There’s already a lot to take in when reading the original Athletic Greens Review. So I thought it’ll be interesting to spend some time addressing the good and bad separately, hence this Athletic Greens Negative Review. Also, it’s easier to address the the concerns brought up in the comments here, since most were swallowed up the by sheer number of people contributing their thoughts, causing a lot of repeats.
So here goes:
Major Complaint 1 – Cost
This is perhaps the most common complaint about Athletic Greens obvious one. It’s not cheap. Most products on the market are about half the price or less. Many already consider their product overpriced…. and they have to cajones to recommend you double the dosage!
I did outline why in my review I thought their price is high, not expensive, and why it’s worth it. My concern however, is 2 things – whether you really need it, and whether you really need to double dose.
A. Budgeting – Please remember, whether you goal is to improve your health and/or lose fats, 80% of your effort should go to What You Eat and What You Do (i.e. Exercise). If you can’t or don’t want to afford a product like Athletic Greens, feel free to consider an alternative, or to even Not bother with it at all. This isn’t a requirement. Just treat it like owning a car – if you can afford it, sure, why not, but if you can’t or you’re not willing to spend the money, Don’t.
B. Double Dosing – Of course they’ll recommend you to double dose. They get twice the revenue from the same customer! And even if that wasn’t their purpose, why wouldn’t you get more benefits, and possibly within a shorter period of time? It makes sense. But, again, if it doesn’t make cents, don’t do it. Double dosing will no doubt be better, but it’s not a requirement.
Guys and gals, don’t force yourselves… Work with what you have.
Focus on the 80%, which is Diet and Exercise habits, then decide if you want to get Athletic Greens or similar products to supplement your effort.
Major Complaint 2 – Iffy Sales Technique
(2017 Update – Their site has been overhauled. Prices are indicated clearly on the site and test single orders no longer have automated billings attached to them.)
After the cost, comes the 2nd most common Athletic Greens complaint, which is also the one that seems to really pisses people off. If you read the comments on the review page and forums all around, you’ll see a lot of the negative complaints and review of Athletic Green are of their attitude and behaviour when it comes to their marketing and in some cases, customer service.
The 2nd part of it is with some of their offers. They sometimes have ‘risk-free’ trials where you only pay for shipping and handling. Naturally, there will be some underlying terms and agreements to follow, one of which is that the full amount will still be deducted from your card, only to be returned if you if you tell them to cancel within the stipulated time.
To be fair on both sides – Many companies use similar terms in their promos, but Athletic Greens definitely needs to do a better job in communicating these conditions just before confirming the order. I doubt people will be making such complaints if the terms were highlighted to them clearly, instead of inadvertently coming across as being sneaky. Note this applies to whatever business you’re in.
My experience in sales tells me that the worst complaints come from misinformation, deliberate or not. You’re supposed to build trust, not create suspicion, so take note.
Little or No Protein – Not a Meal Replacement
Some have asked me to make a comparison between Athletic Greens and products like Shakeology. The problem is that however, they are 2 different products. One is a supplement, while the other is technically a meal replacement.
I do not claim to be an expert, but I notice that most meal replacements have protein as a large part of its nutritional makeup. This makes sense of course, as it’s designed to be a complete meal instead of being simply a supplement.
I guess you could make a meal replacement out of AG by adding a decent serving of protein (20g or more). There’s the good and bad of doing this, as usual. It’s a little more expensive this way, but you get control, and I suspect, higher quality nutrition, when you combine a high quality greens supplement like AG with a protein of your choice.
Not Entirely Organic
I’m not sure where you stand on the organic products front, considering how there’s increasing evidence of companies using using loopholes to get their products certified as ‘Organic’.
Anyway, the point is that Athletic Greens is not an entirely organic product. They do use non-GMO ingredients however, and it does contain are ingredients are are certified organic as well. Personally, it’s not a big deal for me. If it is for you however, then do take note.
Not Available Worldwide
Right now, it’s only available in US, Canada, and Europe. The rest will need to import it via forwarders at additional cost or settle for the alternatives.
In My Opinion, Not for Weight Loss
This one is quite sensitive. I’ve noticed that AG and gang have been selling this as a weight loss product as well. While that’s not exactly accurate, it’s not entirely wrong either.
Let me explain.
