TriDot coaching scam?? (Page 4)

I got curious about TriDot, fearing that they might have been unduly and unfairly criticized in this thread, so thought I'd do a bit of my own research and due diligence.  Figured if there was something to it, then it might be worthwhile to give it a try:

1.  Lots of wordy mumbo jumbo on their website, but what I got out of it was they have a proprietary (patent-pending) quant model based on data compiled from their past and current set of athletes.  Pretty "black box" stuff.  Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but still makes me wonder what I'd be buying.  One of their recurring mantras seems to be achieving more by training less.  Hey, that sounds pretty good!

2.  They criticize other "generic" coaching models, but  somehow are able to apply their broad-based quant models to individualized customized plans for clients.  Those algorithims in their black box must be pretty good.  Made me want to reach for my old linear programing textbook from college.

3.  The website has a whole page of testimonials from happy clients.  Wait, why does the guy in the first testimonial look familiar?  Oh yeah, he's also one of the TriDot coaches listed on the coaches page.  Glad he feels good enough about his product to give a testimonial about it. 

4.  You can enter your age, gender,  & S/B/R  PR's (along with your email) and for free have them calculate your "TriDot" score that somehow calculates your "AbsoluteTriathlon Fitness (compared to other Triathletes)".   Silly me, I though that was what the USAT national rankings were for.  Actually the thing didn't work for me; it must have sensed that I was only '"excited" and not "overwhelmingly excited" and culled me out of their prospect pool.

5.  I found a thread on ST from a about a year ago asking about TriDot.  Just by coincidence, four first-time posters offered up syrupy endorsements about what a great program it is.  If I was the suspicious type I might even think they were scripted responses.  Oh, and the new posters didn't list any names on their profiles and faded away in fairly short order.  How odd.

At this point I felt I had uncovered enough to satisfy my own curiousity.

Caveat emptor as they say.

Mark

I found this as well. 
"Obvious sales pitch is obvious" was my favorite comment

Hi folks.  I just noticed this thread.   I used the tridot program for two months last summer leading up to a half-iron distance race I did on Sept 1.  I am pretty sure that I received their email solicitation (same as the OP described) because of something I had signed up for with Bobby McGee.    I can agree that they have room for improvement when it comes to marketing, but they are in fact legit.     Anyway, I followed the program and then applied for and received the full refund afterwards.   There are some basic guidelines outlined in their solicitation that you have to follow to obtain the refund.  

My results from following the program were pretty positive.   I did the same race in 2012 and my improvements in 2013 were 37 minutes on the bike and 13 minutes on the run.   See "Sado Astroman" in my races log for more details if you are interested.   The fact that the swim was cancelled in 2013 probably helped my bike time a little, but I think much of the improvement resulted from the workouts specified by tridot.   They were quite intense, but manageable.  FYI:  I had previously avoided adding any intensity into my training and the tridot program gave me a good intro to adding intensity/intervals into my run and bike training.  

 I log on to the CNBC business website this morning ( I have the PRO subscription version) and  what do I see but a banner ad for TriDot. 

What a coincidence that I just happened to have visited their website for the first time yesterday. 

I guess you can at least give them an "A" for effort for working the Web. 

Mark

Just make sure you are "overwhelmingly excited" when you contact them! 

We've had some fun beating up TriDot.  The shame about this whole deal is that they might have a great coaching method/program, but unfortunately they turn off too many folks (myself included) with their somewhat questionable and suspicion-arousing marketing methods.   

I have all the respect in the world for Suzanne (aka AdventureBear) and if she has good things to say about them, then I take her on her word.  That tells me that there has to be something legit or credible about what they do, at least from a coaching perspective.  But at this point I don't feel like it's worth it to wade through all the marketing BS to find out.  I'm not an impulse buyer and my decision to hire a coach is going to be made on a value perception of the product, not some special limited time offer or a money back deal.  

