Disappointed with Festive Cooking Class

[virgo9]

Sounds like yours was much better than the one in Guildford last week. We didn't get any print outs of the additional recipes and had to buy the festive book for the reduced price of $10 if we wanted it. How can they be different, even in the same city? My DS's Pre primary TA went tonight, and it sounds like she will have had a good night then! I'll ask her how it was tomorrow.

PS and we were shown how to make a sorbet!!!!

[faffa_70]

Just a note on this thread before anyone gets confused re the purchasing of cook books.

You can purchase cook books from your consultant or head office at any time with out a demo EXCEPT for the Full Steam Ahead cookbook. You need to hold a varoma demo to get that one either free with a sale from that demo or for half price with out a sale.

[andiesenji]

I've been reading this with great interest. 
In the past I have helped to organize and teach cooking classes (not for the TMX) in various venues, ranging from a shelter for abused women and children to high end department stores and  a gourmet cook's supply store and on one rather memorable occasion, in the conference room of a medical office.

Other chefs and bakers with whom I have worked to put on these classes, not just demonstrations, have worked out over the years that the ideal size for a three hour class is no more than fifteen people.  More than that and there is no way to answer reasonable questions, much less the ones that may be considered frivolous but need to be answered so as not to appear rude or uncaring.  Patience is important. 
Demonstrations alone, with no class participation can handle up to thirty people reasonably but any more than that is simply not feasible because if just half the attendees asked a question, it would take too long to answer all of them.  Some people would have to be overlooked and this would be an unhappy experience for them, especially if there are a couple of "pushy" people who keep asking questions and don't let others get a word in....  I put a limit on the number of questions I will take from any one person, until everyone has had a chance.

For some of these classes we charged a small fee, mainly to cover the expense of ingredients.  The charitable ones were free.
We always gave away donated items from the store, recipe booklets, coupons (some substantial) and lots of food, much that had been prepared earlier as it would have been difficult to prepare enough for everyone during the classes. 

We were not trying to sell anything.  The classes were a way to get people into the stores but there was no requirement to buy anything.

The classes held at the medical center were to teach people with diabetes how to manage their meals with demonstrations of how to convert recipes using various sugar substitutes and how to work out the nutritional figures in the prepared dish. 

[stacelee]

The cyndi cooking class was definitely bad value, the recipes we pretty much the same as the demo and Cyndi did not speak for that long and then pushed her own health products for part of that.  Unless she is hideously expensive they would have had to have covered costs easily as they only hired two rooms at the back off the rsl club and shoved over 90 people in them.  The only thing we were given was a recipe for rice salad and the opportunity to buy a bundle of Cymric books etc for a reduced price which is available via her website for the same price.

Talking to Mum last night, she is probably now going to buy the Kenwood KM070 Cooking Chef from somewhere like Harvey Norman, DJ's etc, and put it on one of the many real interest free plans that normal retailers offer (we can buy through our business,since we deal with the supplier but why not use interest free when you can) Watching all the videos on their website has convinced her that it is better....I still don't understand why in this day of media streaming and YouTube, HO don't film a demo and make it available for interested potential puchasers.  Or even film the specialized cooking classes and make the videos and recipe books available as ebooks available for purchase from their website. I would love to be able to watch someone making the dish and cook along with it....surely if Julia Childs and Jamie Oliver can make money out of film....thermomix can.

[wombleydoo]

Wow CarolineJ, I should have gone to your class LOL. All we got to eat was some sorbet, about 3 mouthfuls of arabian lemonade, a few mouthfuls of lettuce soup, a small plate with a maybe 2 tbs of chicken/potato salad, 2tbs of christmas waldorf salad and a cracker with some artichoke dip on it and a plate with a small shortbread biscuit (? don't know what it was, they didn't make it), a fruit mince pie and a tiny sliver of pudding with a tsp of brandy sauce. The only sweet thing they made at the class was the brandy sauce.

I didn't learn anything new, but I have been to a few demos recently since my bro and my friend have decided to buy. I haven't had a consultant for a few years so I learnt heaps of things I didn't know (really obvious stuff like having the litre measurements printed in the side of the jug and the little butterly mark on the blades. I never knew about them hahahaha)

[Meagan]

I think that the only way things will change is if people provide honest feedback. How will anyone know what you want unless you tell them  So if you have an opinion, positive or negative contact Thermomix. 

[Meagan]

I am just back from a festive cooking class (Manning, Perth) and it was fantastic  .  A simple show of hands at the start of the session showed that everyone in the room already had a TMX, and there was no sell at all, and it would have been silly if there was, we were all converts!

$30 covered the Festive Cooking cookbook, printed recipes of all the additional ones done, and lots of food. I hadn't eaten dinner, and I walked out stuffed  .  I really liked most of the recipes, and it certainly gave me lots of inspiration for cooking over the Christmas period.  There were a lot of recipes I would never have tried if I hadn't seen them or tasted them, so for me, it was well worth the $30.