There are many reasons why people gain weight, from things like bad habits to hormonal imbalance.
There will be those who will lose weight after only consuming Athletic Greens. If they do, I suspect it’s either because their hormones got balanced, or that their intestinal bacterial health improved. These people are, however, in the minority. For rest of us, the only real way to achieve loss weight would be to focus on the 2 main things – A Healthy Diet and Exercise.
In other words, while not impossible, it’s unlikely that consuming Athletic Greens alone will lead to fat loss for most people.
So, that’s it for the Athletic Greens Negative Review. I hope you pips found this useful. Interesting note by the way; Notice few of the complaints are about the quality of the product itself?
Where to Purchase (Disclaimer)
Athletic Greens
Amazon – International
Athletic Greens – Positive Points – The other half of this article
Athletic Greens Review and Comparison – The Original Honest Review about AG
Top 3 Athletic Greens Alternatives
They also make it very difficult to cancel your subscription. You MUST call in to cancel, but you can email to change your delivery schedule.
Shady at best.
Better stuff is available elsewhere.
Keep looking.
do they force you to answer questions? or do they just accept your instructions when you call?
Didnt’t make it clear about a subscription, now a month later i notice money missing from my account. So shady, i will never buy again, and now im im a tough financial spot because i have to wait for them to send the product so i can ship it back and i don’t have the money to pay my bill.
I have discontinued my membership and will never deal with Athletic Greens EVER! I do not care how good their product is, there are several and better options out there! I received an email this morning that a shipment was on its way, I DID NOT AUTHORIZE THIS! When I called to cancel this and any further billings, she completely discounts my frustration and keeps me hanging on the phone for just about 20 minutes! She placed me on HOLD for over 5 minutes to see what she could do as they could not STOP the current shipment. I filed a complaint with my bank and will do everything possible to warn others of their crooked service! Its PUSHY, and they do not care about YOU as a customer! Also, she knew I was frustrated and continued to talk as if everything was in good standings and lastly asked if there was anything else she could do to make my day happier……! I wasted my work day dealing with this issue, almost 2 hours now!
I ordered on automatic for a year – I got into financial straits and had to cancel. When I called to cancel they did so without any questions or bothersome “sales tactics”. They have never called me back to say please start using this product again. I work in a school and can say I was never sick while using this product – but did get 4 colds last year while not using it. I am going back on it for my overall health. It is not a weight loss supplement but a nutritional supplement. That being said the more energy I had the more exercise I did and this also curbed my appetite, so I did lose some weight. And as I didn’t feel as stressed out, and I am a stress eater, I ate less.
I’ve just got done dealing with the stupid company this morning. I ordered it one time, they set me up on a subscription. I emailed them asking to be canceled and they said they couldn’t cancel that order but it would be canceled after that order since it had “already been shipped.” Even though my card had only been charged hours before I emailed them. Then today they charged me again, at 2am in the morning. So when I called them they gave me the same ” it has already shipped we can’t cancel this shipment” speech. I yelled and cursed them out and told them that was unacceptable. Then they said, well we can give you a refund for half the amount of charge and then you need to ship the greens back to us to get the rest of your refund. So I just hung up on them. Minutes later I got an email saying they were finally canceling the subscription and refunding my all but the shipping costs. Losers, I’m making my rounds online to bash them wherever I can.
lol please do! it’s obvious that to a certain extent, they deserve it lol
It actually makes me feel better to read these negative reviews, as no one really has a legitimate concern. It took me three minutes to find out about the subscription model by using the provided chat box on the website. The people complaining should be pissed at themselves for not spending 5 minutes reading or if you can’t afford 2 bags of this, you can’t afford one.
To be fair, it’s a little misleading, and most people assume that ordering this is just like ordering from any online store, 99.99% of which don’t have a subscription in its fine print
Yes, fool me once…I look for those things now. While the subscription enrollment could easily be made clear on the order page, it is not. You have to dig for it.
ALSO, depending on where you link in from, the cost of a subscription for a 30 day supply may be $69.95, or it may be $97 per month. That in itself is enough to make me say “That’s not cool. No thanks.”
the standard pricing now should be $127 for one, $97 with autoship. There is a 50% discount program, which you’ll get if you use the links here, but only for the first order, with autoship.