With all due respect, I think it would be great if Coach Boo would stop by and respond directly to some the criticism or misunderstandings that might have come out of this thread. Personally I'd like to hear what he has to say. 

Mark

Originally posted by runbugjones

Originally posted by JZig

Originally posted by RedCorvette

 I log on to the CNBC business website this morning ( I have the PRO subscription version) and  what do I see but a banner ad for TriDot. 

What a coincidence that I just happened to have visited their website for the first time yesterday. 

I guess you can at least give them an "A" for effort for working the Web. 

Mark

 

 

 

This is becoming more and more common. I routinely see ads for whatever I happened to be browsing on amazon the next day when I'm reading the local news website.

Yup. The magic of cookies. We use them at work, which means ads for my place of business follow me around in my off hours.

Excellent....we're back to $2 off oreos.

Excellent!  Now the OP REALLY can't be sued for slander/libel since he actually garnered them a client.

I've never thought TriDot was actually a scam, if nothing else because of Suzanne's (AdventureBear) comments.

I am put off with what I perceive to be a lack of transparency with their actual training methods.  Yes, I've read all the comments about their proprietary and patent-pending methods, but is it hard to believe that they've got something that is truly that unique. (Just as a side note, when I worked in engineering and machine design, we usually tried to avoid patenting new ideas, because the patent process forces you to disclose how you do it; we found it was more advantageous just to enter into confidentiality agreements with our clients directly).   

The conflicts-of-interest and lack of objectivity in TriDot's testimonials also are a bit of a put off for me. 

The successful coach/client relationships that I've observed over the years are as much about the relationship as the technical coaching methods.  In the few objective reviews of TriDot that I've found, the lack of coach/client interaction seems to be the biggest negative comment (though that might also be related to the level of the program that the client contracted).

I also wonder how they can get any meaningful feedback on endurance training methods after only a couple of months.  It seems intuitve to me that you would need to look at a longer timeframe to accurately measure any true performance gains.  I think there would be too much statistical noise if you're just looking at two months of training data. 

It's the world we live in, and fair or not, folks are becoming more sensitive and suspicious of aggressive Internet marketing, especially stuff that requires you to submit credit card info up front.  I work in an industry that requires full disclosure, transparency and prohibits testimonial endorsements, so I will admit to a certain bias in that regard.  I've also not liked some of the other stuff I've seen lately from Bobby McGee, TI and others.  I've never looked at triathlon coaching as an impulse purchase, so I don't respond well to some of the "one time only" & "special price good for the next x-hours" stuff.

Just my $0.02, FWIW.

Anyway, hope it works out well for you, Jason.  Will be interested in following your progress. 

Mark

Yep, already read it.  

Mark

Of the athletes that begin the program, what percentage  complete it successfully and receive the rebate?

TW

Coach Boo,

Weclome to BT!  Glad you posted to clarify things.  Taking ownership of a situation, whether or not it was unintentional or just a misunderstanding, definitely goes to character so I applaud you for that.

It is always refreshing to see a business owner who is passionate about their product.  I'm glad that has translated to successful relationships with many of your clients.

While some of the comments on this thread may have been bit unfair, I do think there were some legitimate questions raised.   Some have been answered and some have not.

Any relationship, including that between a coach and athlete, requires an investment from both parties, and not every relationship is going to be a good fit.  That's why due diligence on both sides is not a bad thing. 

I do think that your comment  "I know that there will always be people who slam, smear, and accuse others unjustly.  That's just the world we live in.  Part of the beauty of our FFF program is that it weeds those people out.  Someone who draws conclusions without facts or has serious reasoning or trust issues will likely not follow a training plan very well, be coachable, provide meaningful feedback, etc..."  may have been a bit harsh and judgemental.  Not every athlete who doesn't fit your FFF is going to be uncoachable, unable to follow a plan, or unable to provide meaningful feedback on their training.  Different strokes for different folks. 

Again, thanks for taking the time to post, and good luck in all your endeavors.

Mark

Nigerian "new poster" scam.