New Diet Plan Lacks Credibility

A positive note for Ashy Bines, the new guidelines being distributed as of 24/10/2012 are a vast improvement to the previous ones which were simply lacking in substance and fell short of market credibility. (This includes the Cookbook).

What is wrong with the new guidelines and cookbook, more importantly the guidelines (still sold on the basis/name of a Diet Plan depending on which page you are on and which post you are reading).

In short:

• Noticeably absent is the ABBBC sub-contractor and employed Nutrition For Life Accredited Dietitians from any endorsement of either of the Ebooks. Julie Masci, dietitian, has not endorsed nor put her name to the products.

• Dan Nimmo is the only named person with the least impressive qualifications, when comparing him to Julie Masci, who endorses the product. One has to ask, given the friendship between ABBBC Director Steven Evans and Daniel Nimmo, is this an arms length bona fide endorsement? How much money has exchanged hands for the only named endorsement on the actual product?

•  The use of pseudonyms to provide advice and endorsements is of no value whatsoever, in fact, they are misleading and could induce a customer to believe the product has credibility when in fact once we contacted the Nursing Federation, and Medical Boards, and we were advised that any endorsement would be acknowledged by the use of name, qualifications, particulars of experience including education, as per Daniel Nimmo's endorsement. Therefore the purported endorsement by the alleged Cardiologist, Nurse and Dermatologist is questionable and attempts to mask the apparent flaws contained in the Ebooks and should be disregarded as a furphy.

• The Clean Eating Plan Video (Sales) contradicts the Guidelines/Diet Plan and in particular, in so far as the inconsistency with the use of supplements which is not congruent with Clean Eating per se.

• The Dietitian Association advises that any diet plan which purports to provide health advice, meal plans, and the like must provide the following:-

(a) Nutritional Value(s) and facts for each snack, meal option suggestions, and
(b)Kilojoules and
(c) For example:- How the food will effect the body:-

Issues like what is the Glycemic Content, whether the meal is low carb/high in protein and its value to the body when eating that portion or size, it fails to advise why if at all you need nutritional supplements and in what circumstances, whether the meal or snack is heart healthy, low in fat, sugar content/artificial sweeteners contained in the supplement recommendations, omega 3 to omega 6 ration, sodium content, (you get the general idea) and how it effects your body?.

Sadly It still purports to provide the unfettered catch cry phase "lose weight fast guaranteed watch your waist shrink in just days" without taking into account:-

(a) The age group ranges,
(b) Possible medical and or mental health issues and how medication can effect the process of weight loss,
(c) To consult a medical practitioner prior to undertaking the diet plan to have your personal circumstances assessed in order to not feel disappointed should your results not be in line with the expected sales pitch.

There are of course a myriad of reasons why a diet will not deliver immediate guaranteed weight loss, why? Because nobody can provide that guarantee having regard to the factors hereinbefore stated. Therefore whilst there is a vast improvement in the size, colour and product presentation, it still falls short of what one would expect of a diet plan particularly when you can purchase a diet plan from Accredited Dietitians for as little as $19 and Clean Eating has been around for so long, there are hundreds of free resources on the internet which provide information of equal if not higher quality and which provide sensible advice and does not promise spectacular results, rather focused on the lifestyle change which will more likely than not lead to a healthier lifestyle but may not yield quick weight loss.

Finally, whilst we have exposed some of the negligent advice Ashy Bines PT and Director has provided on her forums, we note she has Australian qualifications as a PT yet she fails to provide advice on the guidelines preferring to obtain advice from two PT's from Sydney, who are friends, and whom one has a questionable financial background. Does that make the advice invalid? No, but it makes you question the cohesiveness of the Ebook and whether it offers value for money and why you would taint the product with a party which has a questionable public financial history.

Whilst Clean Eating is not a fad diet, in my opinion what Ashy Bines offers constitutes a fad diet having regard to the representations she makes via the Ebook/Product/Sales Video.

Further the lack of structure in including alternatives for the International Market, and using colloquialisms which are foreign to International Customers or options which are available in their own country, makes the product fall short of its International Promise to be universal.

The hero of the Ashy Bines Clean Eating Guidelines - is the Facebook forum. Women who help each other every single day with support and recipes which they share and variances to the guidelines, that is the only reason in my view why the business has survived for so long. They do not realise that it is not Ashy Bines providing the support, it is themselves, and they are the heroes of the whole project.

For example, here is a post on one of the new pages run by ABBBC, which show a picture of the guidelines for the international market, yet refers to it as a diet plan. It cannot be both.