The recipes were all presented by different consultants, and they shared tips and tweaks for the recipes, and general use of the TMX.  Everyone was very friendly and upbeat, and it all ran really smoothly and professionally. 

It is such a shame that people have been disappointed with this cooking class, I don't imagine anyone who attended the one I did would have said that.  In fact, I knew 7 people there, and we all thought it was great.  They also gave me a booklet for a friend who couldn't attend as she had just had a baby

Glad you enjoyed it Caroline    We had a great time presenting it.

[Lovemythermo]

I went to the Adelaide class and it was exactly as others have mentioned. $30 and you got 2 very small plates of food with no recipes although you could purchase the cookbook for $10. Oh and we did get a set of gift tags. Ours was held at the local adult education centre so the kitchen was a reasonable set up.

I did attend a couple of the back to basics classes but now I've seen more sorbet demonstrations than I want to see. Its clearly a way of getting more customers rathering than ensuring their current customers are happy with their what is a quite expensive purchase. As others have said thank goodness for this forum.

My demonstrator has pulled out, saying she wasnt making enough money. Instead of being notified who my new consultant was I had to ring HO and then call my local consultant. I have a friend who has almost saved the money to purchase a TMX and wanted to know who she was to go to, otherwise I wouldnt have bothered.

Of course the survey we've just filled out didnt ask for this sort of feedback!

[stacelee]

I did provide the feedback both on the class form and also in a survey that was emailed to me.  At the class I also indicated that I would like to be contacted about a varoma demo.  I have heard nothing in response.  I had planned on buying a second jug and need a new seal for the jug I have but I am now seriously considering purchasing a different machine instead.  I have always voted with my feet, if I don't like the way a company does business, I will go out of my way to not deal with them.....this forum is the only thing going for Thermomix as far as I am concerned at the moment.  Unfortunately I will still need to buy a new seal .

[Caroline J]

My consultant is great, but even if she wasn't- it wouldn't put me off the Thermomix!!  I have seen two different consultants present, and they were both fantastic, as has been the after demo service/contact.  It's a real shame that people have had such bad experiences

I do feel bad for the consultants having to do a Varoma demo to people who already have a machine though.  I would have thought the Full Steam ahead book should be available without the demo...

[quirkycooking]

Well, I do think the Varoma demo is great because SOOOO many people don't hardly use theirs until they see it demonstrated!  I've been told that so many times by customers, that they had no idea all the things you could make in it, and they'd never (or rarely) used it!  I know of people who've actually SOLD their TM21 varomas because they never used it once!  Pretty sad - I use mine every day, sometimes 3 times a day!

I agree with Caroline about not being put off the tmx despite a not-so-good consultant - I never heard from mine again after I bought my first machine (TM21), even though I ticked the box saying I wanted to become a consultant!!  But I raved about my tmx to everyone, and taught myself to use it without any forums or websites, and only the basic cookbook and booklet...  I think people that buy them now have HEAPS better customer service, and so many cookbooks and places to go for help!  It's great 

[CreamPuff63]

As with any product you can be influenced by the sales consultant. Home Demonstration (or Party Plan Consultant) is the way that Vorwerk has chosen to bring forth their product to the market for probably a few reasons. Not being a consultant, I am not going to justify their reasons. Not being your consultant, am I am not going to justify why she is no longer a consultant. One thing that Thermomix has in their favour is a non-biased forum such as this where a group of non commision based satisfied customers (that also includes consultants who are satisfied customers) can contribute to getting so much more out of the machine than one would dream possible and is open to the world wide web. Let your disappointment fuel your desire to serve other TM users and everyone will benefit in the best way possible.

[Meagan]

As with any product you can be influenced by the sales consultant. Home Demonstration (or Party Plan Consultant) is the way that Vorwerk has chosen to bring forth their product to the market for probably a few reasons. Not being a consultant, I am not going to justify their reasons. Not being your consultant, am I am not going to justify why she is no longer a consultant. One thing that Thermomix has in their favour is a non-biased forum such as this where a group of non commision based satisfied customers (that also includes consultants who are satisfied customers) can contribute to getting so much more out of the machine than one would dream possible and is open to the world wide web. Let your disappointment fuel your desire to serve other TM users and everyone will benefit in the best way possible.

Well said CP 

Also be assured there are passionate hard working consultants out there who provide excellent customer service 

Speaking for myself I remember every single person I have sold a Thermomix to and often think of them, wondering how they are going with their machine. I know I am not the only one who feels this way. I started selling TMs because I was passionate about spreading the word, more than for the money. It is dissapointing for me to see/ hear when people have had bad experiences but hopefully the great consultants out there and here on the forum make up for it. 

[quirkycooking]

I'm with you Meagan - I send my customers friendly emails or ring them up and have a chat about what they've been making (or chat on Facebook) - I think it's important to keep in touch and keep the excitement by sharing what we're all cooking.  We've started making our own local Thermomix cookbooks too, which is fun 

[cookie1]

The cookbook is a wonderful idea to share Jo. Congraulations. I think bad consultants probably don't last very long.