LifeMD.com Review
LifeMD.com Home Page
There are some issues with this website!
LifeMD.com is one of those websites that has a ton of bad reviews. There are several places, from Google to the Better Business Bureau to independent review sites that show a lot of people are not very happy with the services from LifeMD.com. Like many of the websites offering weight loss and other prescription services, they saw how lucrative Tele/Health websites can be after the 2000 to 2015 time frame when 100's of companies had similar websites but didn't spend the money to pay for the LegitScripts service. LegitScripts is a company started by a guy who was part of the Bush administration in 2004 and used his contacts to come up with this verification company. He leveraged his position to go to the major search engines like Google, Yahoo & Bing to compel them to only accept advertisers which carried his LegitScripts logo on their website. If you did not then you were excluded from advertising on those platforms and furthermore, your company was branded as a "Rogue Pharmacy" which was even worse. The websites you see now are no different than those first companies, (the ones based in the USA who did employ doctors and pharmacists), but who refused to pay for the LegitScripts logo. The majority of the websites online today, came on the scene in the 2020 to 2021 time frame. Plenty of time to work out any bugs or bottlenecks in their systems.
When you review the LifeMD.com website, it's not very clear exactly how they bill you for services or medications. They try to dazzle you with all kinds of services but you need to buy one of four memberships they list, and not only do you need to become a member to use their service, unlike the majority of other Tele/Health companies out there, and those cost you between $139.00 per visit, (you ever been charged that much for your primary doctor's office visit? I sure haven't!), to $99.00/monthly for their ConciergeCare plan, to $117.00/quarterly for their TotalCare plan. It's interesting to note that on each plan they say either "Free visit every month" for the TotalCare or "Unlimited free visits" for the ConciergeCare, while you're being charged every month for their plans! How is that "Free"? They also have a 4th plan called the GLP-1 Program for $149.00 per month. It doesn't cover the cost of the medications, it says you have "Access to GLP=1 medications". You should have "Access" to GLP-1 medication without spending an additional $149.00/mo.!
On their Membership page, they say "No health insurance required". Is that a requirement to access online Tele/Medicine? As if the only way you can get medications is if you've purchases health insurance. What a twist on the concept, to make you feel like you're getting something no one else is getting! Then the next bullet point says "Transparent 'no surprise' pricing". It's anything but transparent. I've not been able to find anywhere on the website, what they actually charge for GLP-1 medications. Only the membership plan prices. They also say that your satisfaction is guaranteed or your money back. Which from the reviews I've read and problems I've seen, they do eventually follow through with that promise. But it happens way too often. The last thing I'll say on the pricing is they say that LifeMD members save $872.00/ year or $892.00/year with TotalCare or even $2,092.00/year with ConciergeCare. But savings based on what? It makes no sense! It's like if I were to post on the home page of this website, "Those who sign up for our Newsletter lose an average of 28% more"! More? More what? Based on what comparison? But if you read that sentence, you may think, "I want to lose more weight! I should sign up quickly!". It's just misleading and there's no reason for that.
What reviews from other websites said about LifeMD.com
Here's an example of the kinds of things other people said about doing business with LifeMD.com or working for LifeMD.com. I looked at Trustpilot, Better Business Bureau, Indeed, ConsumersAdvocate, GoWellness, and even Barron's to see if there was any kind of consistent theme with LifeMD.com. Sadly, there is.
Trustpilot showed that fully 15% of those who responded only gave LifeMD.com a 1-star rating! The most common theme was that the clients had paid for medications but waited months to even get just one order shipped to them. Almost all said that they had invested so much time and money that they didn't want to try to start over with someone else but would go ahead and take the loss and count it as "Lesson Learned". How sad! They knew they would be better off or at least no worse off, somewhere else, and would take the loss of time and money to go somewhere else.
The second most common comment was like this: "They advertising on pricing is misleading, the membership does not include medication. I contacted them several time to cancel my account, the very same day, and the still do not cancel the account and send me emails of renewing the membership." I found this to be the case. It's not clear that your membership is just that, a membership fee and not inclusive of medications! While some others do charge for a membership, it's usually less that $25.00 if anything at all. And in every case, the price for the medications is clearly spelled out. With regard to the GLP-1 Medication, this is what I found on Trustpilot often: "LifeMD charges additional $149 subscription fee after the second month, a practice that was not discussed or agreed upon during our initial verbal agreement. I find these unexpected charges to be both unfair and excessive." As I mention above, the GLP-1 membership Only Gives You Access to the weight loss medications. They are not included in the price of membership!
The BBB is no different. The first review I read was from someone who was trying the GLP-1 medication for weight loss and filed this: "This company I canceled long time ago and still taking money from my account $129.00. Tried to stop through my fidelity but still showing they taking money. I'm very frustrated. Is exhausting." Here is one more from the BBB and it at least gives an idea of what the GLP-1 medication cost is: "Saw the provider on July 10. Paid the $387 [for medication] and the $129 for [the membership]. It is August 13 and still no medication. I have spoke with st least 6 different reps and they all state they are escalating my issue. I would like a resolution of getting the medication I paid for or a full refund" So you see here you're paying $129.00 plus $387.00 for a month's supply of Semaglutide! Double what the other Tele/Med websites here will charge you!
The LifeMD Workplace
I decided that there was no reason to keep posting these reviews as regardless of which website they came from, they were all the same. Yes, there are those who get their order with little or no problems but the price they're paying for the medications is far above the price you can get elsewhere at websites we review here. But what about working there? You think it's any better for the customer support staff? Here's what one former employee from South Carolina said and it's very revealing: "Management here is very unprofessional. They will make up lies about you and turn on you in a second. If you’re not one of the chosen ones, work life here can be very stressful. They’ll keep demanding you get more sales even if your sales already are good. To them, nothing you do is good enough.As for PTO, [Paid Time Off], it’s a joke. By the end of a year, you don’t even have a week of PTO. You better use it though or you’ll lose it. There is no sick leave. They will let you leave though or be out without pay as long as you have a doctor’s note or it’s an emergency. Again favoritism comes into play here. If you’re a golden child, you can get away with a lot more attendance wise than someone who isn’t favored by management. It doesn’t matter what the policy says. Management bends the rules for their pets."
Isn't it interesting that employees of LifeMD.com have to see a doctor away from the company? They can't see one of the doctor's who are working with LifeMD.com? I would have thought that would be one of the benefits! And, the customer support people are hammered constantly to make more sales. Not provide the best service or get the most positive reviews for great support but they are under constant pressure to make more and more sales. As for the favoritism, that's really tough. It happens too often at companies and something I've had to deal with myself. It should never be that way but it's even more difficult when you're working under it. If management is focused on only more sales, and the way they fool you with their website price structure and are making way more per sale than every other website I've seen or reviewed, then you know those managers are making huge bonuses by ripping off clients. Even if you are a client here and never had an issue, you're paying for the bonuses and not for services, services that are offered elsewhere for free. There's no way anyone should be giving these people their hard earned dollars.
Key take-away's for LifeMD
- 1) LifeMD.com charges you a $149.00 membership fee for services that other websites offer for free.
- 2) LifeMD.com membership plans Do Not Include Medications even though the way the plans are written, fools you into thinking they do.
- 3) LifeMD.com Does Not Publish Medication Prices, only the membership cost. GLP-1 initial dosages can cost $387.00 per month!
- 4) LifeMD.com is no better a place to work for than it is to purchase from. Reviews from sites like Indeed are full reviews that say LifeMD.com's primary concern is more sales and not better service!
- 5) Our Recommendation: Stay Away From LifeMD.com! They will charge you much, much more for medications than is necessary and auto-charge you for memberships you do not need!