LA Weight Loss Charlotte Franchisee Sheds Unwanted Members, Employees
December 16, 2008 by admin
According to a story on WCNC, Charlotte, NC LA Weight Loss franchise owner Rick Rex has shed those unwanted customers and employees by abruptly closing his weight loss centers. Last Friday, all 10 Charlotte, NC area LA Weight Loss centers closed without notice.
Employees, some of whom had worked at LA Weight Loss for years, were given no notice, no severance and will be paid through the end of the week they worked.
Some LA weight Loss members have are owed thousands of dollars in products and services. The owner does not return calls, and the Better Business Bureau has been unable to track him down.
I should receive my paid-for products: LA bars, jetstart and Omega-trim supplements. I cannot believe the company was so deceptive.
What in the world has happened here? What the owners did to the customers was bad enough, but what they have done to the employees is ridiculous!! I have met some really great people who worked at LA Weightloss and feel terrible for them. Is there a class action lawsuit against the owners of L.A. Weightloss centers in Charlotte NC?
I am trying to find this same thing out myself. Anyone know anything about a class action lawsuit? I wouldn’t even know where to begin but I am looking …..
Hi there, when I heard of this terribly tragic end to LA Weightloss of Charlotte, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for both sides of the complaints. Both the employees & the clients. I was the manager of the Rock Hill, SC location for 6 months. We were trained to steal peoples money by the owner of the company, Mr. Richard Rex. I made Mr. Rex so much money by taking the money of people I knew would likely not complete the program. Mr. Rex often gave cash rewards to those managers who could get the most money off of people. In one instance, we had a client that was so heavy, our scales couldn’t properly weigh her, so I called Mr. Rex to ask for a new weight scale to weigh our client who paid us over $5,000 to help her lose weight and he made me drive 2.5 hours to a store in Greenville, SC to pick up a scale from another store and exchange ours. It was so bad because Mr. Rex was so cheap, that my store was left without a way to even weigh clients for a whole day just to exchange this scale because he would not just buy a new scale, they were only 450.00. His response to me saying that we needed a new scale, “It was the clients fault she was overweight, if she wanted a new scale, she could buy one”. During my tenure as manager, I was only paid $12 per hour and my staff only $7 per hour. It was so bad, that clients gave clothes to one of my staff member who couldn’t even afford to clothe her child. Meanwhile, the center was earning over $30,000 per week. The company’s success rate at the time I was employed there was less than 10%. I came upon clients that were robbed out of weeks, food and essential tools so that they could meet their plans because of the owner. There were times our toilets would back up and Mr. Rex would make us go with out proper plumbing for days , and would never hire a plumber to fix the problem. All of the expenses I incurred personally to buy soap for the bathrooms, pens to write with and utensils for work that i was never paid for, came up to over $1300 and I was never paid back. I finally became to honest to work there. When I went back for my last pay, this girl that had worked for me, Adrianne who was 3 months pregnant at the time was instructed to “whip my ass”, chased me out into the parking lot, yes pregnant, and tried to start a physical confrontation with me. To top it all off, Mr. Rex is a Baptist Preacher in Mooresville, NC. He lives lavishly in his house at Lake Norman. It’s sickening. Just thought I’d share. I’m sorry to all of you who have experienced losses!
Desi Alexander—I can not believe that you are making up stories about Rick Rex. I was the manager of Pineville when we closed. I worked for the company 2 years and he was nothing be good to me and my staff. I know for a fact that Rick would NEVER make a comment about someone that was “over weight” or would be MAKE you drive 2.5 hours somewhere to pick up a scale. Plus…he is NOT a preacher, he is a Christian and goes to church but that doesnt make his a preacher. You must have been fired and you are just mad because you couldnt do your job. Yes, Rick would give cash incentives to managers…however, they were always linked to which center had the highest weight loss. Of course we were there to sell products and programs. It was a business….just like any other business out there. I did not sell anything to anyone that didnt need or want the program. Also Rick is very upset that this had to happen…its not like he just up and ran with a ton of money. He RAN OUT of money and wasnt able to keep the company going just like other companies that have gone under in the last year due to the recession, I just thought that everyone needed to know the truth about Rick….he doesnt deserve to have lies about him going around. He was nothing but a good man that wasnt able to keep his company going.
