. And, for those of you who have had a GOOD experience with them? You appear to be among the EXTREMELY lucky few, and, I suspect, possibly employees of the company sent here to talk the place up amidst all the complaints. If I'm wrong, I apologize. But, my gut tells me I'm not. If you're considering joining, think long and hard and REALLY READ all of the material. You definitely DO NOT get any bang for your buck here...you just get duped and they laugh all the way to the bank. As someone who loves to cook and to try new things, I was expecting so much more than this. If you really want to join something, try a local class or something. Most of all of this online stuff is just wasted money.

Well...Your going to like this one.about Cooking Club of America..I have been a member since 2007.So I am a lifetime member. I used to get cheap little things to 'rate' through their test profile, I have had my share of problems w/them saying that they did not recieve the books that I sent back, but the worse thing about them NOW is TRY TO CALL THEM about ANYTHING..now you just get **press 1 for this OR press 2 for that. You cannot reach a human anymore, AT ALL, FOR NOTHING! I have been having an ongoing billing issue with them, about a payment that I made back in April 2012, and this is now almost the end of May 2012. I am really ticked off & ready to go to the A.G. for help with this company. I think that it is VERY POOR company business that a business cannot answer their telephone, especially in this day & age. I cannot believe that they are even treating their members this way. I was shocked when I first started calling them about 2 months ago, & got NO ONE, on the line..They used to answer the phone. Is business really that bad that they DON'T DARE TO NOW? Is anyone else having this issue? I think everyone needs to file a complaint w/AG or BBB about this company about these issues, IDK, maybe we can do a class action suit against them.. Something is very wrong here..Any thoughts? I know that sometimes you can't even get through w/email + they NEVER email you back.Scam 4 sure! ..5-25-12

Your going to love this one..I said that they never email u back..well they just did..gave me a #, I called it, recording said "North American Hunting Club" I couldn't believe my ears, I stayed on the line, A girl came on the line, I asked her if this was CCOA & she said "yes it was", told her what the recording said, she just abt ignored me.I said "well U answered the phone, & this is supposed to be NAHC?"she really ignored that question, asked me how she could help me..I knew what was going on then...So..we dealt w/the billing problem @ hand, which she rushed right through, no good customer service @ all. What is happening w/this company? I am befuddled as to whats going on, used to be, service was good, you could call & you could reach a human, talk about any problem or just talk nicely w/a person..Now you can't talk at all, or if your lucky enough to get a human..they rush you through & don't want to talk to you. **1 tip I found out..*****DIAL # [protected] CCOA & DO NOT PUT IN YOUR MEMBER NUMBER-->WAIT & SOME-1 WILL COME ON THE LINE...THEN U CAN GVE YOUR MEMBR #******If U get anothr compny name-dont worry, multple names use that #--just wait thru recordng-->trust me..thats how I finally got a HUMAN! :) [protected]--->GETS u NOWHERE! 5-25-12 Caroline

Just received a bill for $3 for a "12 month Membership" that I NEVER ordered -- I have ABSOLUTELY no interest in anything related to cooking. I almost called my local state's attorney for advice, but instead I went to their ("Cooking Club of America's") website and found their customer service number - [protected]:30am-8pm M-F, 8am-4:30pm Sat.). I had to enter my "Member number", then a couple of menu choices ("invoice", "cancel a membership") and talked to a real person. I told her in no uncertain terms that I NEVER agreed to this and to take me off their list immediately. She assured me I'd receive no more bills, and tried to apologize. I told her, "Good luck working for people like that, " and hung up.
If I were retired and had a lot of time, I'd report the fraud to my local state's attorney (or whomever they tell me to), ignore all the invoices until they sent them to a collection agency, then I'd sue them and the collection agency in a class-action suit. But I don't have a lot of time, and ### like this isn't worth it.
Sometimes I think we need to administer a little bit of the old 'frontier justice' when stuff like this shows up...

I believe that this company should be turned over to the better business bureau. With this many complaints it does not sound good. I never did get any products to try but as a Lifetime member I did spend 300.00 to be in the Club so how about some money being returned would be nice.