In fact, on 6 November 2012, the page name was changed to Amazing Bikini Body Diet Transformations for what reason? It is unknown, save that there are complaints lodged with Scambook world wide perhaps? In my opinion, the name change is that they are desperately trying to sell their product under as many banners as possible, using social media in order to avoid legislation governing their conduct, with a total of 8 pages now running, selling the same product to different audiences under different titles, as confirmed by Mr Steven Evans, Director of ABBBC.

Who is Daniel Nimmo?

Please note: 

Daniel Nimmo is regarded as an industry leader as a PT, see link. However there are allegations that he is friends with both Directors, Bines and Evans. Herein is the proof, and makes me question the credibility and/or objectiveness of Mr Nimmo’s when essentially he is the only name who underpins the whole diet plan.

http://wellness.edu.au/presenters-2/daniel-nimmo/

Dan Nimmo’s links are:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Nimmo-Fitness-C-QLD-Naturopathy-Nutrition-and-Personal-Training/173492996073246

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Nimmo-Fitness-C-QLD-Naturopathy-Nutrition-and-Personal-Training/173492996073246

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwellness.edu.au%2Fpresenters-2%2Fdaniel-nimmo%2F&h=DAQFtwAth

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.nimmo

He has also worked at the Golden Doors Retreat, known as and situated at The Golden Door Health Retreat, Queensland, but it has been confirmed on 16 November 2012, that he is no longer associated with, nor employed by this business, located at:

400 Ruffles Road Willow Vale, QLD, 4209
Phone: 61 7 5540 6100 [(07) 5540 6100 for Australian Residents]
Fax: 61 7 5546 6173 [(07) 5546 6173 for Australian Residents]
Email: info@goldendoor.com.au

Sydney Based Nurse Anonymous:

(Page 60 of the Guidelines)

The use of a pseudonym does not necessarily invalidate the value of the information, but it makes it worthless on the basis that it is not endorsed appropriately as previously highlighted.

Dermatologist Anonymous:

Page 56, same analogy applies.


Cardiologist Anonymous:

Notwithstanding that the purported advice is surprising given the education level, the standard of expression is not only surprising, it is not congruent with in my opinion, an experienced Cardiologist would speak, for example if he were referring to milk products as he does, and asserts he read some interesting information from the Heart Foundation, I submit he would have cited the article as doctors are experienced with writing information, they cite their references in order to not be held responsible for information they have disseminated which is not theirs. Nor is it a habit for a trained doctor especially a specialist to adopt the information from a third party source without full acknowledgement and quotation marks. That being said in my view one ought to have great difficulty believing that this information was in fact provided by a Cardiologist, and the fact that he will not qualify himself nor his practice, says a lot, and should force consumers to ask questions. It does not sound right, it does not feel right, then it is not credible in my view.

Sydney Based PT's who provide advice but do not endorse the products:

Please note I am not suggesting the advice is not appropriate nor competent. However, I find some of the background to be questionable when trying to sell a product and obtain market share, when you are seeking credibility, these issues (which are available publicly) make you question why one Ashy Bines PT did not provide the advice, and, two, why they would choose PT's who have had a colourful history?

Kenneth Cheer (whom is also friends with Scott Mathew Dingwall)

Links located re: Scott Matthew Dingnall

https://creditorwatch.com.au/company/profile/84800631915

http://businessprofiles.com/details/dingwall-scott-matthew/AU-84800631915

ASIC – Searches:

http://www.abr.business.gov.au/SearchByAbnHistory.aspx?SearchText=84800631915

http://www.abr.business.gov.au/SearchByAbnHistory.aspx?SearchText=84800631915

Proof the PT's are friends, which may not be sinister in itself, more collaborative. However, I like to provide evidence for comments which I, and the advocacy page make.

We also note that ABBBC was listed on the NZ Scam Watch Page:-

Scam Watch NZ

https://www.facebook.com/FraudInfo

In my opinion whilst the guidelines/diet plan has improved substantially from its three previous versions, given all the feedback and complaints from customers, which still to this day continue to roll in despite the changes to the current updated version, demonstrates that the product still falls short of the mark. It would have cost them very little overall, in time and expense, to have the plan assessed properly, by, say, Julie Masci, and remove any issues which may give the impression that the product has not evolved on a professional basis. Just because it is prettier to look at and has more content, does not make it a sustainable, nor a product which has intrinsic public value or market credibility.

Like I mentioned previously, but for the incredible dedication of the women on the forum who are simply members and who provide each other advice, recipes and support to each other without expense to the Ashy Bines Brand, ABBBC Clean Eating would have now died a slow death. They are the true heroes, and those who have left the ABBBC Clean Eating Group and moved to Sensible Clean Eaters, which is not only free, but offers incredible advice and support, then one simply has to ask - what are you paying for? In my view, nothing you cannot get yourself free of charge, as many ex customers have worked out for themselves, and, in fact improved the Facebook group model, which is more congruent. The new guidelines are also a platform for Ashy Bines Brand to further spruik her products, such as Tone, which is not an industry leader, and is definitely in opposition to the principals of Clean Eating.

