Brand Ambassador Issues

I have the worst luck. Either that or I don’t do enough research. As you guys know, I have two brand ambassador agreements: one with Insane Labz and one with American Metabolix. Since Insane Labz doesn’t sell whey, I’d get stuff like bcaas from them and my whey from American Metabolix. Last week I was running low on pre-workout and decided to order a pre-workout from Insane Labz called Psychotic. It has great reviews and tastes great, (I’ve had a sample of it before). After entering my shipping information, I got an error message saying that they don’t ship to Canada. Uh, excuse me? When did this happen? Why wasn’t I notified? Apparently the issue lies with some Health Canada snags so they’re halting on shipping here. I tried a few more times after that with no luck, so I figured I’d give American Metabolix a try.

Although I’ve never taken Havok, (the pre-workout from American Metabolix) before, I had high hopes since their whey is pretty on point. Again, I punch in my shipping information and realize that the shipping is $100!! That’s insane! I can easily buy two or three tubs of pre-workout at GNC for that price. What I want you guys to understand is that if I had these issues prior to becoming a brand ambassador, I would’ve never agreed to it. It’s put me in a position that forces me to buy product that isn’t Insane Labz or American Metabolix. Frustrated, I reached out to both companies. This is the email I sent to Insane Labz:Keep in mind, the email address that I sent this two was in an email that I had received from Insane Labz THAT DAY, so in theory it should be correct right? Wrong.

I could literally strangle someone at this point haha. I decided to move on to American Metabolix and direct message them on Instagram. I successfully managed to get an email address from the person who responded to me on Instagram for the person who coordinates the brand ambassadors. I sent this email:STILL NO RESPONSE. With anger building, I went back to Instagram and messaged Insane Labz via a direct message which looked something like this:

No one’s really helping me out, no one’s will to budge. I shouldn’t give free advertising to companies that won’t even ship to my country or will ship but at the price of my first-born child. Frustration doesn’t even cover how I feel. Moral of the story is to make sure that if you are a brand ambassador, make sure it’s for a reliable company that will deliver to your country!

Do you guys have brand ambassador/sponsor horror stories?

 

-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy

Redefining Goals

I have 22 days until my first half-marathon. 22. That’s not a lot. I’ve put in work though and have changed up my nutrition, so I’m hoping that that won’t be in vain. Wish me luck!

I’ve been looking at my Strava account and all the runs I’ve been doing, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to re-evaluate my goal time for the race. Initially, I was aiming for a sub 2:20 time, which would mean an average pace of 10:41/mi. While I could hold that pace for six MAYBE eight miles, I don’t think I could do it for 13.1. I thought about changing my goal to be a sub 2:25 time, which would add up to an average pace of 11:04. Much more manageable I think.

I’m still torn though. I’ve had some pretty fast runs recently that make me think I’m capable of a sub 2:20 time. That being said, I’m still struggling with nutrition during runs and that definitely slows things down. 10:41/mi or 11:04/mi?!?! I’m so lost. *rant over*

 

-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy

I Really Attract Bad Customer Service…

Ugh…where do I begin? So over a month ago, (February 12^th to be exact), I ordered a pair of wrist wraps from a company called Liftcorp Apparel. Based in Australia, I knew the wraps would take a while to get to me, (Toronto), but I was totally cool with the wait and the price. The AUD is pretty much at par with the CAD, so I didn’t lose out and only paid around $15.

The day that I ordered the wraps, I got an email saying that it was en route to my house.

Quick I thought, but at least I had some confirmation that the order had gone through successfully. Although I was given an order number, I wasn’t given any tracking information so I couldn’t track the progress of my parcel. This worried me, but I’ve had packages with no tracking information arrive safe and sound, so a red flag wasn’t raised just yet.

Fast-forward to now and I still haven’t received my wrist wraps. Since WEEKS have passed, it would’ve been more efficient to have walked into a store buy the wraps. I decided to reach out to Liftcorp and explain the situation:

However, this is the reply I got:

The most frustrating thing about this is that they keep using every excuse in the book: my mailbox might not be big enough, (I live in a condo), the wraps could be waiting at the post office, blah blah blah. They’ve also denied that I haven’t received the wrist wraps and won’t give me a refund:

To make matters worse, there’s a huge time difference between Australia and Toronto, so getting a reply is crazy difficult and takes forever. And there’s no phone number on their website to contact them! Grrrr. *end rant*

 

-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy