So I thought I would try Pact.... BAD IDEA

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blairf83
blairf83 Posts: 33 Member
in Motivation and Support
I thought to just double motivate myself and get paid for something I do anyway (I go to yoga 6 or 7 days a week for the past three months... and I've been using MFP religiously since February.... ), I would give pact a go.

Signed up, linked it to my second account that I keep for "fun money". Needless to say, the account doesn't always have a big balance in it....

A couple days ago, I get an email from Pact that they will be charging my account for the missed pacts for the week ENDING June 1st.

I didn't even sign up for Pact until June 3 and the app didn't have my first pact due until 6/15!

I emailed IMMEDIATELY to the support group and received a confirmation email stating that if I had open disputes, my account would not be charged until they were closed out.

WRONG. I get online, check my bank account and it's already been charged!

AND because I didn't transfer any extra funds into the account in anticipation of getting charged for a week I wasn't even signed up for, I now got smacked with a $30 overdraft fee too! So... that money is GONE . but... don't worry says the support team.... the $30 they charged will be returned to my account in 5 to 10 business days. Fabulous.

Anyone else run into issues like pact? It seems like a nice little idea... but... I just don't have that much extra money floating around that I can lose it willy nilly!

Replies

  • fullersun35
    fullersun35 Posts: 162 Member
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    Google it. The reviews are really bad.
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    I never had problems with my Pacts. They once refunded me $60.00, even though it was my fault. They even suspended my gym one for medical reasons without a doctor's note. Their customer service has always been top notch. I would email them again.
  • bowlerae
    bowlerae Posts: 555 Member
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    Thanks for the review.

    I joined pact last week and reached my goals for all 3 pacts. I have run into a few technical issues all of which I have reported to the development team and hope they get resolved soon. At first it was looking pretty grim like the app would keep quitting making it almost impossible to log my activities. For example, it would crash every time I tried to add a gym therefore my gym activity couldn't get logged. I reported that issue to the support team and they have counted my gym sessions I wasn't able to log and also manually added the gym for me. There have also been some issues with posting pics mostly in that they don't turn out as expected. What shows up is much smaller than what you see in the camera so some of your photo may get cut off. I've gotten the hang of sizing my photos and my app still crashes a lot but I'm able to successfully log everything I do now. I've never had an issue with it syncing to MFP food diary. Expecting to make at least $6 per week. Not a lot, I know, but for doing something that I'm going to do regardless is nice. Plus it gives me more motivation to not miss days.
  • GreatDepression
    GreatDepression Posts: 347 Member
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    You don't earn very much money in Pact at all. Even if you have exercise, food logging and fruit/veg picture every single day of the week, you only make an average of like $3.50 a week. Sometimes it's slightly more and usually less. I don't like how the minimum charge for missing an activity or logging is $5 when you can't even make that much in a week for keeping track of like 15 things.
  • lukewind
    lukewind Posts: 177 Member
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    Pact works just fine and is very legit. There is a little bit to learn in order to make sue you don't have something happen like what happened with you.

    Most negative reviews of pact are from people who just could not figure it out or are mad because they over estimated how much they were willing to do and got bit on the *kitten* by that. With pact you should start slow and work up to reasonable goals.

    I have also found that their customer service has been pretty good. A little slow, but always gets things fixed for you so long as you can spell out your issue.
  • lukewind
    lukewind Posts: 177 Member
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    True you don't earn a lot, but the amount does fluctuate each week. If the amounts were higher you would just have people signing up to try and rip of Pact. The key is to set a reasonable goal. Even with a modest goal you can make 100 bucks or more in less then a year. Granted that is not a lot of money, but for doing almost nothing its not that bad.
  • klyee
    klyee Posts: 8
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    I used Pact for over 6 months and had minimal problems with it-just like pretty much everyone is saying, there are some kinks but they're honest and work them out.

    I never did the food logging or fruit/veg (after the time I stopped using Pact), but the point of the app hit home for me-I wasn't willing to give up $5 a workout for missing one. I eventually had to stop using it because I started working 12-14 hour days with an hour and a half total commute, and I wasn't willing to give up sleep for exercise (even in hindsight, I wouldn't have done it-I know this is a fitness board, but I'm being honest), but when I had the time to devote it worked well and I worked out many times that I wouldn't have if I hadn't had a Pact to fulfill.

    The app generally works pretty well and they correct errors-I'm going to start using it again, myself.
  • GreatDepression
    GreatDepression Posts: 347 Member
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    I think Pact needs to be more strict about what can count as fruit or vegetables. I see people try to pass off juice as fruit, fries as veg, etc. I only upvote on fruit/veg that are whole and minimally processed (like canned or frozen).

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