Rant on

The manager weighs 300 lb and the sales employees are both plump (30-50 lb overweight). This is not a statement about individuals, but more about the type of people GNC hires to represent their stores to the healthy fit minded customer.

Rant off

Rant on again

I find it hard to buy product for getting ripped and muscular from someone who does not walk the talk. It is too bad. I feel they are more about pushing product, getting you to buy "one get one 50% off" and know just enough to make one very high level statement about it. No real passion about how the product works and how i could benefit. it is like they learn one line to memorize and that is it. So i need to say no when they try and push something on me that i am not even interested in. Almost feels Like telling one of those timeshare guys who do the 90 minute sales presentation "no." they make you feel guilty for saying "no." It is impossible to have any meaningful anatomical science based conversation with these GNC guys because they do not seem to embrace the product that they are selling. Sigh.

Rant off.

I think I will take my business to Vitamin Shoppe where the level of knowledge is so much higher or perhaps i will just stick to Amazon. However, I do like being able to walk into a health store and have meaningful conversations about health, fitness and supplementation...

Actually, I've found the same thing. Went to GNC right before surgery with questions, got no real answers except WLS people buy this. Didn't buy that day. Couple days later went to Vitamin Shoppe with my husband. The young man listened to what I needed and made educated suggestions. He spent time with us explaining things and didn't rush us. Needless to say, Vitamin Shoppe is my preference now!

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I think I just read a thread today about the guys at vitamin shoppe not knowing they even sold a product when there was a floor to ceiling display right there in the store so.....maybe they aren't much better. My point is it depends on the individual store. There may be some brilliant people working in another GNC somewhere.....I don't know where but it's possible.

I do my research and buy online. I've experienced the same thing. I could buy at the gyms and health clubs..but the prices! I've found GNC kinda scammy .

I bought at GNC but I only bought what my personal trainer recommended: GNC Gold Standard whey Protein. My trainer was a competitive body builder for years and she also specializes in health issues for seniors. I trusted what she told me and stuck to it, other than the powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury protein which I also used. That was recommended by my bariatric program because I had issues with food for the first couple of weeks post-op.

You might have better luck at a small local gym that carries products or a local health food store if your area has one.

It's kinda like shopping at most other stores these days. You simply aren't going to get a good answer or a correct answer unless you are lucky. Sometimes, you can build a relationship with the few smart people you find. I have that at Walmart. I only ask one person where things are because experience has shown me she actually knows whether they carry it and if they do, where it is.

Lynda

I've been boycotting GNC since 2009. I started training for triathlon with a group of women in my area. I weighed about 315 at the time. I wanted sports supplements that were appropriate and would help combat some of the extra difficulties I would experience being so overweight (help with energy, endurance, recovery, you know the drill). I hadn't learned very much about sports nutrition yet and was hoping for information and direction. They tried to push their vitamin multipacks on me. I was pissed. I walked next door to a locally owned shop and got about a 20 minute discussion with the owners son, complete with information and suggestions. I decided I was simply not going back to a mega chain for this kind of thing. Now, like Gmanbat, I mostly do my own research and buy online or go straight to the local store and look for the product there.

Our GNCs are run by muscle heads who do little more than grunt and flex in whatever shiny surface they pass by. I lose brain cells upon entering the store, I swear.

The vitamin shoppe I go to has some very knowledgable employees and it is refreshing / rewarding to have conversations about supplementation. The problem is they are a good 30 minute drive where GNC is a 5 minute drive. If I know what I want to get based on personal research, then Amazon has anything and everything with free 2 day shipping. It does not get much better than that.

I will say that where I am it is the exact opposite, the employees at GNC are very knowledgeable, although somewhat annoying at times the one guys runs around like he is on speed all the time, and the vitamin shop employees are teenagers that don't have a clue. So as others have said I think it varies by the individual location. You would think they would want to at least make sure their employees were properly trained but like any business these days they probably just don't want to spend the money in order to provide the best customer service..