Funnily enough, Rick Rex is such a FANTABULOUS GUY that the BBB hasn’t been able to contact him since? If such a Christian, how about the “Cry they Buy” tactic? Tat was never verbalized in your training?? He ran off with the customer money, knowing LAWL was going under and taking as much as he could get before the flop. The fact is Mr. Rex along with many other owners took money from the poor and innocent clients who entrusted him to help them change their lives, and had absolutely NO intentions on refunding any of the monies he took. As for my personal experience with Mr. Rex, that’s not for you to decide whether or not it’s true, you weren’t there. He knows what happened & I know what happened, that’s all that need to know. As for me being fired, honey I don’t think so, I was fabulous at my job & sold many many products which made Mr. Rex a very wealthy man, and I helped lots of clients by doing my job correctly - but like the many others who quit his organization, there becomes a time when what’s right prevails & someone has to do what’s right. I did what was right and I quit LAWCOS on the pretense that I just couldn’t stomach anymore wrong doing! If Mr. Rex & LAWCOS are such a great organization, why was his turn over 90%? Why did he sell all of those prepaid plans and products to all of those people just before he knew his doors were going to close? If that’s what you call “Running a business” or “Just doing business”, it’s evident why you are now out of a job. Myself on the other hand, landed an international position with the worlds largest tanning corporation and now live in the sunny land down under - Thank God I wasn’t in on this whole mess! l In closing, Karma is a beast! Richard Rex is STARTING to get what he deserves - STARTING. Once the lawsuits settle, he’ll be getting alot more of what comes around, goes around. Personally, I think jail time should be in order, but unfortunately, the laws of North Carolina just aren’t steep enough for people like Mr. Rex. Oh yeah, I haven’t heard of any recent auctions in the Charlotte area to liquidate Mr. Rex’s assets so that he can pay off all of the people & creditors he owes… Wouldn’t that be the “Christian” thing to do??
Wow….you are so right! Thank you for sharing! Man, I hope Rick gets whats coming to him!
Im so glad that YOU informed me of all of this! Thanks again
It seems as though all of the owners are using the following excuse as to why it is that they took client’s money and now can’t pay up: “We take this opportunity to inform you that LAWL Maritimes Inc., the company that operated the Centre you attended, has been put into receivership by the secured creditors of the Company.
Unfortunately as a result of the receivership, the Company no longer has any capital and is unable to provide any refund. We are sorry but we are unable to process your request.
Customer Service”
I THINK CHARLOTTE CLIENTS WOULD APPRECIATE EVEN GETTING THIS EMAIL RESPONSE BUT UNFORTUNATELY, THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF CHARLOTTE HAS BEEN UNABLE TO REACH MR. REX SINCE HE SO COWARDLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, POSTED SIGNS ON THE DOORS OF HIS WEIGHTLOSS CENTERS INFORMING BOTH HIS EMPLOYEES & CLIENTS OF HIS COMPANY’S IRRESPONSIBLE DOWNFALL AND CONSEQUENT CLOSING… HE DIDN’T EVEN HAVE ENOUGH PRIDE TO FACE THE MATTER RESPONSIBLY AND TO THE FACES OF THE MANY PEOPLE HE ROBBED BLIND. NOT TO MENTION, HIS EMPLOYEES WHO DIDN’T EVEN GET AN EXTRA WEEK OF THEIR MISERABLY LOW WAGES. THE PEOPLE THAT DEDICATED THEIR TIME TO MAKING THIS MAN LOADS OF MONEY. AS I SAID BEFORE, HAVEN’T HEARD OF ANY AUCTIONS DEALING WITH MR. REX’S ASSETS TO INCLUDE HIS LAVISH HOME & REMAINS OF HIS LIFESTYLE TO FUND THOSE OWED ALL OF THE CASH HE AFFORDED HIS EXTRAVAGANCES WITH. LIKE I SAID BEFORE, I’M SURE THE “REPO” MAN WILL SOON BE QUITE FAMILIAR WITH MR. REX…
In July of 2008, My husband and I joined La Weight Loss at the Mooresville,NC location. We joined knowing that we could not do it if we did not do it together. The next day I found out that I was pregnant. We went to the center and they told us that we had recieved a huge discount and if we ask for the refund and wanted to join again it would be 2-3 times more expensive. So we said that we would pay and do the program after the baby was born (which he was just born March 26). The told my husband to try the program without me and if it did not work (because we kept saying that one of us could not do the program without the other) then he could start again when I started. Well obviously it did not work and we were so excited to start the program May 1st just to find out that the center had closed and there is NO centers opened. The phone numbers on the websites had busy-like sounds when you call. I never even got anything from them and never got any consultations…..I gave them my money and got NOTHING!!!! How do I get my money back. We did not have the Care card but did set up a 6 month payment plan which is already paid for. Can someone help….do i need to contact an attorney? Thank you for any suggestions. On top of needing this money bad since my husband and I are both out of work with a newborn and another child, I feel scammed.
[...] the post LA Weight Loss Charlotte Franchisee Sheds Unwanted Members, Employees Desi Alexander* wrote Hi there, when I heard of this terribly tragic end to LA Weightloss of [...]
Is there a lawsuit going on? I am still owed my 1 year of maintenance plus the 6 weeks stabilization time, not to mention the LA Lite bars that they insisted they keep until I needed them. And what about our files? All my information is in there!