The original article for this piece was written by Anne-Claire O'Loughlin, and can be found here.

Ashy's Unprofessional Rant on Facebook

Surprisingly, Ashy Bines made a rant on her official Facebook page in early December. It was both unprofessional and immature, and, as a director and brand identity, it demonstrates not only a lack of maturity by herself, but her post was factually incorrect.

The post in question below:

Here are some of her customers responses. (Apart from the usual "haters gonna hate" and we must all be jealous remarks by the ignorant)

There were some well worded objections to the content of her post.

Let us now analyse what Ashy Bines has said:

Check out my interview with Beauty Haven !!
As always a mixture of negative comments about plastic surgery and me being a evil money hungry witch,to make it very clear none of the negativity phases me one bit.I actually find it very funny what i see people say if i get the chance to see it ;) My staff do a great job of getting rid of negativity around me :) BEST TEAM!

The fact is you have had breast augmentation surgery, and whilst that is not important on the face of it, the fact that you advocate and use your influence to promote Cosmeditour, which organise trips to Thailand for women to have plastic surgery when none of the surgeons are FRACS qualified, is dangerous and inappropriate as well as irresponsible.

If you are always worried about what people are saying about you ,there is no possible way you could be happy.Life is way to short for that crap!

Love who you are,be proud of who you are and the people who know you are the people who matter.People are always going to make up stories and reasons to hate you without even knowing you one little bit,they will judge ,criticize and paint a picture of who they think you are because they are insecure in their own life's,wishing they had the drive to do what you do,want what you have, or they could be simply having a bad day and they need to let their frustration out on someone or something or just plain bored and picking on people is fun to them.

We do not have frustrations and we are not bored. We expect, that like any other business, whereby you have had months to correct the poor customer service, very little has been done. As we speak, there are so many women who have not received their product, and who are lost on the forum, cannot find their downloads in which they paid for. Perhaps you should focus on your customer base in lieu of yourself?

For example:

I hear so many things about my life that people say that there is just no way its true,apparently Ive had a face lift and butt implants,i inject fake tan and have lipo in my tummy,Ive come from a rich family and never had to actually work.I actually peeled potato's when i was 13 for $5 an hour for my first job and have worked ever since. Fun REAL fact of the day haha!! Wendy George my gorgeous mum can confirm this for anyone who doesn't believe me ! ( I am very glad i found a career i LOVE doing was not keen on ever peeling a damn potato again haha!)

Nobody from the advocacy page has alleged any of those issues. We know you came from a modest background and that your mother is loyal to a fault. You may love your career but you created a false document alleging you have qualification in the UK, which you do not have and that is called uttering a false document. Again, nothing personal, but please accept responsibility for the fact that your business model is flawed and despite more than 14,400+ unhappy customers, plus those who have passed through and been re-housed and assisted with refunds, and OFT complaints, the only reason why you have made changes to your website is because we reported a complaint on behalf of the unhappy customer community forcing you to comply with the law, like any other business is expected to. You are not an exception to the rule. You cannot collect monies and fail customers so dismally.  Why not send them a welcome letter with all the information including the plans each time they join? Provide a generic letter which explains all the terminology and information on how to manoeuvre their way around the forums? Is that unreasonable? Surely by now you would have implemented some sort of strategy.

oh and Im a 40 year old single mum and had lunch with peter foster last week and someone told me to do everyone a favor and put my head in a blender and end it. and guess what??
Its All BULLSHIT STORIES and nasty crap that they make up to make themselves feel better and to try bring me down. I actually laugh at the stuff i read now. Didn't even know who peter foster was until i researched him after someone claimed i was at lunch with him haha!!!

Nobody in the admin team has ever made those allegations. We all know you are 24 years old, but we also know your advice is flawed, your new forum is not providing the service required, that you charge a different price for UK residents £69.00 GBP whilst Australians pay $75.60 AUD, and you still have amendments to make to your web site because it still has flaws which could be construed as misleading. Thank goodness for OFT Queensland issuing your company with strict compliance ultimatums because as at 5 December you were still providing conflicting information which constituted breaches of OFT legislation and ACCC legislation among other things. Lest we forget your screenshot which states your money back guarantee, and your continued advertising mantra of "lose weight fast guaranteed." That is also contractually flawed. Why? Because every person is different.