I HATE GNC! It's all a scam!

I HATE GNC! It's all a scam!

Now you have piqued my Interest Nicole. why do you think it is all a scam? What drives your passion to hate GNC so venomously?

Before surgery, I've tried every diet pill known to man! I'd go in ask for advice and they'd throw a great pitch of the amazing new pill. I even paid $90 one time for a 30 day supply. I know....my own stupidity.

I went to Vitamin shoppe one day looking for the next new thing. The clerk advised me to look into weight watchers. Didn't sell me anything. I lost 70 pounds because of her.

"The manager weighs 300 lb and the sales employees are both plump (30-50 lb overweight). This is not a statement about individuals, but more about the type of people GNC hires to represent their stores to the healthy fit minded customer ". While I understand fiddlemans wanting great customer service when he goes into a store for a product I can't help but feel that he is judging these individuals based on their weight. I think that's sad. While I certainly can understand if you wanted to rant about how they didn't know their business or didn't know what their products could do for you I think that your description of their weight was out of line. Didn't you have a vsg because you once were over your ideal body weight ? I have been a Physical therapist in orthopedics for 28 years. Most of that time I was very fit but for the past 7-8 years I gained weight for a lot of reasons. I still brought passion, skill and knowledge to my clinic where I worked with the injured worker, retiree, child and professional athlete irregardless of my waist size. My success over the years was because of the passion I brought to my job. If anyone didn't want me to work on them because I carried extra weight then they didn't get to see the real me. Being overweight showed me what it's like to be judged just because of my size. I would think that you would be sensitive to others given your past weight yourself and only judged them based on their actions and service to you in that gnc, not because of how many lbs they carried or what size they were. Do you really want to be that person who judges those that are significantly overweight because of that, or someone who gives people a chance to show you what they can do. Your post suggested the former and that's a shame. Maybe that's not what you meant to imply, I hope not.

"The manager weighs 300 lb and the sales employees are both plump (30-50 lb overweight). This is not a statement about individuals' date=' but more about the type of people GNC hires to represent their stores to the healthy fit minded customer ". While I understand fiddlemans wanting great customer service when he goes into a store for a product I can't help but feel that he is judging these individuals based on their weight. I think that's sad. While I certainly can understand if you wanted to rant about how they didn't know their business or didn't know what their products could do for you I think that your description of their weight was out of line. Didn't you have a vsg because you once were over your ideal body weight ? I have been a Physical therapist in orthopedics for 28 years. Most of that time I was very fit but for the past 7-8 years I gained weight for a lot of reasons. I still brought passion, skill and knowledge to my clinic where I worked with the injured worker, retiree, child and professional athlete irregardless of my waist size. My success over the years was because of the passion I brought to my job. If anyone didn't want me to work on them because I carried extra weight then they didn't get to see the real me. Being overweight showed me what it's like to be judged just because of my size. I would think that you would be sensitive to others given your past weight yourself and only judged them based on their actions and service to you in that gnc, not because of how many lbs they carried or what size they were. Do you really want to be that person who judges those that are significantly overweight because of that, or someone who gives people a chance to show you what they can do. Your post suggested the former and that's a shame. Maybe that's not what you meant to imply, I hope not.[/quote']

I said at the beginning my statement was not about individuals, but about the type of people who are hired at GNC - a health store that caters mostly to the body builders. Yes, I know where I came from and will not forget that. Trust me on that one. If you read my posts, you will know that I do not judge people. And that is not what this thread is about.

Glad to hear that. I have always found that building people up is more rewarding than tearing them down. Keep up the good work.

Hmmmm.... Fiddle interesting.... I.... Well... You...

Awwww, forget it!

But I will say GNC is a big chain store pushing their wares they don't care who sells them or who buys them. I would research the kind of supplements you think you need before going into that or any other Vitamin shop.