I am not sure if someone has already filed a suit against the owner or La Weight Loss. I would like to get the process started or at least talk with an attorney to find out our legal options. I will persue this, this coming up week. I will try to set up a website with all of the information that I find out. I encourage everyone who has been wronged by La Weight Loss to at least get a consultation (most attorneys have free consultations to see if they can actually help or not) with an attorney so that we have many views on this. Also we need to do something about this NOW or we will never see our money.
I completely hun. I used to work for Richard Rex and he is likely living the same lavish lifestyle on Lake Norman. You can bet that all of his assets were separate from his company. What about his silent partner, Kim Menard? She was the one that used to do the TV ads in the Charlotte area and Upstate, SC. You know he owned stores all of the way to Anderson, SC? He had like 15 or 20 stores. He knew LA Weightloss Corporate was going to shut it’s doors and he milked those locations for all they were worth. I guarantee you, he’s sold most of his stock on ebay. He was paid already on all of those memberships and all of that inventory belonged to customers. That’s just the kind of person he is. his turnover was over 200%. His salary for Center Managers was $12 per hour Plus Commission and man did I have some good commission checks back in the day. I just got tired of the backhanded practices of telling people they didn’t have weeks when they did, hiring almost every week b/c the pay for counselors was $7 per hour. I could go on and on honey. You build a website and call lawyers, call GE (Care Credit) they will know who to get hold of as well because they financed tousands of dollars for LA Weightloss clients. This sickens me. If you want to find Richard Rex, he lives in Mooresville, Lake Norman, just visit some of the big churches, I don’t know which one he preaches at, but it’s one of the larger ones “he’s very religious”. He couldn’t help corporate filing bankruptcy but he knew it was coming and he took all those innocent peoples money. Sick Sick Sick - he will get everything he deserves. Your money has afforded him fabulous accommodations, nice cars and private schools for his children - doesn’t that make you feel all ewey gewey inside??
I agree! Maybe we could do a class action lawsuit.
the email account that I have set up is upsetclientofmooresville@yahoo.com
Please pass this on and if you would email me with at least an email address then I will inform whomever has contacted me about my progress in filing suit.
To Richard Rex is a Liar…..umm yeah I worked for him as well…and just so everyone knows Rick does not have children….nor does he preach at a church. Wow is all I can say….Plus you didnt even spell Kims last name right and she wasnt a silent partner…she was ALWAYS at the centers. So who is the liar now? Did you even work for the company?! If you are going to bad talk Rick and everyone else at least get your facts straight before you do….just a thought.
Anyone who thinks LAWL was honest is crazy! Everytime I went in there (Huntersville/Cornelius location), they tried to get more money out of me. I haven’t even added up all the money I spent there but it’s close to 1500. Now they’re closed and we are just screwed! I will say that most of the counselors and managers were nice, but I think just forced to sell, sell, sell!
I just get so furious every time I try once again to get some response from LAWL. I signed on in May 07 and continued to visit my center 3x week until I got pregnant in Dec. Of course before I signed up, I asked the manager what would happen if I got pregnant. She said I would just have to “go on hold” until 6 weeks after the baby was born. No big deal, right? Wrong! When I returned I had 9wks(I earned more weeks for staying on tract, etc.) of weight loss left, my stabilization weeks, and maintenance. I now had about 20 lbs to lose after having the baby, but since I was nursing there was a whole new plan. I understood that, since I would need to eat more calories to satisfy both me and the baby. But, they would only guarantee 1pound per wk instead of 2 since I was nursing. Therefore I needed to buy more weeks!! I refused to buy more weeks and was told that if not, then I would be charged a $50 reinstatement fee! What?! I was never told about this policy up front. Which I think should have been discussed when I signed up and asked questions about retuning after pregnancy! The manager knew I was trying to get pregnant and probably thought if she disclosed this info I wouldn’t agree to sign up! After putting up a fight, they waived the fee and let me go with my 9 weeks. I honestly only stuck with it about 2 weeks before I decided my priorities had changed and decided to return once I had stopped nursing and my son was a little easier to tote around. Not to mention, that they already told me my refund would no longer be valid since I didn’t agree to buy more weeks and stick to my original contract. I was very distraught about the whole thing. I had worked so hard until I got pregnant, lost a lot of weight and spent a lot of time and money at the center and now had lost it all. They called often (and I responded), trying to get me to start coming back. A month later my location and all the other Charlotte locations suddenly closed.
I am still trying to figure out how to get my money back for all my unused weeks and tons of bars I purchased in advance. I paid with CareCredit, but paid off my balance a long time before they closed and most of the bar purchases were on my checkcard. If anyone in the Charlotte area has had any luck with a response from corporate or refunds, please let me know.