As for Peter Foster, a spokesperson for the advocacy page made the comment that your business is akin to Peter Foster's business model, which was famous for taking advantage of clients and breaching laws and scamming people. Nobody has suggested you have met him nor had lunch with him, that is misleading and deceptive on its face. Another blurb from you seeking support from your fans, which has diminished your standing in the market place as immature and unprofessional.

Rant over haha Anyways check out my interview below and their amazing website heaps of great beauty stuff on there!!
http://www.beautyheaven.com.au/health-wellbeing/healthy-eating-weight/healthy-eating-tips-from-ashy-bines-clean-living-diet-plan-creator-10084?page=1

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Perhaps you can concentrate on the multiple amount of women who have not received their product, their inability to access forums, and their pleas on your fan page for assistance?

That would be called customer service, which, as a business professional and face of the ABBBC brand, is what you're expected to do.

Instead of ranting like a self obsessed ''poor me," how about you spend the time helping so many women who are lost and cannot log in, desperately looking for the opportunity to download product they have paid for. And whilst your new guidelines are pretty and an improvement, we are going to blog about its flaws once the investigation concludes with ACCC and OFT, including the abuse of your client data base to help a member of your staff cheat in a competition to the detriment of the public and in breach of competition rules.

Now let us assess the false testimonial you altered despite what this amazing girl posted in your forum. Blaming the advocacy page is an absolute embarrassment for you when the proof is tangible and clear. Even Jodie's alleged mother and one of her friends confirmed the picture on the right is not her or has been distorted to the point of unrecognisable, compared to the testimonial she made on the ABCEDP page.

The real testimonial, after five months of hard work, well done Jodie, you deserve to be congratulated on what I call an awesome effort. The kudos is all yours.

The you posted on your page fan page that Jodie's journey took 5 weeks, which was not true, and diminished the achievements of a wonderful customers journey, who trusted you and whom you exploited to sell more product. In your fan page testimonial which you posted, advising everyone that this person achieved weight loss in 5 weeks when in fact it was 5 months, you did that yourself, nobody misled you, you used it to provide false and misleading information at the expense of one of your customers whose journey was incredible.

This is what she posted herself in the online forum:

Proof of a relationship between the woman who made the testimonial and the person who alleged she was her mother?

What Ashy Bines published on her page, which is demonstrably false and misleading, is insulting to her customer, and any other customers journeys whom she may have altered. 

Note that Dot has said it is her daughter. It also does not match her testimonial on the online forum. 

Why are you so desperate to sell or mislead your fan base? No jealousy, and certainly not hating, just shaking our heads at the incredible lengths you will go too, to mislead and deceive women who trust in your testimonials. 

If you trust your product, why not be honest about it? Why delete Dot Daniels comment and ban her from the page? Is the truth too confronting, or are sales and turnover the driving force?

We have received this screenshot in which Jodie claims the transformation as hers. We believe her. 

Her testimonial on the facebook page clearly states she took and * MONTH JOURNEY.(an 8 month journey) SO WHY DID ABBBC CHANGE IT TO 5 WEEKS? Perhaps her mother did not recognise her own daughter or perhaps what her mother meant was this did not happen in 5 weeks!!! READ ABOVE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

(Amended by Cathy Brophy)

FIVE WEEKS IS AN ABSOLUTE LIE THE TESTIMONIAL BY JODIE ON THE FACEBOOK FORUM PROVES IT - SO WHY WAS IT CHANGED TO 5 WEEKS? 

(Amended by Cathy Brophy)

Perhaps you should concentrate on building brand credibility in the market place, as in the last six months, the same theme of customer complaints, lack of service and non receipt of product has not faltered. If you truly care about your customer base, please stop ranting like a petulant, unprofessional child, and take care of your customer complaints.

For example:

Who can take seriously a pseudonym with the initial "A" blogging about the Ashy Bines journey, with the letter "A" one out of 26 choices to make?

Thank you for taking the time to share and read this blog, which can be originally found here.

Please help the international members of the public. Use the Google function look up Ashy Bines Scam, Google; Scambook and Reviews, and see what the public have to say before you are conned by some dodgy/fake testimonials. 

I will finish that by saying there are some amazing and real transformations, and I congratulate those on their success. 

My issue is: Why not be honest? why alter information? Take responsibility and micro manage the problems which you are solely responsible for as a company. We are not doing this for the pleasure, the advocacy page admins would happily un-publish the page, once you stop thinking that the consumer law is something you do not have to comply with over at ABBBC Pty. Ltd.


Thank you the admin team of the advocacy page, and thank you to those who send in the screenshots.

Concentrate on your growing number of customer complaints please, ABBBC Pty. Ltd.