Hey there. Sorry to jump in with no introduction, I'm usually observing the boards every now and then but not really giving input. I searched The Knot for advice about this scam/direct marketing/who knows thing called "Chef World" and found some recent posts but mostly older stuff so I figured I'd start one that's happening NOW.
I got a call the other night from someone named Maria who told me I was drawn to win prizes (same as what everyone else was told it looks like) and I asked where they got my information from, she said it could be anywhere, a bridal expo (haven't been to one), theknot.com, etc. Didn't mention David's Bridal but I've seen that pretty much everywhere that I've been trying to find information about this and later on I asked the presenter, saying I haven't been to a bridal show and he said if I've visited David's then that's where they got the information from.
We went and I figured it would be silly and we'd just get the rings and leave but as those of you who have seen it know, they make very compelling arguments. My fiance and I cook chicken all the time and we're always trying to figure out why it'll be perfect one time and then chewy the next...? Who knows. So of course when the guy passed around the chicken and veggies we were amazed. I'm not going to lie, it was DELICIOUS, and took no time at all. The cleanup process was really quick too which was appealing.
So there we were with 3 other couples and they went through the china, knives, pans, etc. I can't remember the exact prices he told us but it was a 17 piece set for $1699 or something... Maybe that's wrong maybe it was $2200. Anyway we were really hesitant, we asked them about the interest stuff, etc etc. It's getting later and later and the guy was eventually like look I'll give it to you guys, the 8 piece set (4 pots, lids makes it 8) for $300 off the price we said, so $1099. We were still like talking about it for a while and he said $1000 even no tax (we were planning to pay in full if we purchased). My fiance at that point was like okay let's do it. NOTE: We are very doubtful, cautious people. So of course my stomach was/is in knots the whole time and I was stalling as much as possible because I just feel like it's something we never would have done.
IF THESE ARE WHAT THEY APPEAR TO BE, I think it's a great deal. There's no questioning that I don't think cookware is really safe all the time (their demonstrations aren't hard to believe) but I just don't know if this is seriously the perfect alternative. IF it is, then I think it's worth the money - not just for ease of use, more for health reasons. And no I'm not a health freak, I'm just conscious about what goes into my body and regretful that it's so hard to try to be healthy with what the grocery stores present as options to someone who doesn't have unlimited financial resources... Anyway.
I came home with a receipt and the business address for "ChefWorld" located in Monroe, NY, the pans say "Cook World" on them and "Culinary Brides" was who called me. Our guy (Jim) said they had a great BBB rating and some kind of platinum thing? I looked it up and they have an F.
So then I started freaking out of course, going crazy looking for more information. I saw on the Facebook page for ChefWorld Inc that the people who have problems seem to get responses right away from ChefWorld and then they never come back to follow up. I guess in my experience that's a good thing...? I messaged a few people who posted on there to ask how they feel about the purchase. Then I see really mixed reviews everywhere else...
ASIDE from the free stuff, I understand there are catches with that and everything else, I just want to know if these pans are the real deal. If they are, I don't care paying what might seem like a crazy amount for them because the different features even the small 10 set has will really help us out (easy to clean is perfect because the house we're buying doesn't have a working dishwasher, the installed oven there is tiny so if we didn't have to use it that would be great, they're space-efficient, etc) - if they suck, I really hope we can find out soon and try to get out of this before this "3 day period" ends.
Hopefully this is helpful to anyone just coming to try and make sense of this promotional thing. My fiance and I have NEVER done this before and I doubt we ever will simply because we came at 8:30 and left at 11:10 because we both had such a hard time deciding whether or not it was a good idea heh. Kind of torturous, not sure I'd want to do it again. But if we go through with it and these work I'm definitely going to be saying good things about them for years to come.
Tips? Thoughts? Other experiences with this company or any of its mysterious alter-egos?